Perseverance

Today I was running on the trail on Cherokee Blvd, and was met by God in a fairly strange way.

He enabled me to run when I couldn't anymore.

It was hot today. I started running, and I started fast. My first mile was in 6:20. When I am in shape, on a cloudy day at maybe 60 degrees that works, but it doesn't on a sunny day at 85 when I'm out of shape. So I lasted maybe a mile and a half, and took a walk break. I ran somemore, then took another break. Eventually I started sprintint up the hills and walking down them, because I couldn't move once I got to the top. With 1.5 miles left, I wanted to see whether I could just jog it the rest of the way in. I lasted 80 seconds. I really just couldn't move anymore. (I ran the hiils really hard, and didn't have any water until I could get back.) But anyways, with about a mile left, a quote entered my mind. It is "a godly man perseveres not on his own strength but on God's."

I don't know what happened, but I realized that this run could look a lot like the Christian life. It hurts. I had gotten to the end of myself. But I still needed to finish. So I stopped walking and ran that last stretch. It wasn't blazingly fast, proably around 7 minute pace, but I don't know of I mile I have ever ran that included that much pain. I repeated that quote through my mind the entire six minutes and sixteen seconds that I was running that stretch. I finished. I finished with a pretty good sprint at the end, but I didn't have anything left.

So I left realizing something. The run in and of itself mean very little. I ran. Big deal. But, I think God showed me something about the nature of Christian perseverence. God can enable perseverence, and as Christians we should have faith, and know that He can do it. I need to translate that into my fight against sin.

A godly man perseveres not on his own strength but on God's.

Lord, make me a godly man.