Running the Race....and an Important Marathon!

“Let us run with endurance the race

God has set before us.” Hebrews 12:1

I am NOT a runner! I wish I was! However, I do enjoy walking…and hiking! I love, love, love being outside surrounded by God’s creation! I have walked many a mile through the years, enjoying the sun and talking to God about anything and everything!

Even though I am not a runner, I have been thinking a lot lately about running the race God has set before me. My ‘race’ has been pretty tough this past year…and I keep wondering…What does my future race look like? Where do You want me to run? Exactly how much endurance are You talking about, Lord? It has been a really hard race this year…how much harder is it going to be? How far have I got to go? How do I go about training more for this race? Ever ask these kind of questions when He starts talking to you about your ‘race’?

I have been thinking about some of the times we read about people running in the Bible. I can just see the shepherds running to Bethlehem to see Baby Jesus, the lepers running to the priest after Jesus healed them and the one running back to say ‘thank you’, Peter running to the tomb to see if Jesus had truly risen from the dead…These are just some of the examples that have come to my mind.

In all these scriptures, I can just imagine their excitement as they ran! I asked the Lord to teach me something from each of these situations in scripture.  I want to train for my race by learning from others in the Word.

Here is what I am thinking…The shepherds were eager to see Jesus and then to go and share about His glory with others! I know God is telling me that I should be so excited about His glory and greatness that I should “run” to share Him with others in my path.  Oh, Lord…may I do that for You! May my light be bright for You! May others see the reflection of Your glory and greatness in how I respond to life and your call on my life. This thinking process reminded me of one of my “life verses”. “You are a letter from Christ…this letter is written not with pen and ink but with the Spirit of the Living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts. II Cor 3:3 We are all letters reflecting something…We each have to decide what kind of letter we are going to be to the world!

The lepers were so excited to be healed…yet only one came back and thanked Jesus for healing him. Is He  reminding me to be so grateful for what He has done and is doing in my life…to focus on the good I can see, the preciousness of what I have had with Pete and not dwell on my sadness in missing him? I know the Lord still has a race for me to run even though I am not liking having to run it without my “running partner”! God keeps reminding me that just because I am having to run it now without Pete that doesn’t excuse me from the race! He still wants me to run and to run as hard as I can toward His calling on my life. Yet He gives us a choice in life…we can opt out of the race…but I don’t want to sit on the sideline! I want to be right where He wants me, I want to be used in this race…even when the race is hard!

Peter was overjoyed at the thought that his Savior had risen from the dead and ran to the tomb to find it empty! That was the next step in his journey to become a strong leader and conduit for sharing what Jesus can do. I think God is reminding me to remember the tomb is empty! My Savior lives, Pete is living with Him, and my job while still on this earth is to be a conduit, too, for sharing Jesus!

''I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward--to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back''. Philippians 3:14

I once read these words in a Tozer devotional: “The more we run toward Christ and the closer we draw to Him, the more we light up this world and become salt in it.” Oh, may we all be salt and light in this dark world!

Major Marathon news!!

Pete’s brother, Andy, is going to run a marathon in Columbia on March 9^th in memory of Pete. He is hoping that many of you will consider making a donation to Pete’s Mission Fund at Shandon Baptist Church (see information on the side above) as a way of supporting his efforts in running this race. This is a huge step of commitment and faith for Andy. Please encourage him with your thoughts, prayers and a gift to the fund if you can as he makes this wonderful effort to honor his brother! We have all been so touched with the many gifts to Pete’s Mission Fund and hope that this is one more way we can continue to provide opportunities for people to contribute believing, as Andy says, "that God will use these funds to advance His kingdom around the world".

Seeking to ‘run the race’….in many ways!

Stepping into the Jordan River!

I remember a long time ago when reading Joshua 3 that I was surprised that God had Joshua lead the people of Israel to the edge of the Jordan River and then camp for three more days!! Now they had been wandering in the desert for 40 years...it wasn't like they weren't ready to go, eh? But yet, Joshua obviously heard God say, "Wait"..He apparently needed to give them more instruction and that instruction was to "Sanctify themselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you!" I looked up sanctify and was reminded that a person is sanctified when he or she lives according to God's purpose and design...oh, what a challenge but oh, how important it is to me to seek to be sanctified! And in my mind, that involves seeking to grow deeper in love with the Lord by spending time with Him so that I can hear His voice whether it is loud or a whisper...and then I will know when he says, "Take the next step in this journey, Dear One!"

God said that the Jordan will not part UNTIL the priests step into the river! Only with that step of faith will the river part so the Israelites could go through. There it is again...obedience!

I read this in Streams in the Desert the other day. "The Israelites were not to wait in the camp until the Jordan was opened but to 'walk by faith' (2 Cor. 5:7). They were to break camp, pack up their belongings, form a marching line, and actually step into the river before it would be opened. If they had come down to the riverbank and then stopped, waiting for the water to divide before stepping into it, they would have waited in vain. They were told to 'set food in the Jordan' before 'its waters...will be cut off.' We must learn to take God at His Word and walk straight ahead in obedience, even when we can see no way to go forward. The reason we are so often sidetracked by difficulties is that we expect to see barriers removed before we even try to pass through them. If we would only move straight ahead in faith, the path would be opened for us. But we stand still, waiting for the obstacle to be removed, when we ought to go forward as if there were no obstacle at all."

What's your Jordan River? I know He is working on my wounded heart to teach me obedience in spite of my circumstances. I am seeking to be sanctified...and Satan is hard at work trying to not let me be! Sound familiar to you? I want to put my feet in that Jordan River and am planning to step on Satan on my down the riverbank!

Lord, make the waters part! Show me the way!