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Running This Race

This morning I was out for a run. Not long...only about 3.5 miles. I was very well-intentioned when I started. I wanted to be done in 35 minutes or less. I started off at a nice pace. Everything was going well. I even heard a few neighbourhood shouts of encouragement. Until...

...I saw an unleashed dog. It stopped me in my tracks. I didn't know whether to go forward or to turn back. For a few moments, I was paralyzed. Dog-lovers might not understand my reaction but my fear of dogs has been a lifelong thing (I had a bad experience...).

Nevertheless, I decided to continue rather than turn back. I still had a little less than three miles to go. Slowly, I began to walk until I was assured that I was of the dog's eyeshot. Then I picked up the pace again.

Unfortunately, the ease with which I ran that first half mile never returned. I struggled through the rest of the run. I never regained my momentum. I began running timidly, wondering if I would see another unleashed dog and thinking maybe the next time I encountered a dog it would attack. You have no idea how happy I was to see my house, knowing that I had finally finished.

As I was running, it became clearer and clearer why the writer of the book of Hebrews analogized the Christian life to running a race. It is a struggle, but if we stop or turn back, we'll never make it across the finish line.

After I passed the dog, I thought so much about how I could easily have let my fear of what the dog might do to me overcome me and send me home. How many times have we let fear of the unknown keep us from completing a task that God has set before us? How many people do we know that have started this Christian path and stopped or turned back because of some obstacle?

The truth is, there will always be obstacles? But we, like Christ who for the joy that was set before Him endured a very large obstacle: the cross in order to fulfill God's purpose in His life (Heb. 12:2). Christ is our example. We can continue until the end because He gives us strength.

I learned something else from my run...taking my mind off my goal disrupted my momentum. Similarly, taking our eyes off of our Heavenly goal will through off our momentum. Instead of trusting God, we will be waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. Let us be careful to run this race well. It is not convenient at all. Just the act of continuous running takes a level of determination that comes only from our Heavenly Father.

The race set before me, might not have the same obstacles as the one set before you, but run we must if we are to get our eternal reward.

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