Run!

Every one of us is running in our own lane on a track that has been created by the choices and decisions we have made in our lives. Each day we awaken we have a choice of how we will run our race. Some days we are energized and feel like running fast toward our hopes and goals, other days we may feel sluggish and move at a snails pace while still keeping our eyes on the prize but feeling like its a million miles away. Then there are the days when we feel like we are running backwards and not moving forward at all. Where the only scenery we can view is what lies behind us and we can no longer see the future prize because we have lost site of what lies ahead. Of course then there are the days where we believe we are running along fine and all of a sudden a hurdle is placed before us. Some are tall hurdles and require a lot of extra effort to jump and then others are smaller hurdles that just become annoyances but we still have to get over them before we can move forward. But as 1 Cor. 9:25 tells us “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.” I believe we are responsible for our own “training” by reading the manual (Bible), getting proper nourishment (Prayer) and paying attention to our coach (Jesus), who is there is keep us on track, in our own lane, and running our own race. We may not always have perfect running form, especially while jumping over those hurdles. We may trip on them or even knock some over, but as Heb. 12:1 tells us “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” We must lay aside “every weight” of insecurity, unfaithfulness, doubt, discouragement, anger, hatred, etc. that can hinder our race and push us off track. No matter how awkward, slow, and even lost we feel sometimes in our lane we must run with endurance, keeping our eyes ahead on the prize that Jesus Christ has waiting at our very own finish line.

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The analogy of the word RUN came to me during a time of personal worship I had a few years ago. It was one of those rare days when for reasons I cannot remember I found myself home all alone without any children around and Tim at work. When this occurs I love to play my Christian worship music really loud and sing, praise, and pray to God. On this particular day while I was praying, God gave me the word RUN. It was not an audible voice but just that knowing within your spirit of a word spoken to you. I continued my prayers and then went to my Bible and looked up all the scriptures that I could find with the word RUN in them. I wanted to understand what was being spoken to me.

After I had finished my time of worship, I decided to call Tim at work and tell him about my wonderful morning and time with God. I proceeded to tell him how I knew God had given me the word RUN. I was extremely excited to share this information with Tim. However, without even acknowledging anything I had just told him, Tim immediately went into a conversation about how he had gone and picked up our new license plate for our car that morning. As he spoke, I just sat silently on the phone feeling disappointed, unheard and a little sad that he was not more excited about my hearing from God. But being polite, I just continued to listen to what he was telling me. As he continued on and I continued to try and pay attention, he told me that he had to get a new license plate this time and could not renew our old one. I did not ask him why this was; I really was not interested to be honest. But, he went on to say to me “you will never guess what the new plate says”, trying to act interested I just replied “what” and he told me our new license plate spells out the word R.U.N.

Our God is a very good God!


Hebrews 12:1:
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

1Co 9:24-27:
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Stepping out of the Boat!

It was about 16 years ago that I finally accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Even though as a young child I can remember talking to God at times, I never really knew exactly who I was talking to. I had heard people talking about God and believed He was real but I had that typical vision and fear of this mean old man sitting up in the clouds looking down and watching every move I made. Looking back now as a Born Again Christian I realize that He was always there for me, possibly the results of past generations of Christian’s who had the vision of praying for their future generations Salvation. I do know that I had a great, great, grand uncle who was a Methodist Minister and who knows, he may have planted the seed for all of us in my family. That little tiny “knowing” within us that there was more to our lives then what we were experiencing as unbelievers.


Whether it was that great uncle or something else that kept resurfacing within my life that lead me to my own personal knowledge and Salvation in Jesus Christ, I am overwhelmingly thankful. I know today without a doubt that what He did on the cross for all of us is the utmost truth and this gift He gave us of eternal life is more precious than anything we could ever have been or will ever be given.


So, this brings me to the purpose of creating this Blog. I currently find myself at a point in my life where I am not exactly sure in what direction I am headed. I have been given a gift of some time off of working outside of the home and all of the stress that I have experienced over the years that it brings. I do not take this gift of time lightly. There were many days when I was working that I can recall sitting at my desk and thinking how I wish I could just be home to find peace within myself and have more time to pray, read my Bible and worship God. I also wanted time to be able to get my health in better shape and start feeling good again. This is why, like I said, I am not taking my time off lightly. But as I have been enjoying those things that I had thought I would never find time to do, at least not at this age, it has reopened another tiny seed that I believe was planted in me at the onset of my Salvation and that is the seed to work for God. You see, I have worked MANY jobs outside of the home since the day after I graduated High School and I have never been satisfied with any of them. I have always wanted more. What that more was I have not known or at least would not admit to myself, let alone anyone else. How could I ever admit that I wanted to somehow in someway work for Jesus? I can come up with all kinds of things people will say as to why I should not be an “employee” of Christ. But through all this time off I have been growing in confidence and more importantly, hunger, a hunger that outweighs any insecurity that says I cannot be part of His Ministry. What exactly this Ministry will be I have no idea. I just know that I must “step out of the boat” (Matthew 14:29-30) and face those waves of insecurity and doubt and trust in His word that “and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). Because, you see, we are ALL called according to His purpose. This means that I can have faith and hope that He has a plan for me, a future working in His office. What department I will be hired to work in I do not yet know. But, I do know that I have a job. Right now I am in training; I am reading the Office manual, I am filling out the paperwork and I have already signed on the dotted line of His contract that He will never rescind or make devoid. All I have to do is show up and God will direct me to my new office.

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Matthew 14:29-30
29"Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"

Romans 8:28
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,[a] who[b] have been called according to his purpose.