You Can’t Stop the Signal

I find that running clears my head. It helps me separate the signal from the noise. In audio engineering, there are tools (mathematical tools, naturally) that can filter out static (the noise) from an audio communication so that the message (the signal) is clearer. My life can get a little noisy sometimes, and running helps me filter out that noise and concentrate on the signal, on the messages that matter.

I thought about all that while I was running tonight. I use Runkeeper to track my runs, and I have the app set up to post my runs to Twitter and Facebook. If I don’t add a note to the record, Runkeeper tags it with “Check it out!” That’s too goofy for my tastes, so I always spend some portion of my run thinking about what I’ll say about the run on social media. The whole signal-and-noise thing seemed too complicated to express in a tweet, so I went with “You can’t stop the signal,” the tagline from the 2002 Joss Whedon movie Serenity.

You can’t stop the signal.

As I ran, I started thinking about the signals in my life, the messages and lessons and experiences that haven’t ever stopped shaping me into who I am and defining who I want to be.

My friend showing me Psalm 139 one night at a Bible study while we were studying in Budapest. “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” God is with me, however far I roam.

My dad, lying in a recliner, fighting cancer, praying for healing but telling God that His will be done, because heaven awaits, either way. God is good, all the time.

Me, in the audience at youth rally, praying that the kid in front of me, who so many of us had invested in, would claim Jesus as his savior. Then hearing the altar call and watching that kid stand up. What I say and do makes a difference in the lives of the people around me.

My first child, in a stroller as I walk with her all over Cambridge, Mass., on a spring Saturday morning, exploring the city. Being a father is a blessing and an honor.

Me, coming out of a divorce, realizing and then owning my part in a failed marriage. I have to stand up for myself, for my perspectives and my value. I can’t just let life happen to me.

My friends and my church supporting me through that divorce, but only after I let them know about the pain and conflict in my life. I can’t do life alone, I need community.

A sermon series on Thanksgiving, coming during a season when I didn’t think I could hack it as a single parent. God has given me two amazing kids, and I’m thankful for that.

You can’t stop these signals. They keep transmitting throughout my life, reminding me of where I’ve come from and pointing me where I need to go.