Ryan Hall: How Does Running Glorify God?

Ryan Hall shares a workout and his teammate Josh Cox shares thoughts on how to glorify God with our talents (in this case running).
Sermon excerpts courtesy of First Assembly of God in Elkton, Maryland.

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[oldpiq]

So if someone is paralyzed from the eyeballs down, does it also glorify Jesus or is it a punishment for something? Am I to understand that Steven Hawking is an atheist ONLY because he is unable to run? Why bullshitize everything?

[jaycarbon]

@oldpiq Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” The premise here is that whatever we do, we can do to the glory of God. Running, street sweeping, academia... anything and everything.

[Windy609]

Thanks for putting the video together, exactly what we've been trying to teach our youth group all summer!!

[jaycarbon]

My pleasure! :)

-jc

[loveforrunning]

This is an amazing video! I love the message you are putting out, so many people use the gifts God has given them selfishly, when they should be using it selflessly to glorify and praise God. I thank God for athletes like you Josh, and Ryan who are such good examples for people in general and other athletes such as myself.

[jaycarbon]

Thanks. Just doing my best to honor the Gift Giver.

--jc :)

[placidcool]

i feel like comparing to others is my motivation to be better..

[rmacattack13]

@oldpiq Your argument seems valid, only to a certain extent. You are asking to scientifically validate the existence of our Lord. However, you are asking that using the scientific methods we have right now to do so...the same way the scientific methods during their respective time frames believed there were only four elements or that the earth was flat. Running to glorify God is running for our faith...a belief.

[WALTKRIEG]

@oldpiq First, I never wrote that we were submerged under a nightmarish economic abyss, but if we were...and you are right... it is a real paradox to have free will to act into God's law... but is it less a paradox to live in free societies, but be forced to act in conformity of laws ?

At the end, thanks for your answer !

[oldpiq]

@WALTKRIEG Funny you should mention. We ARE in the bottom of a nightmarish economic abyss and many of us are indeed not even lucky enough to get a mopping job. To make it ironic God rewarded the culprits of said abyss with bonuses. The free will you are talking about is another ironic joke. God gave it to us but if our will is different from his, we get punished by going to a horrible place he himself created for us in advance. The greatest socialist of all times was in fact Jesus Christ.

[WALTKRIEG]

@oldpiq There is no silly job. If we were in the bottom of a nightmarish economic abyss, you would feel being cherished to get pay to take a mop... but, it seems to me, that in the Bible there is something written about freedom to take decisions... but, this is rarely respected by vivid religious people or by solid socialist who are atheists .

[WALTKRIEG]

@jaycarbon Beautiful Martin Luther King's quote.

[oldpiq]

@jaycarbon Well, if God handed me a mop, I would probably reject his offer and maybe go to school instead. First you have to believe something exists to glorify it doing whatever you do. But if you do things only to please your daddy, you are indeed a very unhappy creature.

[oldpiq]

@XCTRACKCoach I appreciate the effort in trying to convince me that running and apparently everything else indeed should glorify God. I should mention however that before you do that, you should first demonstrate that the very existence of God is indeed true. Otherwise your claim is no different from saying that you run for Bigfoot.

[XCTRACKCoach]

If you love God or choose to love yourself instead, you will suffer in this life. We are responsible for our attitude in the circumstances we face. If you are paralyzed, you better glorify God. If you are an orphan, you better glorify God. If you are a national champion, you better glorify God. If you glorify God or hate God, God will be just fine...the difference is what your circumstance will yield due to your attitude. I am so thankful that I can see God's love even in my pain!

[campbpar]

@HouseofChen1 You've got it right. He doesn't.