There are those who just don’t fit in along
the way. This guy is one of them: he read
an article about the runners’ boom of the
1970s and the skinny runners’ club of guys
who averaged ninety miles a week, that’s 12.
87142 miles a day and he started running
three or four miles five days a week back in
that day and never was in the elite club even
after forty-five years and 26,000 miles logged
to date. He pastored churches along the way
and because he was the pastor couldn’t ever
count himself in the community, but had
several ministerial friends along the way
who were buddies and friends of a very
small club back in the day and drifted away
as he and they moved away. He retired and
joined a congregation thinking he would have
community finally but the leadership was so
bad, they turned him away. He moved into a
neighborhood where people then tried to
keep other people away and he opposed that
and felt ousted from that community, so he
keeps in touch with a few buddies now geo-
graphically far away who have stayed in
touch along the way and even though they
may not make up an exclusive club, they
are part of an ultimately inclusive
community of Jesus’ way, and for that
he gives thanks every day. There are
those who say at the end of the day,
if you have friends counted on one hand
and immediate family, you are a-okay.