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I’m driving across the country.
By myself.
Something I said I wouldn’t do again.
Ha. That’s funny.
I really need to stop saying that I’ll never do something. Because it seems like I end up doing it again someday.
Anyway, The Lord has already shown Himself to be faithful in the time I’ve spent on the road.
In times when I wasn’t sure if I was on the right road, a sign would show up saying I was headed in the right direction.
This road trip is all about trusting Him.
I’m at Sammye’s house right now–hanging out with her and catching up with her. It’s been a blessing and an encouragement so far.
So I did something on Sunday.
Something that went down in history….well, my history anyway.
I ran my first half marathon!
It was hard. Harder than I was expecting, but hard enough for me to endure.
I ran it in 3 hours and 10 minutes. And the whole time I was thinking about the Race.
I was remembering how I got to the point of being able to run 13.1 miles straight. It took a lot of hard work. A lot of dedication. And a lot of resting in The Lord and His strength. I saw something through to completion.
But it wasn’t just finishing.
It was finishing in my time and in my way.
There were A LOT of people who had a much faster pace than I did.
I was slower.
But in my slow pace, there was a spiritual lesson The Lord wanted to teach me.
He wanted to show me that it’s not about how fast I run. It’s all about the journey and truly enjoying the path I’m going down.
In the half, I was running the Race and focused on it. But I was also able to really enjoy where He had me–my surroundings down by the Bosque, hot air balloons flying in the air, snails creeping across the trail. I was running along at my pace so that I was able to run, able to breathe. As other people passed me by, instead of feeling like a failure, I felt encouraged. They ran at their pace, and I was doing what my body was able to do. The Lord was pushing me.
And that’s the way life is normally. We’re all going down our own paths. Sometimes they cross. And sometimes there are people really far ahead of us. It would be really easy to take our eyes off our own Race and get discouraged that we’re “falling behind,” because our pace different than theirs.
That’s why The Lord has been speaking “Set your gaze on Me. Don’t stop looking at me. Keep your eyes on me.” Because as I run through this life, I need my eyes to be on Him so that they’re not on anyone else.
Dad, running the half was hard. But I’m so glad that I did it. I’m so thankful for the lessons I learned along the way.
The half wasn’t the end of the journey of running. Instead, it’s just the beginning. I’m going to keep running. I’m going to keep doing races.
Why?
Because The Lord has made me a runner.
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