Charis means a gift, and the root of the word is 'pleasure'. Charis is a gift that gives pleasure. If it doesn't give pleasure, then it's not charis. For example an athlete or a great warrior gives charis through their excellent performance. We would say they are "full of grace" or "graceful". She gives the example of Achilles in the Illiad. Achillies wins the battle and so gives everyone charis (grace). In return he expects some charis back in the form of a share of the loot. But Agamemnon gives him only a tiny portion. Achilles goes off in a huff saying he hasn't received charis from Agamemnon. Agamemnon then sends him a huge share of loot, more than he would have got before, but now Achilles says because he's upset at the earlier humiliation, he takes no pleasure in it, so it doesn't constitute charis. So, charis must be received with pleasure or else it's not charis.

The aspect of charis that is even more fundamental to the concept is that it must be reciprocal. A bit like if you invite someone round to dinner, you expect to be invited round to dinner by them in return. So Achilles expected charis in return for the charis he gave everyone in fighting so well. To not give return-charis was truly scandalous in the Greek culture, even immoral.

In Romans, Paul talks about the grace of God and says, "What then? Shall we carry on sinning to increase grace all the more?" That would have been obviously false and scandalous to Greeks. If you get a gift, the response is not to beg for more, or increase your need for more grace, but instead to do what you can to give something back that will give pleasure to the one who gave you grace. This is embedded in the concept of charis and engrained in the culture. So we receive grace from God and it is expected that we will return to him something that gives him pleasure. This is not a payment for grace, because grace is a free gift, but in the Greek concept of grace, it would be absolutely expected. How do we give God pleasure? God delights in us when we grow up into Christ. When we glorify God through Christ in us.

One way the Greeks would do it was to sing praise songs for e.g. an athlete, to keep their name alive. I think this is where the tradition of Christian praise songs comes from. Since I read about this, when I sing at church I turn over in my mind the comparison of our praise songs for Christ to the forgotten praise songs of forgotten Greek heros. Christ's praise outlasts civilisations and peoples and will truly last forever!

• Body is to be straight, leaning forward so the ankles only are bent. Eyes on the horizon.
• As the body leans forward, it wants to fall over, so the legs move to prevent that. The legs should be relaxed and the power comes mostly from the core muscles.
• The foot should fall in the middle, on the outside and then circle round to the front.
• The foot should land level with your body, so if you were to look down a bit you would just see your big toe.
• Warmup is much more important than stretching. It should be about 10% of the run time, ditto for warm down.
• It is dangerous to stretch in between the warmup and the run.
• To keep your body straight, imagine a string pulling on the top of your head!
• The legs and ankles should be relaxed, so that your feet flick up behind you, as if they're going to hit your bum.

Islam is very hot on God's power, uniqueness and mercy. Logically however, it has a much lower emphasis on God's justice, holiness and love. I heard a sermon illustration along these lines recently:

Suppose you came home to find a burglar had invaded your house, 
had raped and killed your wife and killed your children.  The burglar was caught
and came before the judge who said, "It has been proven that you did this terrible
crime.  But I am a judge who is full of love and mercy, and so I forgive you and set
you free.  What would you think of that judge?  He may be full of mercy, but he is 
certainly not just.  He shows love to the criminal, but not to you or others.  Far from
seeing that judge as being godly, you would see that judge as evil together with
the criminal he pardoned.  This is the case with us - we have hated, we have lusted,
and should God just wipe these sins away?  Our hate and greed have contributed 
towards terrible wars and atrocities.  To suppose God's standards of justice are as
low as we need them to be, is to make God in our image.  No, God is absolutely holy
and God is absolutely just.  Of course, he is absolutely loving and merciful too, and
Christianity bridges that seemingly unbridgeable gap with the marvellous 
intervention of God in Jesus Christ.

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be
yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in 
them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It 
was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have 
now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the 
Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

More than that, as in Psalm 119:27: "Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works". As we discover God's character, and his precepts, even the way of his precepts, we discover more about his way or working. Does this tell us about the devotional life of the old testament prophets? Is it a high water mark for us? Can we aim at it to encourage ourselves of what is possible?