Run Your Race

I heard Shark Tanker Robert once say " A goal without a deadline is just a dream"... It stuck with me a bit. I have dreams. Things I want to do and see done before I leave this planet earth. But often times the voices in my head say... " nope, you can't do that",  "You could never do that",  "You don't know how to do that...who do you think you are?" Before I know it, I am believing that I can't do it or question whether it would it even make a difference if I did. So I don't set any goals or deadlines and then it becomes "just a dream". 

I was running with Annie the other day and somehow I got to thinking of why I run or what made me start in the first place. I began running years ago as a research project for school. The one semester I took in college before I dropped out. It was a health class and I did a paper on fitness. As part of the research I began running a mile a day. I set goals, had a deadline and saw some results. But that wasn't the first of my love of running. 

I think it all started even further back when I was in junior high school. My P.E. Teacher came to me and asked if I would be interested in participating in an upcoming track event? She said she had watched me run during class and saw great potential in me. She needed another runner for the 400 meter event. At least, that's what I think it was ( it was a very long time ago after all). I remember having to run a lap around the track. I didn't think I could do it or at least do it well. It wasn't "my thing", I wasn't on the track team. That voice in my head "who do you think you are?" But what that one P.E. teacher did for me that day was give me confidence that I could.  She encouraged me to "just do it" as the ole Nike slogan would say. 

I trained with the team for that up coming event. The day came, the deadline. It felt strange to be out in this new arena I was foreign to.  My teach came up to me and without any pressure just smiled and said "You will do great, I know you can do this." That was all I needed to hear to encourage me to get out there and give it my all. And that I did. I ran as fast as I ever had. I would love to tell you I set a school record and the trophy sits in a case in the hall to this day. That the crowd went wild. But, I honestly don't remember how I placed or even my time. I know I didn't set any records nor was there a trophy. I do remember crossing that finish line and nearly puking my guts up. I also remember that I did well and the sense of accomplishment I had that day. The fact that I didn't fall or throw up in front of everyone even though I wanted to was a bonus. It was worth it. 

It wasn't anything that made a huge difference for our team, our school or any earth shattering records broken but it was a life changed in a sense because one teach said to a student "I see something in you and I know you can do this". Maybe that is the day I fell in love with running. Maybe what sparked a dream. Not a dream to run the 400 meter in the Olympics but to run with a passion. To run the race marked out for me. To not listen to the "cannot's" or "it won't matter's".

God has used my running to show me the Christian journey is much like a race. It's a marathon not a sprint and we all run our own race at the pace He has given us. I can relate so much of my spiritual journey with running, dreams, goal and deadlines. He gives me the strength to do and if it's His Will- it all matters! 

Many years since my Junior High running career,  I still have dreams. Dreams of purpose and passion to make a difference while on planet earth. Some things God has placed on my heart to "just do it".  And it's amazing how He will use people to coach me and say "you will do great, I know you can do this". I can even look back on the last few years and see where He has been preparing or training me for some of those dreams. I get excited. I don't expect to set any earth shattering records. But I trust God will use this race I am on for His greater purpose. 

I'm sure you have dreams also. You can do this!  Set those goals and make a deadline. I'm doing that today too. I am putting my goals on my planner and a deadline to see those goals met. Sometimes, it's just putting one foot in front of the other. One step at a time to get to the next leg of the journey. Yes, you might even feel like puking. But just do it. You will do great. I know you can do this. Run your race! 

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”

1 Corinthians 9:24 NIV

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”

1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIV

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,”

Hebrews 12:1 NIV