My grievance with contemporary society is with its decrepitude. There are few towering pleasures to allure me, almost no beauty to bewitch me, nothing erotic to arouse me, no intellectual circles or positions to challenge or provoke me, no burgeoning philosophies or theologies and no new art to catch my attention or engage my mind, no arousing political, social, or religious movements to stimulate or excite me. There are no free men to lead me. No saints to inspire me. No sinners sinful enough to either impress me or share my plight. No one human enough to validate the "going" lifestyle. It is hard to linger in that dull world without being dulled. But before we let them go, I have a few things to say to them. The rest of you can listen in to what I have to say here this afternoon. So to the Ambassador Bible College class of 2017, let's get right to the point. At ABC this year, I gave you three keys to success at ABC. Show up and know your lines. Get engaged. We don't mean this kind, although that might happen for a few. And thirdly, to take notes on the world; there will be a test. And you honored me by giving me a gift the other night with those three sayings etched on glasses, and they will take an honored place in my man cave and I will appreciate that very much. Second, depending on how you interpret this statement of God, your whole attitude can shift about what God really wants for you. If you see God wanting you to run with horses as the over-exacting demands of a mean God who wants more and more from you, then this can sound like an awful thing. But imagine for a moment, if you could have the stamina and ability to run with horses and keep up—imagine a wide plain and you’re among a team of wild horses, and as they run into the horizon, you run along with them. Would that not be a thrilling, exhilarating experience? Only in your wildest dreams could something like that happen… and God wants that for you… but he also says there is a process to get there. You have to endure the little first, before you can endure the greater. Jeremiah cries out to God with some troubled questions on his mind. These are the standard questions people ask when things begin to go wrong in an individual life, or

Thirdly, I must say that this is one of the best books written by the late Eugene Peterson. With deep reverence for the Word of God, he combs the life of Jeremiah looking for gems to share with us. Very few people are able to do what he has done. Peterson has written many books, but this remains high in the list of my favourites. You know what attracted me to this book at first, the title. Run With The Horses – The Quest for Life At Its Best was written by Eugene Peterson in 1983. But also the author, I like Eugene Peterson’ writing, it is almost novel poetic in style, but with biblical application. Now this book has been out for over 25 years, however so much good application that can be gained by reading it. The popular message of today is live your best life or do what makes you happy, this book will be very counter to that message, as that is not what life is about. So, it is very timely that this revision is being released! The difficult pastoral art is to encourage people to grow in excellence and to live selflessly, at one in the same time to lose the self and find the self” (15).The task of a prophet is not to smooth things over but to make things right. The function of religion is not to make people feel good but to make them good." It is not enough to carry memory verses around with us; we need daily encounters with the resonant voice of God. Prayer is that encounter…prayer is not so much the place where we learn something new, but where God confirms anew the faith to which we are committed” (106).

It is not enough to be in the right place; it is not enough to say the right words; it is never enough until we are walking with God twenty-four hours a day everywhere we go, with everything we say an expression of love and faith” (68). Follow the harrowing rescue of the Lipizzaner horses during World War II in this picture book. The book is nonfiction woven with fiction, seen through the eyes of a fictional character, Nina, the daughter of the stablemaster at the famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna. As the war came closer to Vienna, Nina’s school was closed and people were fleeing the city. To save the last four stallions, Nina would have to ride over the Alps with her father. But she could not leave her favorite old cab horse, Zelda, behind in the deserted city. So Nina rode Zelda, following her father and the horses, not knowing the dangers that she and Zelda would face together as they crossed the Alps to safety. Some people as they grow up become less. As children they have glorious ideas of who they are and of what life has for them. Thirty years later we find that they have settled for something grubby and inane. What accounts for the exchange of childhood aspiration to the adult anemia?This is the kind of book that requires meditation, discussion, and review-particularly of your own life, and how you square up with his vision of a life well-lived. Peterson knows how to cast that vision because he’s a masterful storyteller, and he speaks in a way that cuts through the wind to bury deep in your lungs. Breathing it in and letting it sit is how this work comes to life, I believe. You see, God's called you in a time to build and to plant. Today, the Church is being prepared as a bride. Our statement on this building as we walk in and out of it every day, it says that we are preaching the gospel and preparing the people. You know, the United Church of God is hiring and training. We really need to put a sign on the front door that says, “Now hiring. Those who want to run with the horses, apply within.” So, Jeremiah, you're worn out in this footrace with men, what makes you think you can race against horses? And if you can't keep your wits during times of calm, what's going to happen when troubles break loose like the Jordan in flood? Jeremiah 12:5 And praying. THERE’s the Real key - our prayer life. And Jeremiah was worn out, too - but kept on Running - because his Prayers Invigorated Him: the Spirit was in them! RUNNING THE RACE The marathon is one of the most strenuous athletic events in sport. The Boston Marathon attracts the best runners in the world. The winner is automatically placed among the great athletes of our time. In the spring of 1980, Rosie Ruiz was the first woman to cross the finish line. She had the laurel wreath placed on her head in a blaze of lights and cheering. She was completely unknown in the world of running. An incredible feat! Her first race a victory in the prestigious Boston Marathon! Then someone noticed her legs—loose flesh, cellulite. Questions were asked. No one had seen her along the 26.2-mile course. The truth came out: she had jumped into the race during the last mile. There was immediate and widespread interest in Rosie. Why would she do that when it was certain that she would be found out? Athletic performance cannot be faked. But she never admitted her fraud. She repeatedly said that she would run another marathon to validate her ability. Somehow she never did. People interviewed her, searching for a clue to her personality. One interviewer concluded that she really believed that she had run the complete Boston Marathon and won. She was analyzed as a sociopath. She lied convincingly and naturally with no sense of conscience, no sense of reality in terms of right and wrong, acceptable and unacceptable behavior. She appeared bright, normal and intelligent. But there was no moral sense to give coherence to her social actions. In reading about Rosie I thought of all the people I know who want to get in on the finish but who cleverly arrange not to run the race. They appear in church on Sunday wreathed in smiles, entering into the celebration, but there is no personal life that leads up to it or out from it. Occasionally they engage in spectacular acts of love and compassion in public. We are impressed, but surprised, for they were never known to do that before.”

Be a witness to the untamed West with a visit to Pilot Butte, where a herd of wild horses can be viewed and photographed. As you hear the thunderous sound of pounding hooves in the wide-open landscape, you will realize that the frontier spirit is still alive and well.It is enormously difficult to portray goodness in an attractive way; it is much easier to make a scoundrel interesting. All of us have so much more experience in sin than in goodness that a writer has far more imaginative material to work with in presenting a bad character than a good person. In novels and poems and plays, most of the memorable figures are either villains or victims. Good people, virtuous lives, mostly seem a bit dull. Jeremiah is a stunning exception. For most of my adult life he has attracted me. The complexity and intensity of his person caught and kept my attention. The captivating quality in the man is his goodness, his virtue, his excellence. He lived at his best. His was not a hothouse piety, for he lived through crushing storms of hostility and furies of bitter doubt. There is not a trace of smugness or complacency or naiveté in Jeremiah—every muscle in his body was stretched to the limits by fatigue, every thought in his mind subjected to rejection, every feeling in his heart put through fires of ridicule. Goodness in Jeremiah was not "being nice." It was something like prowess.

This book was strangely just what I needed. Peterson talks through the life of Jeremiah and his story. He takes the narrative of Jeremiah's life and connects it to the narratives of all believers. He talks about being the best that you can be. The aim of the person of faith is not to be as comfortable but to live as deeply and thoroughly as possible—to deal with the reality of life, discover truth, create beauty, act out love…The only opportunity you will ever have to live by faith is in the circumstances you are provided this very day” (152-3). A prophet wakes us up from our sleepy complacency so that we see the great and stunning drama that is our existence, and then pushes us onto the stage playing our parts whether we think we are ready or not. A prophet angers us by rejecting our euphemisms and ripping off our disguises, then dragging our heartless attitudes and selfish motives out into the open where everyone sees them for what they are. A prophet makes everything and everyone seem significant and important—important because God made it, or him, or her; significant because God is actively, right now, using it, or him, or her” (48). The elevation for the marathon starting line is about 6,100 feet above sea level and the course reaches is highest altitude at about 7,500 feet. All three races start together in Green River’s Island Park, making this event very much a challenge for runners of all abilities. Scripture’s task is to tell people, at the risk of their displeasure, the mystery of God and the secrets of their own hearts—to speak out and make a clean breast…Honest writing shows us how badly we are living and how good life is. Enlightenment is not without pain. But the pain, accepted and endured is not a maiming but a purging” (128).

I didn’t read it that way, however. I rushed to meet a deadline, and I feel like I missed a whole lot. At the same time, I do think it was hard to find the through-line, and I wish Peterson had done a better job of regularly orienting his reader to his larger intentions. It all felt slightly disconnected and honestly a bit overzealous at times. If you have raced against others on foot, and they have tired you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in open country, how can you live in the jungle along the Jordan River?