Moments

  During this training I have ridden my bike in some scorching heat.  Sometimes it feels like my brains are cooking inside the bike helmet.   Today, it was raining.  I was scheduled for a four-hour ride but the lightning kept me in the house until later in the morning.  It was still raining.  Out on the highway, the wind was in my face.  The rain increased.  It was pouring.  I could barely see. What a changed from the heat of only yesterday.  Then, I turned a corner and the rain and wind stopped.  What was left was a wonderful cool ride. Sometimes life gets like that.  We go from burning up, to getting drenched.  We want to just give up and give in.  But no!  We are God's children, "beautifully and wonderfully made," created in His image.  Of ourselves we have nothing to boast, but with our lives vested in Him, we can ride through the fire and the rain, unto that greater day He has promised.

  One morning as I was running early, I started to feel weak.  The legs felt trembly like  they were made of jello.  My strength was gone and I felt like I used to on the last mile of a marathon: completely spent.  There was no good place to  lay down on the side of the road, but I wanted to; wanted to badly.  Besides, I knew I must keep moving back to the vehicle.  Once down, I knew it would be hard to get up and moving again.  So I kept moving back toward the vehicle, one step at a time Life can be like that.  Life drops a bonk on us sometimes and we get a jello-legged spirit. We want to just lay down and quit: escape at all costs.  But God did not call us to lay down.  He told us to "run the race that is set before us."  He didn't say run the race if you feel good and are not hurting.  He didn't say drop out and escape the pain.  He called us to run, jello legs and all.