leaving the comfy

open season. today was the first run of spring. it's march, spring must surely be coming- the snow was even starting to melt. it was a good day for a run.
I must say, however, it was a very different run than what i'm used to. it's been nearly 5 months of running indoors on a treadmill. in many ways this run was easier- i run faster on a treadmill, for longer, so i was barely tired when i got home (good news for the may 3rd quatro miler). on the other hand, it was much harder. some of it was dodging the not-melted patches of snice (snowy-ice mix, you know). some of it was not thinking about how cold my toesies were from not being able to dodge the last huge 3 mile puddle. some of it was worrying about how much mud roxanne would bring home with her. and last but not least was avoiding the spray from the semis going too fast down sandusky ave (i felt very "Forrest Gump" as i wiped my brow).
but the better runs are always outdoors. the challenge for me today was getting me out the door. i really wouldn't've (it's officially a word!) if Kristy hadn't called me and told me i had to.

So as i ran, i was thinking- as is my custom- mostly about some of the reading i've been doing. today's was a huge hunk of Joseph's life. i've been stuck in jacob's life, but finally yesterday emerged into Joseph and his technicolor dreamcoat. specifically how his brothers sold him to egypt but God watched over him and all but handed over the entire kingdom of egypt to joseph. this is because joseph was a dream-reader and new a famine was coming, so he saved grain during the years of plenty (probably a whole other post, btw).
so my first question was, "why did God give the message to the egyptians, rather than the israelites?" yes, i know, it has something to do with Joseph and "God's plan"- but that's the easy way out. throughout the rest of the story, God always gives the isrealites the inside scoop of what's coming, but this time he told Pharoah. and Joseph became all but an egyptian- complete with egyptian wives.
From this question emerges my sympathy for jacob. he spent most of his live wondering around, working off 2 wives (one of which he didn't even want) and trying to get back home to Cannon to live in the promised land of his father. he finally gets there. life is good (except for the heartache of loosing joseph, of course). he's ready to die a semi-happy man.
but God brings upon a famine and joseph gets the whole family to move to Goshen (which is also a township in ohio). WHY??? WHY DOES JACOB HAVE TO GO? why does God do this?
he was living in cannon, the land of his fathers, the land which GOD HIMSELF promised him he would possess. it's been good to him up to this point- great livestock, lots of money- when they move to goshen, they are rich. they're just grainless.
but then i think about jacob. he's ready to die a semi-happy man. he did a few notable things, one being that he turned his life around from the liar he started out to be, but probably doesn't live up to the standard of grandpa abraham.
so this is my pondering: was cannon too comfortable? i haven't gotten to this part yet (recently), but i think we'll see a little bit of that after the exodus- the land flowing with milk and honey becomes a little to cushy and the people of God forget where they've come from.
i wonder if that's the case here with jacob. life was a little too good.
it's like spending too many months on a treadmill. the run outside will do you good. it works a few different muscles (specifically when you get to those hills!). it makes you consider other elements.
obviously, this could have great personal implications. but my life hasn't been "cozy" lately, so i'll take it a different direction. how's life been for the Church? are we experiencing Cannon? i don't really think we can honestly say we've endured much persecution (when you put it on a scale with underground house churches in asia). i wonder if maybe we're living in comfy land, running on a treadmill with no wind or puddles to think about, but all the time we should be getting ready for a tougher run outside.
or better yet, let me take it this route: what about america, land of the free, home of the brave. aren't we mostly a land flowing with milk and honey? what might that mean? (yeah, that was only partially a question).