The Scottish runner Eric Liddell, whose story is told in the movie Chariots of Fire, once explained why he couldn’t give up running—not yet, at any rate—to be a missionary in China: “I believe that God made me for a purpose,” Liddell said, “but he also made me fast, and when I run I feel his pleasure … To give up running would be to hold him in contempt.” I like this notion: God doesn’t give a gift without giving an obligation to use it. How one uses it, though—that’s where things get complicated.
