Getting Back on Track

Today I was wondering...Why is it SO easy to get off track?

I guess it's just something about our human nature that makes us get distracted. In one of the old hymns it says "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love." How true is that? We are not just prone to wandering in our Christian walks but also in the day to day mundane things of our lives.

Back in September my husband and I moved to Saint Joseph, Missouri, to start a new ministry. Over the past couple of months things have been going absolutely great in the youth ministry. We are really holding tight and not straying from the path God has laid out before us. We even had a really fun event on Friday night that had a much bigger turn out than we expected.

However, we were sub-consciously allowing ourselves to wander in other areas. Since we moved our routine has been disturbed and the first things to go were eating healthy, exercising and living by our budget. We realized these things at different times. At the end of last year we took steps to try and get our budget back in order, but it wasn't until the last week or so that we have really been trying to find the path of eating right and exercising again.

The hard truth is that once you wander off the path it is SO hard to find your way back. I think this is for two reasons: #1 Laziness - you know how hard it was to get where you were before and how much work it is going to take to get back to that point and you are just to lazy to put forth the effort and/or #2 Excuses - Let's face it...it's easier to make excuses and find other distractions to fill our time. If we aren't thinking about what we should be doing then we don't feel guilty about it.

So pray for me and for Jimmy as we try to get back on track. We will pray for you as well. We all have those things in our lives that we need to get back to. So this week ask yourself, do I want to? Because if you do then God is faithful to come alongside you and help you with the rest. You just have to ask.

Learning to Run

One-one thousand…two-one thousand…three-one thousand… I count while I run to keep my pace. I feel my clumsy feet hit the feet with each word. I breathe heavy and feel like I am going to die but finally my time is up and I can literally gasp for relief. Betcha didn’t know that I was a runner, did ya?
For the last three weeks, I have been learning how to run. Yes, I have run short distances before and I played games as a child that required running, but not like this. In three short weeks I have progressed from absolutely no running to running for three minutes! It sounds so small; try it if you don’t believe me! It’s hard! The first time is the easiest but when you do it in cycles (walk, run, walk, run, etc.) for 30 minutes, each running session gets harder no matter how long or short it may be.

Running takes focus and determination, especially if you aren’t that good at it yet. The more focused I become the easier it is to “go the distance” and the less clumsy my feet become, but get me started thinking about how tired I am or how much I would rather be inside taking a shower and suddenly everything changes! In an instant I am breathing harder, sweating more, tripping over my feet more, and wanting to quit.
For the first time in my life, I think I fully understand what Paul was saying to the Galatians…

“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?” Galatians 5:7

They were running smooth and steady and growing in their Christian walks, but then they got distracted and lost their focus. They began to let their minds wander and they confused fact for fiction. Soon they were tripping up in their walks and making silly mistakes. Some of them even quit trying all together. As Christians, we must focus on what’s important so we may run a good race. We want to please Christ and finish strong. We can’t let the world cut in and distract us or we will not obey the truth.

Run a good race! Keep your focus! Follow Christ!

What a joy to be able to say…
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7