Running

As I am sitting here, I am jamming out to the worship set that we are gonna be doing this Sunday - and I am excited about worshipping with my family at South Bay this weekend.  All I can say is I expect the praise team to bring the pain (or the nuts, as some of them would say :)

This morning, I was suppose to go to the gym in my neighborhood and work out (lifting weights sucks) but luckily I couldn't find the card to let me into the gym, so I had to go for a run instead (much more enjoyable).  As I was running, I was praying and asking God to speak to me, and one of the many things that I love about God is that He is so faithful at taking the natural and making them supernatural.  

I have been trying something new in my running routine.  Instead of just jogging 3 or 4 miles, I am trying to do intervals.  I run hard for a few minutes and then jog for a few minutes and then run hard, and so on and so forth.  This has challenged my legs and stamina in a great way, and has made running a challenge again, which I appreciate.  Well, this morning, I was struggling to keep the pace and my legs just wanted to jog, not run hard, so I began to pick objects out and I would run to them (a car parked at the end of the street, or a fire hydrant or something).  This helped me, it gave me somewhere to go, something to aim for, and it took my mind off the immediate.

As I was just being, and asking God to speak, all of a sudden, a little light came on, and I heard His Spirit whisper into mine, that this is true in life as well.  That I need to focus on things down the road, not the immediate.  While the pain is real, and the desire to do what is easy is sometimes overpowering, it becomes easier to overcome if we look at the things ahead.  Maybe this is what the author of Hebrews is talking about when he says that we are to run with endurance the race marked out for us, and we are to fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith.  

I was challenged this morning to stop looking at the immediate, and look to the future.  To see how the immediate is nothing more than a step in the direction of where God is at, as He pulls me into His presence, and prepares me for the future.  Sometimes is hurts, sometimes I don't want to run, sometimes I am willing to run but I want it to be at my pace and sometimes I am ready and willing to give it my all.  But, if I don't think about how I feel, and the surrounding circumstances, but I look to Jesus, and I run to Him with all that I have - each step becomes purposed in a passionate pursuit of the face of God.  

That's what I want.

That's what I need.

That's where I am going.