Finally…The Rhino Run

I’ve finally bit the bullet and dove into the realm of blogging. I’ve been a blog “lurker” for a while now and have been telling myself that I need to start my own. Well, now I’ve done it. Part of my hold up has been trying to decide what in the world to call this thing. I’ve thought about going the whole generic route and calling it joshperry.com, but I felt it needed to be more creative than that, after all I am a Creative Arts Pastor. www.yourname.com may be efficient and easy, but it’s just not what I wanted. I’ve been thinking about this for MONTHS and the one thing I keep coming back to is the idea of the Rhino. A couple of years ago I read “The Barbarian Way” by Erwin McManus and to say my life was changed would be an understatement. The thing that really stuck out to me was his illustration of the rhino. His words follow…

“…most groups of animals have unique names or designations when they dwell together. With insects most of us know that bees are called swarms, and ants are called colonies… But my favorite of all is the group designation for rhinos.
You see, rhinos can run thirty miles an hour, which is pretty fast when you consider how much weight they’re pulling. They’re actually faster than squirrels, which can run up to twenty-six miles an hour. And even then who’s going to live in dread of a charging squirrel! (Sorry—that was a bit off the point.) Running at thirty miles an hour is faster than a used Pinto will go. Just one problem with this phenomenon. Rhinos can see only thirty feet in front of them. Can you imagine something that large moving in concert as a group, plowing ahead at thirty miles an hour with no idea what’s at thirty-one feet? You would think that they would be far too timid to pick up full steam, that their inability to see far enough ahead would paralyze them to immobility. But with that horn pointing the way, rhinos run forward full steam ahead without apprehension, which leads us to their name. Rhinos moving together at full speed are known as a crash. Even when they’re just hanging around enjoying the watershed, they’re called a crash because of their potential. You’ve got to love that. I think that’s what we’re supposed to be. That’s what happens when we become barbarians and shake free of domestication and civility. The church becomes a crash. We become an unstoppable force. We don’t have to pretend we know the future. Who cares that we can see only thirty feet ahead? Whatever’s at thirty-one feet needs to care that we’re coming and better get out of the way.

So, plainly put, I am trying to do the Rhino Run.

Wanna run with me?

Josh

~ by rhinorun on August 21, 2008.