Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Run Your Race with Endurance

This morning I decided to go to the Duke Wall for my 1.6 mile walk before my doctor's appointment later today.  I hadn't been to the Wall or to the gym in over a week so I wasn't quite sure how much walking I'd do before I started gasping for air.  Since I am a heart failure patient, I know what the difficulty in breathing feels like----especially during exercise.

TODAY WAS A GOOD DAY!  I experienced very little shortness of breath and surprised myself at how well I was walking.  But about five minutes into the walk it started pouring down raining.  At that point, I had to make a decision:  "Do I turn around and go back to my vehicle to go home (or to the gym) or do I just keep it moving?"  I decided to keep walking.  After all, it was only rain.  It wasn't like I was walking in a hurricane!

That brings me to this point:  If you start something, you should always do your best to finish it.  You'll either be successful at the end or (if you fail) you'll learn some valuable lessons to help you start again (and perhaps in a different direction).  If you stop in the middle of what you're doing and  turn around to go back in the same direction you just came from, you'll never know what could've been.  Your journey will be incomplete.

Today I was determined not to turn around and go back.  Had I stopped I would've never experienced that feeling of accomplishment---knowing I could make it around that wall without stopping or breathing profusely.  Furthermore, I would've never known the joy of feeling the rain on my face and being in tune with God.

Hebrews 12:1-3 New King James Version (NKJV)

The Race of Faith

12 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the [a]author and [b]finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

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