Running in the Light

Nice and cool this morning.  Yes!  I think it was 57 degrees at the start and 64 at the finish.  Nice running weather.  Bright sunshine and blue skies.  Thanks to the sun I had a running buddy today.

Great analogy today with my shadow.  Since I was in the light my shadow followed me throughout my run.  My shadow was always there.  Sometimes it was in front of me and other times it was behind me but it never left.  If I was running in the darkness I wouldn't have had my shadow.  This is much like when we take Jesus into our lives.  When we do this we are coming out of the darkness and into the light of Jesus.  Instead of having a shadow with us we have God with us.  So I choose to run in the light.

Talk to you later and keep Running with God.

Running with Freedom

It was a busy morning so I ran in the evening.  79 degrees but no humidity so not to bad for a September evening run.

Sun Set

 As I left the house things were vastly different from my run the morning before.  Yesterday morning was a struggle.  My mind was filled with thoughts and a battle was waging in my soul.  This made my running feel heavy.  It was as if I was dragging an anchor.  Tonight I was Free.  I was running and my body felt light.  It is amazing how quickly our mood can change when we listen to God and do what we should.  Tonight a certain bible verse captured my situation precisely.  

Hebrews 12:1

          Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great could of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.  And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

I had a choice to make yesterday.  I could have kept my struggles to myself and they would have festered and grown, but luckily God gave me a way out.  I am lucky to have a wife who loves me, in whom I have learned that I can share my struggles with and I have a friend that I can rely on when I am in need.  I have learned to use the people that God has placed in my life.

I am reminded of Ryan Hall the great american distance runner.  He has a book called Running With Joy.  It is a 14 week journal that details his preparation for the 2010 Boston Marathon.  In his book he chronicles how he grew in his faith with each run and how he was filled with joy as he finished the marathon.  He didn't win the race but he had achieved joy by not letting any of his struggles hinder him.  

Struggles

I left the house as the sun came up this morning.  74 degrees.  Not very chilly.  I had a hard time leaving the house.  Over the last few days there has been something on my mind.  I have kept it inside me and wasn't handling it very well.  I knew what I should do.  I knew what would bring me peace.  The Lord was telling me what to do, but there were thoughts in my mind that told me otherwise.  I started to fool myself and decided not to do what was right.  I had this on my mind as I left the house.  My body felt good as I started my run but as I continued to think about my situation the more I wanted to stop running.  I came close several times to just turning around and going home.  It was a battle most of the run.  I told myself what I needed to do but there were thoughts in my mind that tried to tell me that I shouldn't do what I knew was right.  

I didn't pray because I knew what God wanted me to do so I continued to make up excuses to not do what was right.  Near the end of my run I gave in to God..  I told God that I would just do it and get it over with. There were two bible verses that came to mind that helped me make my decision to do the right thing.

1.  I couldn't remember the exact verse but I knew the bible mentioned fighting like a person trying to beat the air.   That was what I was doing.  I was trying to fix a problem without using the solution that God had provided.  It cannot be done.  You can't beat the air and you can't fix a problem going against God.  I looked up the verse and found the following.

1 Corinthians 9:26
Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.

Wow the verse I was thinking about actually gave a running example.  Certainly as runners we do not want to run aimlessly.  Runners want to have a course and a goal.

2.  I also thought about Jacob wrestling with God.  This was what I was doing also. Mentally I was trying to come up with a solution to my problem that suited me. In my mind I was wrestleing with God desires for me.  If I would have just listened to God I would had a solution to my problem much earlier.

From a running stand point it wasn't a great run, but mentally I was in a much better state of mind after I decided to do what was right.

Running with God - The Goal



Good Morning

Started at 6:15 this morning.   I left the house at twilight and was treated to this view at about 2 miles.  Green grass, yellow wild flowers, light blue sky and orange sun, God is good.  

As I was running this morning tobyMac was talking to me and said "I don't want to gain the world and loose my soul".  It made me think about what my goals were for running.  I have some goals for the next six months but in the end do they really matter?  I think it is fine to have goals for distance and time but I can't let them become why I run.  The shirt I was wearing today puts my goals into perspective.

Philippians 3:14  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called be heavenward in Christ Jesus.  If I have the goal to please God with my running I will always be successful.  No matter what my goal for a race may be I will never fail.  What is more important, if I achieve a PR or that someone can see Jesus in me because I have a smile on my face or that I thank them for volunteering?

Talk to you later and keep Running with God.