Running This Race

I've had no absence of thoughts lately about the life I'm living, and the race I'm running. I guess these are just some of my thoughts on my life verse: Hebrews 12:1-3.


"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses...."

We have fellow Christians at every side, those who have already run the race, and those who are running with us. Those who have seen Christ work, and have seen lives changed, and those whose eyes are just being opened to his works and his people in need. We are surrounded by Christians who struggle in the same ways we do, with doubt, with fear, with pain. Who often think about the same things we do, our future, the people around us, what to believe. People who are there, just like us, to talk to, to be talked to, to listen, and to listen to. If we don't realize that we're running the race TOGETHER, we will fall down. We will be overcome with the ache of isolation and will only realize that we are running in place. We will not get anywhere. We will not reach anyone. So, we cannot run alone.

"....let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles..."

Instead of looking back at the ugly things we've done. Instead of remembering the dirt that's been dealt to us, let us THROW it OFF. Let us erase it! Our slates have already been wiped clean, we are constantly given a second chance. A third chance. Even an eight-hundred thousand, three-hundred and ninety-second chance. God forgives. If we don't forgive ourselves, if we don't forgive OTHERS, if we don't move on and focus on the task we have, we will trip and fall in our tracks. GOD FORGIVES. We all fall short, we ALL mess up, but we are all given the chance to CHANGE that, to get up, and try again. If we get up with the same attitude, we get tangled right back up in what got us down in the first place. And we can't keep beating our heads against the wall! We MUST throw off everything that hinders. There is absolutely NO way we can run a race, if we carry a load larger than life. Give it up. Let it go. Leave it at God's feet. Completely.

You will run with more freedom and strength than you have ever run before.
"....and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us..."
Perseverance. We must be steadfast on this race! To quote the dictionary: we must be "resolute and unyielding holding on in following a course of action." We cannot run this race half-heartedly. We must be wholehearted!! We must have endurance and never give up. This is our life we are talking about. This is our purpose! We must run this race, for Jesus Christ, to shine as a light of who He is and what he has done, to further his kingdom and make him known among ALL nations, and to set an example to others of how we should be living, as imitators of Him alone!

So, perseverance is ESSENTIAL! If we fail to endure, if we decide to stop running, it means we are losing sight of our goal. We are forgetting why we are running. Maybe we need to stop for a drink, and catch our breath, but we cannot stop running for good. God will fill us

Persevere. Don't just walk. RUN THAT RACE. Be committed. Be dedicated. BE DEVOTED! For heavens sake, be enthusiastic and passionate! This is a race you are running to share eternity with Christ! So be steadfast and unwaivering. You have the strength, you have the arms to catch you if you trip and fall, what do you have to lose? Don't hesitate! Start running!


"....Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God..."

Why are we running?
We are free! We have been set free by the of Jesus, so we have everything to run for! We are running to be with him! We are running to find those who need him, and to find those who have not heard of his greatness! So that we can all run together... We are running because we are CALLED to run. We were made to run.
But, we are only able to run because Jesus has already run before us, and he has already prepared the way. We are free runners! Let's go!
"...Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

If we don't pace ourselves, our running will wear us out quickly. We will lose heart and fall.
God gives us the strength to run, and shows us the road to follow, even if that means going through valleys. If we follow Christ's example, if we live the way he calls us, he will set our feet on fire. If we trust him, if we give our lives to him, he will show us where to go.
But this means we must give him our WHOLE life. As Romans says, "Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

Don't burn out! Keep yourselves fueled and on fire!

Prepare your heart. This race will be a hard one. It will be full of trials, but also full of unspeakable joy. Remember, this is your life, this is your purpose. Be alive!

Let's run this race!

Sunrise

If I had the chance to go back again,
take a different road,

bear a lighter load,
tell an easy story. . .

I would walk away
with my yesterdays
and I would not trade what is broken
for beauty only.

Every valley,
every bitter chill
made me ready to climb back up the hill
and find that . . .
You are sunrise!
You are blue skies!
How would I know the morning if I knew not midnight?

You’re my horizon,
You’re the light of a new dawn.

So thank You, thank You,
that after the long night,
You are sunrise.


There’s a moment when faith caves in,
there’s a time when every soul is certain
God is gone.
But every shadow is evidence of sun.

And every tomorrow holds out hope for us.
For every one of us.

You are sunrise!                   
You are blue skies! 
How would I know the morning 
 if I knew not midnight? 

You’re my horizon! 
You’re the light of a new dawn!  

So thank You, thank You!
           That after the long night, You are sunrise. . .  

You alone will shine.             
You alone can resurrect this heart of mine.

                   You are sunrise. . . 

-Nichole Nordeman "Sunrise"

Waving Goodbye

So, today I decided to pay a visit to my grandma. I know I should more often. I always put it off for some reason or another. Okay, I'll be honest: I know exactly why I always put it off.
My grandma's memory has been going for a long time. And even though I know that she has no control over it, it always hurts me when she forgets who I am, or forgets what she's said minutes earlier. She always recognizes me, and that I am SO grateful for, but I don't think she always realizes that I'm her grandchild.


Well, I really felt like I needed to go see her today. So my dad and I hiked the few blocks to her home. We visited with her for 15 minutes or so, since she was getting ready to go to lunch, and then took a short walk with her.
She said the things I usually hear from her, "My you're growing so! You're taller than me now!" and "How old are you now?"


Then she surprised me with a new one, with tears filling her eyes: "I can't believe how beautiful you are." And even though she forgot and said it again a few minutes later, it really got me.
REALLY got me. And so for the remaining few moments I had with her, I couldn't stop thinking. Despite all the things that happen, growing older and forgetting more and more, something strikes me: even with age, comes experience, comes forgiveness, comes a deeper meaning of love, comes more appreciation for the things that REALLY matter, comes thoughts about time, and comes floods of memories.


As we walked out, my dad told me to turn around. There was my grandma, waving at me. We kept walking, but my dad told me, his mom has done that has far back as he can remember. She waves up until the very last seconds she's with that person. I don't know if it's just her acknowledging their presence; my dad said he honestly didn't know why.


But I there I went thinking again (something I do quite a lot). It makes sense, acknowledging someone and making every moment count with them until the last second when they leave. Think about it. What if that time happens to be the last time you're with them? It's honestly, a kind of scary thought, I know, but seriously, we have no idea what the future holds, and what will happen. How long we'll be here, or how long the people we know will either...


It just made me think about what thoughts I leave with people, how much I treasure them, and what I can do to make every single moment count. Sounds sappy, yes, but next time someone waves to you. Think about it. You encounter every person for a reason.

Struck

Okay, I'll make this real quick, since I have to finish packing for summer camp today.
Yesterday evening, I decided to take a walk with Annie. I had already walked out the door, and realized that I had forgotten my cell-phone. I normally call friends when I'm walking my dog, just to take a break from my own life, and see what's going on in someone else's. But today, I guess, God didn't want me to take my cell-phone. Either that or I was too lazy to go back in the house and get it. I'm thinking it was more the former reason.
Anyhow, I stopped for a minute and said a quick prayer. I really needed time to be still, and let God flow over me. Boy, did he ever.

I didn't really feel it until I kept on walking. Instead of going the normal route, down the quiet, undisturbed end of our neighborhood, I went the other way. Ironically, our whole neighborhood (including the usually noisy, angry end) was rather peaceful. As I turned the corner, I noticed my hispanic neighbors playing in their yard. The dad kept on picking up his daughter, spinning her around with him and then landing her gently back onto the seat of her bicycle. I was approaching them, and to be honest, was feeling a little embarrassed walking right through their lives, just watching what they were doing. But as I neared the dad, I made the split-second decision to smile. Just smile.
And what came next surprised me. I don't know why it did either.
But the dad just smiled back. I don't mean a side, put-on-a-happy-face, smile. It was real, happy, and extremely genuine smile. It was meaningful in a way that proved me wrong. Proved to me, that not everyone hides and puts on a smile to make sure the world thinks they're happy.
For some reason, it just shattered everything I had previously expected from this person, and gave me a whole new perspective.

Makes me think about how truly narrow minded I can be. How I just EXPECT my world to always be against me, then I'm totally surprised when I find out that it's not always so horrible as it seems. And that other people are going through things too. That I'm not the only one.
Sometimes the world can be downright awful, and really push my optimism down the drain.
But I'm not one to leave it there. I can be incredibly pessimistic sometimes, but not a day goes by that I don't look into the future with hope, with confidence, and with determination.

To bring out the good in the world, and make known who makes it so good. Who made everything.

So, I kept walking. Now, I had already become washed over with a new perspective on life. Not in my own life, but actually someone else's (without talking on a cell-phone).
As I got about half-way around the block, the breeze starting blowing through my hair. It was one of those seriously PERFECT breezes. The perfect temperature, the perfect ferocity, and the perfect setting. Everything about it made me close my eyes, and drink it in.

I seriously couldn't believe how amazing it felt. I felt like God himself was raking his fingers through my hair, like he was holding me. And I don't think I could even describe how it made me feel. I completely forgot about everything I was going through--my struggles, my worries about the future, everything. And only one thing came to my mind--the one person I had been hoping would come, and wash over me, and just put me at peace--God. My Savior. My Refuge. My Hope. My Redeemer. My Father.

And all the things that I was thinking about and stressing over, completely dissolved. I was able to just STOP, be STILL, and think about the fact that my life was in His hands. I felt so helpless, but yet, at the same time, so loved. So cared for. So at home.

I finally came to the last turn around my block, and I turned around for a moment.
The sky was open, and the clouds lined in procession, were making way for the sun.

I gazed at it for a few minutes and just smiled. All this for us. All these wonderful people who come into our lives. All this beautiful creation to explore and maintain. All the experiences we go through in order to become closer to our Maker.

I often wonder why I don't stand dumbfounded and amazed at all of it everyday. Why I can't see how amazing God is DAILY. Every MINUTE, every SECOND of every day.

No breath without his giving it to me.
And that is humbling.
I was struck.

Inspiration

I had it all together in words while I pondered it earlier. But now, it seems that those sayings of seemingly deep importance, words that I feel would have made even the most intelligent minds stop to think, have floated off to some place... somewhere deeper. They will probably be stirred up again later, but in the present moment, it seems unfair! To have such words in your head, that remain long enough to spark intrigue, and determination, and inspiration, but then are pulled away before your mind can wrap its fingers around them to inspire others.

I often wonder if I have the same thoughts others do. I don't mean just simple, everyday thoughts.
Can I have thoughts that no one else on this earth can have?
If this is true, it makes the frustration of forgetting those deeply important words, even more discouraging.

Sometime it's incredibly hard for me to get my feelings across, especially my own words. How I feel, what I've experienced, what I love, who I am.

I have found a way to make it a little easier though--a way to get a least a piece of my mind across the void. Sometimes one person can't express their thought about something adequately enough. Since some people share their own thoughts, the people who do express their words adequately can spark the minds of those who have forgotten, and make their unspoken thoughts shine.

It is enlivening to hear the words of people who don't think the way I do, who are completely opposite of me, and who bring something to the table that I've never thought of.
But I am always sparked by the people who think the way I do, who write the way I want to, and who see things in the depth that I see them. People who perceive things differently.

When I read these individuals' writings, I feel like I have finally found something who has touched the depths of my soul--found someone who knew what I was thinking, and wanted to show me what they had already found.

So I can do the same.

You Can Shake The Mountains

Freedom comes in the morning time
as the sun begins to shine on my face,
and even in the dark,
I'm not alone.

You guide me by the hand, you won't let go.
And I know you'll carry me when I can't walk.


And you can shake the mountains with a whisper
And you, you speak, and
I fall at your feet

again.

You burned the chains off of my feet, that held me to the ground.

You let me rise,
don't ever let me come back down
or even live a day apart from you
'cause you lifted me higher than my doubts and fears.

And you can shake the mountains with a whisper
And you, you speak and I fall at your feet.
And you are so beautiful.
And I am so in love with you.


You, you lead and I will follow close behind.

Now I'm waiting here for you
and don't be far away tonight...

Lead me to the place where I can go and find rest
'cause I'm so tired.

And now let me feel your breath on my face.

You can shake the mountains with a whisper
And you, you speak and I fall at your feet
And you are so beautiful,
And I am so in love with you.

You, you lead and I will follow close behind.

-Lifehouse

Waves Crashing Over Me

It's time for healing, time to move on.

         It's time to fix what's been broken too long.
                           Time make right what has been wrong.

It's time to find my way to where I belong
       There's a wave that's crashing over me
            
And all I can do is surrender.

Whatever You're doing inside of me, 
             it feels like chaos but somehow 
                                             there's peace.

It's hard to surrender to what I can't see, 
                      but I'm giving in to something Heavenly.

Time for a milestone,
     time to begin again,
            re-evaluate who I really am.

Am I doing everything to follow Your will
              or just climbing aimlessly over these hills?

So show me what it is You want from me
I give everything I surrender to
          whatever You're doing inside of me.

It feels like chaos but somehow there's peace.
             It's hard to surrender to what I can't see, 
                        
                      but I'm giving in 
                                to something Heavenly.

Time to face up, clean this old house.
            Time to breathe in and 
                                 let 
                                    everything 
                                             out

                             that I've wanted to say for so many years.


            Time to release all my held back tears.

Whatever You're doing inside of me, it feels like chaos,
             but I believe you're up to something bigger than me,
                                          larger than life... 
                                                  something Heavenly.

Whatever You're doing inside of me,
        it feels like chaos but now I can see that 
                               this is something bigger than me,
                                         larger than life...
                                                 something Heavenly.
Something Heavenly.

It's time to face up, 
     clean this old house.



Time to breathe in
                   and let everything out.

Whatever You're Doing // (Sanctus Real)