Saturday, February 19, 2011

My "non-spiritual" post....or not!

I started Running awhile back.

Anyone that knows me from back in the day...honestly, anyone that knows me now is fully secure in the fact that I am not a runner.



Something happened about a year ago. My wife, Sarah Lynn, started training for a 10k. She loved it, she had more energy, and she started encouraging me to run.

Now...like I said, I am not a runner, I dislike,, no hate, no LOATHE running. I decided to give it a try though and something miraculous happened.

I DIDN'T DIE

You may laugh, but seriously, I thought I might after the first couple of steps down the street.
I wanted to go back to the comfort of my warm house, soft couch, and Roadhouse BK Biggie big thing!

I trained and I ran the race, I loved it, I mean REALLY LOVED it.

I knew I had crested a hill in my life, I was going to run. Then something happened.

The Race was over.

No more training, no more fear of embarrassing myself whilst running, although more than one lady with a stroller passed me, super ego boost...yeah.

I stopped. quit totally gave up!

Sarah Lynn kept running, it was awesome! She is amazing and will do laps around me, I love it.

I was having a Galatians 5:7 moment...who cut in on me...I was running a good race.


So slowly, ever so gently, I started nudging myself off the couch again and putting one foot in front of the other at something other than a snail's pace...to me at least!

I love the word PERSEVERE, it is my word that gets me Amped! It makes me think of all the cool car chase scenes, Braveheart, anything that shows people overcoming things!

per·se·vere-
Continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or no
indication of success.

and that is what Paul does that for us in the scriptures, he calls us to Persevere!

He says, in Philippians 3:12-14 "Not that I have already
obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal,
but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus
took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider
myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do:
Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has
called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."


Following Paul’s Example, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead! YES YES YES! Strain, Push, put your shoulder too it, Move mountains, we can do it through HIM who gives us strenght!



I love Paul's writing. He has just said before that everything that he had was okay, no RUBBISH! compared to knowing Christ and being found in Him! He says all that was GARBAGE, TRASH, NOTHING, when held up to a relationship with a loving Savior, and he starts running. He presses on through trouble, hardship, beatings, reprimands, people not having faith in him, and runs with perseverance the race marked out before him.

This is a call to action for all of us.

Don't be lulled, deceived, fooled into living a mediocre life, live a life running...and running to do something more than just stay in shape.

Run in such a way as to get the Eternal Prize!

PERSEVERE

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a thought. Running a bigger "race" and doing it with perseverance!

Thanks

Merriam said...

For me, the key to persevering at running is to add a little fear. Sign up for a half marathon. You can do it! 8)