Running for Recovery
Marathons of the Body, Mind, Spirit
by
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This book was born and cradled in the crucible of near-death accident, broken family, loss of job, loss of home, stark medical and mental prognosis, deep dark depression and excessive misery. And, as I could hear the hoof beats of Pharaoh’s horses and the chariots of bankruptcy drawing close behind me, how would God part my “Red Sea?”
Much of this book is my desire to talk things through with my former wife and the children. The pages have ached for a word that speaks on a theme that is timeless!
To write my story has been therapeutic. Another writer put it this way: “Thoughts disentangle themselves when they pass through your fingertips.” Dawson Trotman “This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord.” Psalm 102: 18 KJV King David “And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.” Habakkuk 2: 2 KJV
RUNNING FOR RECOVERY:
Marathons of the Body, Mind, Spirit
-BOSTON, Easter Monday, 1992-
Doctors said I'd never run again. So here I am at long last, midst the crowd of marathon athletes, the realization of years of training, mountain runs for endurance and wind, attempts at many qualifying runs and various runners' injuries. As I find my place in the start-up, I can't believe my feet are on the same pavement that holds the feet of world class athletes, this year using the Boston Marathon as their qualifying run for the Olympics. Looking about, I catch the excitement of fellow runners stretching, warming up, and sharing experiences. I know my new wife and "Brady-Bunch" of seven eagerly anticipates cheering me on to the finish line where they now wait, the crowning event to a long, long journey. This is real; it is about to happen. Just as I am saying, "Thank You Father, thank You Jesus, thank You Holy Spirit," the gun fires and we are off. As we gear up for a demanding 26.2-mile race against time and our own records, we begin to test our stride and pace as seasoned veterans in this most prestigious of all runs. I feel the brisk, fresh spring air on my face and gaze into a beautiful, cloudless blue sky. My mind drifts back seven years to another day with such a sky. The journey flashes back; my mind leaves the pavement to a trilogy of trials, tragedies and triumphs.
-The Accident-
No memory exists; but, I am told that as I rode home on my motorcycle through the small village near my home after conducting a funeral service, a car suddenly pulled across the road in front of me. My oldest son, riding with me, later explained: “Daddy, you slammed on all the brakes but it was too late.” Seconds later, I crashed my motorcycle into the car and went down.
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About the Book
In a physical marathon, the “wall” shows up about mile twenty or twenty-one; when this happens, mind and body shake hands to say “we quit.” That’s where most runners will shut down, unless they reach down into their identity as spirit. To the question “Who am I; what is my identity?” God’s answer is “I am spirit; I have a mind; and I live in a body.” So, to break through the “wall” requires a hierarchy of spirit over mind over body. God’s Word will address our spirit when mind and body are out of it, thereby setting Word over spirit over mind over body to keep the feet moving. Project this to other marathons: mental, spiritual, emotional, interpersonal, occupational, financial, etc. Bottom line: Can the reader finish the book, put it down, and say: “Wow, look what God’s Word performed; I want to be in the Word; I want the Word to be in me”? The closer the reader comes to God’s Word, the closer they come to Him (John 1:14). The Word will have become “sent out (Isaiah 55:10–11), active and alive (Hebrews 4:12), watched over and performed” (Jeremiah 1:12) in their lives!
About the Author
Arthur Coffey has served as a parish pastor for fifteen years, an Army chaplain for twenty-three years, and aVeteransAffairsMedicalCenterchaplain for twelve years. He was mobilized for Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Joint Endeavor, and the Humanitarian Aid tour toGuatemala.
Coffey is the recipient of the Witherspoon Award for “most creative use of Scripture,” presented by the National Bible Association and the Armed Forces Chief of Chaplains.
He is also the recipient of a Veterans Affairs National Chaplain of the Month award for “outstanding service in the promotion of the Bible in ministry, healing and research.”
In addition, Coffey presented his Alzheimer’s research, centered on Scripture, at the Mayo Clinic, where it was voted the most outstanding of those presented and declared to be “pioneer research” because no other known research had ever used Scripture as the independent variable.
Coffey earned a doctorate in “wholistic” health care, awarded by Lutheran Theological Seminary. The exam committee proclaimed him to be the best they had seen in the field.