The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World

by John Mark Comer

Now, I run, but I’m not a runner. You know what I mean? These people are runners. And frequently, early in the morning as I’m sitting there drinking my coffee and praying, I see them file out the front door to go for a sunrise run. Naturally, they are all wearing tights, and trust me, they look good. Single-digit body fat. That lean-but-muscular look. Impeccable posture: shoulders back, chin up. And then, they start to prance…I mean, run. They look more antelope than human. Seriously, their warm-up is faster than my speed workout. (Granted, my speed workout is in need of a pick-me-up, but still.) And regularly as they run off, I think to myself, I want that. I want to look good in spandex. (Sadly, Runner’s World still hasn’t called for a photo shoot.) I want to run a six-minute mile without breaking a sweat. I want that level of health and energy and vitality. I want that life. But then I think about the lifestyle behind it. While I was up watching The Man in the High Castle and drinking red wine until midnight (hypothetical scenario, I promise…), they ate celery and water for dinner and went to bed at 9 p.m. While I was sipping my Kenyan single origin in my bathrobe, they were out sweating through the humid goop of summer and ice of winter. When I run, I catch up on a podcast or stare off into space thinking about my teaching for Sunday; they run intervals every four hundred meters and stretch their lungs to the breaking point. I run a cost-benefit analysis and quickly de...