Parkour...

Parkour. Some of you may be fans. Others (like me) only know about it because of a funny clip from The Office. Basically, it's free-running. Trying to get from point A to point B in the most creative and efficient ways possible. It's a lot like the game we used to play as kids at the playground. You know, "Don't fall off of the jungle gym! There's a lake of fire down there and a dragon and crocodiles and razor sharp swords, too!!" (Well, that's how we played it anyway.) Back to the point. It's really cool to watch professionals do it. It's not so cool to watch amateurs.

Today was beautiful. Eighty degrees in the middle of January. What?!? One more reason I heart Texas. Naturally, when the kiddos got restless after lunch, I decided it was time to go to the park. Courtney wanted a park with swings, so we went looking for a new place to play. The park near our house has no swings. I remembered seeing a sign for a "Creative Play Playground" close by, so I thought we'd drive by and check it out. It was HUGE! Imagine a wooden castle/fort built just the right size for about 80 kids to play on. There were ramps, tires, slides, swings, stairs, stepping stones and more. It was a tiny metroplex of playground equipment.

I parked the car. The kids and I set off to explore this amazing place. Suddenly, a boy of about 14 or 15 ran straight for us! He jumped and swooshed and bobbed and hung until he got over to the stairs Matthew was playing on. He politely said "Excuse me" and huffed as if he were frustrated that we had been in his way. I promptly warned Courtney to watch out for the guy in the red shirt so she wouldn't be clobbered.

Another teen approached him to ask what he was doing. "TRAINING!!" he said, gasping for breath.
"Oooh, can I come, too?" the other teen asked. So they set off.
"You have to jump from one plane to the next. And you can't touch the ground!" the red-shirted boy said, as he scrambled to climb back atop a 5' high post he'd fallen off of. He grunted as his tennis shoes slipped and slid against the log. He refused to touch the ground, even though it was a mere 6" away from his gangly legs. The other boy got the point, and it became a competition- only, the second boy had some reservations. "Oh, @#%$* no- I'm not gonna break my leg doing something stupid like that!" (glad my kids were distracted at that moment). So the second boy gingerly made his way down and then picked up at the next point.

A girl, about 11 or so, asked what they were playing. "We're not playing!" the boy in red passionately explained. "We're TRAINING!"

I laughed to myself. It was funny. Training for what? Parkour? I couldn't help but think about that episode from The Office, when Michael, Andy & Dwight went free-running through the building. If you've seen the episode, you know exactly what I mean. If you haven't seen it, check out the embedded video below. I enjoyed watching the boys for the next 10 minutes or so, but then I decided to take my little ones over to the swings.

It hadn't occurred to me that these teenagers should have been in school, since it was 1:45 in the afternoon. I glanced over and saw a coach of some sort from the nearby school and realized that he had brought his class out to the park to soak in some sun. He got up from the bench and took a hat to the boy free running through the playground. It all clicked for me. As I saw him talking to the boy and waving about, I realized that the boy was running at the coach's instructions. Ah, ha. It all made sense now.

You know, that boy makes a good metaphor. I thought about our journey as Christians. We are following God's commands. We're doing something that may seem awkward to others at times. It may even make them laugh- or cause them to make fun of us... but then, sometimes, another person comes alongside us and says, "Hey, what are you doing? Can I join in?"

The point is, this boy was running hard and getting an awesome workout. He was getting stronger while a group of girls from his class sat in the shade, complaining and yelling at one another. They were missing out on the benefits that this class outing had to provide. Sometimes people in our churches do that. I have. Instead of running full force, following God's instructions, I just sat quietly, getting caught up in all of the drama that exists within the church (oh, come on- you know it's there). Then, I've also been like the boy who joined in and went for it- but with reservation. "Ok, Lord! I'll follow you... but wait. That looks hard. I think I'll just slowly make my way through instead of hitting it head-on like you instructed." Then I miss out on the challenge. Challenges are great because they stretch us and encourage us when we accomplish them. What I want to be is like the boy running through the playground with no fear, no reservations, and die-hard commitment. He was so focused on his goal that he didn't even notice me staring at him! Where are you today? Are you the red-shirt boy? The other boy? Or are you one of the drama-mamas sitting in the shade? Just something to chew on...

Enjoy this Parkour clip from The Office: