The past: The Asics Kayano 11, the first top-of-the-line running shoes I ever purchased. I bought these in the spring of 2005, during training for my first marathon, and they carried me through all three marathons that I ran in the 11-month span from May 2005 to April 2006.

The present: The Asics Kayano 12, the successor to the previous shoes. I bought these to replace the old ones, as I was far past due. However, this also occurred just as I moved to Wichita, and saw my whole running life turn upside down. I gave up the sport for nearly three years, until I began running again in December 2008.

The future: The Asics Cumulus 10. During my most recent running, I started to develop serious shin pain, even after the initial start-up pains. This got so intense that I have been on about two weeks of (forced) rest to heal my shins. During this time, I reevaluated my choice of footwear, and through an intense analysis of my stride by some running experts, and careful examination of all choices available for my foot, I chose this new model to better suit my stride.

(For anyone interested, here's the breakdown: 1. My old shoes were too small, causing my feet to tense up and put extra pressure on my shins. 2. My old shoes provided massive arch support...which I do not need, due to my pronation tendencies and high arches. The extra arch support exacerbated my leg problems. 3. My shoes had aged for 3 years, causing the foam in the soles to harden up. 4. There were too stinkin' many miles on the old shoes!)

So, if you're a GR junkie (and I know you're out there!), this is the best explanation for my nearly-two-week hiatus from posting to this blog. I'll be back at it this weekend and next week, looking to make a mighty push toward the Bank of America River Run, where I will have my dad and many of my friends running 2 miles with me.

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Luke 9:21-24 (NIV, parenthesis added by me)

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There is a new 9:24 in my life these days. You're looking at it right here. The father of a possessed boy seeks healing from Jesus, and realizes that it's not that he doesn't believe in Jesus, it's that he suffers from the same fallen nature that the rest of humanity does. He acknowledges his unbelief, and asks for help to overcome this unbelief.

Doubt and unbelief are real emotions that take hold of us from time to time. But are they really signs that our faith is weak? I'd say this passage tells us that the opposite can be true if we simply realize that we, as humans, are prone to disbelief! We need help to continue believing what we know to be true, and that's that Jesus is capable of everything he says he can do.

In this passage, Jesus orders the demon from the boy's body immediately after the boy's father asks for help with his unbelief. 1 John 3:21-22 says, "Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him."

It is Jesus' desire to give me what I ask for. I need only approach him with confidence, and not with the debilitating self-doubt that the enemy continuously whispers into my heart.

It feels pretty freeing to rediscover this stuff today.

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Look at 'em go! 9 combined pounds lost for Shaun and Lindsay this week. As for me? I'm in neutral, and fighting off a slight leg injury that's had me on the shelf for about five days, minus the race--another vast improvement over my previous best time this year (over 2 minutes faster than my Shamrock Shuffle 5K performance). I'm not giving up. It's a long time until September!