26.2

     I ran a Marathon! Yes I did it.  It seems like forever ago but it was only a year.  Just to make it clear, it was 26.2 miles.  It was one of the most challenging and fulfilling things I've ever done.  And every step closer to the finish line made me understand why Paul compared the Christian life to a race.

I probably took off too fast and didn't replenish enough early on.  It's easy for us to take off too fast in the Christian life and not replenish early on.  What I mean is, early on we tend to survive on the euphoria of being in the race and don't feed on God's Word.  It's easy to burn out quickly.  

There were times I wanted to quit.  Leading up to my race I ran into all kinds of obstacles (pun intended).  I met people who thought I was stupid for running a marathon.  You'll meet people who think you're stupid for following Jesus.  I met people who doubted I could finish the race. You'll meet people who will question your ability to stay faithful.  And you will meet those special people who are thrilled you are getting in the race.  They drown out the doubters if you listen.

     During my race there were a few times that I wanted to quit!  The course was too tough, they weren't enough encouragers, I thought I wasn't strong enough.  

     Nearly every runner in a marathon hits "the wall".  It's usually around 19 miles and it affects every runner differently. Some runners' bodies give up on them, some just get really tired or discouraged.  I was really focused on not hitting the wall at 19 miles.  When I started to see that wall coming, at just the right time, I made some friends! I caught up to a husband and wife who had tons of experience and a  good attitude.  The husband had run 25 marathons!  His wife had a little more experience with 40!  They encouraged me that it could be done and they took my mind off the struggles.  When you want to give up in your Christian life, if you're patient, God will send help at just the right time.  

     Like I said, I avoided the wall at 19 miles!  It was great, but then like a ninja the wall jumped out of nowhere and roundhouse kicked me in the spleen at 21 miles!  No one was around at the time, no other runners or crowds cheering me on.  It was quiet and I was alone and the only voice there was my doubt.  I came the closest to quitting at that point.  

     I know too many people who have quit the race with Jesus with just a few miles to go.  A few things kept me in the race and I'm confident the same will keep you in the race with Christ.  First, I knew others had gone before me.  I knew that people had completed the race.  I knew people like me had finished.  I knew I had friends and family that were looking for me to finish.  I couldn't let them down.  I made a decision to start the race and I was going to finish. And finally, I remember thinking, that Jesus went through so much physical pain and didn't quit when he had every right to.  

     So remember, there is a great cloud of witnesses that has gone before you that is cheering you on. There are others counting on you to finish. A lot of it boils down to making the commitment and sticking to it.  And most importantly, there's Jesus.  He has won the prize and won the war and gives you and me the privilege to run with him and even receive the winner's crown.  I was nowhere near the front of the pack, yet when I got a quarter of a mile from the finish and heard the people cheering, I began to hold my head up higher and felt my legs grow stronger.  I began to run like the starting gun had just gone off.  And when I crossed that finish line to the cheers of a great cloud of witnesses, I raised my hands in victory.  I finished  and you can too.

A little thing...Big Difference.

In 1840, Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was alarmed by the number of babies and mothers dying in the maternity ward in his Vienna hospital.  The fact that was more alarming was that one particular room had a death rate three times higher than another room in the same ward!  The room that was so deadly was staffed by medical students whereas the other was staffed by midwives.  He struggled over the problem until the cause came to him.  The medical students were coming to the delivery rooms straight from dissecting the human bodies in their anatomy classes!  They never washed their hands!  Once they started washing their hands the death rate in the maternity ward dropped to under one percent!  

Dr. Semmelweis was cheered as a hero and promoted among the ranks of his fellow physicians.  Oh how I wish that were true!  The sad truth is the good doctor was ridiculed by his colleagues.  He soon resigned his position because of the shame and even though he repeated his practice in a new hospital with the same great number of saved lives he died in 1865 still ridiculed for his stance on hand washing!

It's amazing how one small act made all the difference in the lives of countless women and children.  Doctors took a few moments to wash their hands and lives were saved!  It's interesting to me that people are dying all around us; not just outside but inside the church.  So many lives could be saved if we would just wash.  A few moments in God's Word everyday would help to cleanse our minds and our hands.  Ephesians 5:26 reads, "to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,".  The Word cleanses us!  It definitely cleanses us in the early stages of our relationship with Jesus because Romans 10:17  says, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." But it doesn't end there!  God's word cleanses us daily!  Spending just a few moments in God's Word every day can be the difference between life and death.  Be washed, be clean and live!

James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

1. Do you see the difference in your life when you don't read God's Word versus when you do?

2. Do you have a set time to read the Bible everyday?

3. Pick a time everyday that will be your time with God and His Word.

4. Tell someone about your commitment.

Loved beyond measure.

I just heard about a child that was born without a brain.  The more unbelievable fact is that the child lived.  Even more so, is the fact that the child is two years old!  The little boy's brain stem is intact which controls his breathing and the basic activities of life, but he does little else. Sometimes his arm will flail and the family holds out hope that he's learning to wave.  The reason they hold out hope is there are some brain cells on the stem, so it's hard to say what he is capable of or not. 

 

Do you want to know something almost as amazing?  The child is adopted.  His birth parents did not feel that they could handle the stress of raising a child that could not function on the lowest levels and could die at any time.  So a family that has a reputation for foster-parenting children like this boy, took him in and eventually adopted him! Amazing, they knew his struggles, knew what lay ahead and still took him in.  According to a friend that has met the family, they shower love on him, though often with little response.  The boy that was unwanted became wanted and loved beyond measure.

As I listened to this amazing story, I was hit between the eyes by the fact that this child's story is not so different from my own.  I seemingly had nothing to offer, was unlovable in the eyes of many and yet still I was loved.  Jesus looked at my sin-filled life and in spite of what I had done he looked to who I could be.  His child!  He adopted me, took me into his family and made me one of his own. He showers love on me though I can never repay Him or truly give back to Him like he's given to me.  It's good to know that there is still hope for the unwanted.

Read:      Romans  5:8;   Galatians 4:4-7