Training for the Olympics

Wow! Have you been watching the Olympics? It is so amazing to see all of those young people who have trained, disciplined themselves, sacrificed and worked so hard for these few days.  I am so proud of the American teams they are doing so well. We have rooted for them and watched to see how many gold medals they have won. They are our team and they are making us proud.

I don't think I am disciplined enough to ever be in the olympics (don't laugh you probably aren't either). I used to jog when I was younger. I would run 2 miles in the morning, go by my sisters pool swim a few laps, shower and be a work before 7:00 am. Now I run to the bathroom, go by the kitchen to get some coffee, shower and get to work when I get there. Boy, how life changes. But when I did jog, I had to discipline myself with my breathing, pace myself, hydrate myself, wear good running shoes, and much more. I was a little disciplined then.

I may not be that disciplined in my exercise area now, but I do want to be disciplined enough to run the Christian race. In I Corinthians 9 it talks about running the race. It encourages us to run that we may obtain the prize. It is one thing to win a gold medal, but another thing to win eternity. Runners who are striving to win are temperate or self controlled in all things. They discipline themselves to win a crown or prize that will decay or pass away. But we run to obtain a crown that will not pass away, but one that we can lay at the feet of Jesus as we worship Him. Paul says he runs not as one who beats the air or in uncertainty, but one who keeps his body under subjection, disciplined lest after he has preached to others He himself should be a castaway.

We must remember everyday that we are in a race. They may only do the Olympics every 4 years, but we run everyday. We never know when the race will be over. We never know when we will cross the finish line. So we must not get weary, we must pace ourselves and keep our eyes on the prize. It would be awful after we had run for so long and encouraged others in the race, that here close to the finish line we begin to look back, slow down or even stop. We must keep the pace, we must keep the faith, we must run with everything that is in us. Run to obtain the prize. Your reward is waiting for you and what a wonderful day it will be so the Jesus face as He crowns us and then we can take that crown and lay it at his feet. It will be worth all the sweat, the tears, the struggles, the battles, and every obstacle we had to overcome to get there. So RUN MY FRIEND, RUN!