My Mid-Life Crisis

I'll be 43 years old in a couple of months. We're having my 25 year high school reunion this year. Next month my wife and I will have been married 14 years. In other words, I'm at that stage in my life where men do stupid things.

In that spirit, I've decided to try to train for and complete a marathon. I'm thinking of the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC in October. My thoughts are that since the race is about six months off, I'll have enough time to get ready. I'll need it. Right now I run three miles about three times a week. I do the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston every year (including this year) and it's a 10k (6.2 miles) but that's about it as far as distance goes. I'll probably follow the Jeff Galloway run/walk method. A friend of mine from high school followed it to run his first marathon.

Anyway, wish me luck. I know this isn't nearly as exciting as most mid-life crises, but hopefully a lot better for me.

A sad note

I mentioned once before that a woman in my church was battling cancer. Well, she died and her funeral was this past Saturday. Very, very sad affair. She was the mother of three girls aged 16, 12 and 8. Prayers for her soul, her husband and the girls would be greatly appreciated.

I'm somewhere in this picture

My wife and I did the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston today. Very slow, but we had a great time. Of course, any good the exercise from the run did me was outweighed by the huge amount of food I've eaten this weekend.

The Role of the Pope

There is a good article here on the role of the Pope. I think the best part of the article is here:

What more could we expect from the bishop of Rome than that, like Peter, he
strengthen the whole church’s faith in Christ’s resurrection? How could he
better serve the unity of an Easter people than by proclaiming insistently the
event that brought the church into being: the resurrection of the crucified
Jesus? The pope must also lead the church with the loving authority of a chief
pastor and be a model for all worshipers in celebrating the sacraments. But his
great task for all the world is to announce that Christ is risen. Nothing can or
should ever count against the power and joyfulness of that unique message.

Who else can proclaim this most important message to the world? Sometimes the world needs to hear someone speak for all of Christianity. No one can do that besides the Pope. The world today needs to hear from the successor of Peter and we Protestants should be grateful to Catholicism for providing this voice.