Are you running fast enough?

Lisa and I had lunch with a friend, and leader of the class we are in at church on Sunday, and he ended up sharing an idea that had been bouncing around his head for a while: "If at some point during the race, you don't think you'll be able to finish it, you're not running hard enough." He was talking, mainly about races that we set out to do. "fun runs" as you will, that are something you can do with your extra time. Though when you pull it away from ACTUALLY running and apply it to "life as a great race" then it brings up some things to think about. I don't run, so I can say right now that every real race I have started out on has made me question if I could finish it.

In life though I grow from being pushed into doing things I either 1. don't know how to do, 2. kind of know how to do, or 3. am volunteered for. It's rarely the tasks that I set out for myself that cause me the most growth. (This is why most of us have bosses at work...)

 If something lands in your life where, right off the bat you know you can't handle it. Bring in God. If you think you can handle it... bring Him in anyway... (or you could let Him stay out until it get's too be too much and THEN let him in...) God knows us and knows what kinds of races I can run. He's not going to give me a lap around the track, when what he knows I need, to really push myself and realize God has given me more, and God can give me EVEN more, is to send me on a marathon. I'm not going to be done in four minutes for my brief little mile. Nope. My marathon is going to take HOURS, and many times I am going to question if I can finish or not.

Encouragement: when you see someone running with something hard let them know that God is there to help, and so are you. Just because it's my race doesn't mean that others can't help me. And for you, when you're running and you find yourself wondering about the feasibility of staying in, instead of dropping out... hang in there, call on God to give you strength and show you how to get to the end.

Maybe the end is right around the corner, maybe a team of folks is about to show up with encouragement, or maybe God has something even better. The trick is to keep running.

I honestly feel like I haven't stopped running since five year ago. I've gotten a few breaks (which have been their own races...) but I have yet to finish this race. You have been here to help and encourage me... but I want you all to know that the day I cross the finish line I want to throw quite the party.

~B.
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