The Endurance Mile

It's hard to always run by myself.  I miss having someone to push me, to encourage me, to chat with, and to press through the difficult moments with.  I may not have someone in the flesh, but I never run alone!  The Holy Spirit uses those runs to talk to me, encourage me, and build me into the person I am meant to be.  Every situation and circumstance leaves something to learn from.  Today the word was endurance!

I am not competitive, just ask the Fiji LIFE Runners, I just don't feel the need to beat anyone.  The only competition I ever have is with myself and honestly I have to really push to compete with myself!  Today I had an 8 miles run and I decided to throw a PR mile in at the end.  The very last mile of my run today was very hilly so I put the PR mile in at 6 mile mark.  I gave that mile my all, I pushed hard as I could after already running a fairly decent 6 miles.  My pace was good despite a bit of a hill and I just concentrated on not losing my footing and my breathing.  At the end of the mile I fell 2 seconds short, but who is counting!  No PR today!  Then I realized that PR mile didn't matter, the mile that mattered sat before me.  The last mile, the mile I had left to hit the finish when I was already spent!  That was the mile that built character, that was the mile that proved that you still had more left to give when you had already given all you had!

As I steadily jogged that last mile I prayed for strength and endurance.  I needed to be carried home because my legs were done, my heart was tired, and it was hot!  But step after step I had the strength to go on.  I made it to the very end, and that is because I never run alone.  God ran with me, taught me things, and carried me when I needed carrying.

His ability to teach us endurance falls over every aspect of our lives, especially his call for us to ministry.  Some days its so hard, standing up for life in a world that embraces self and little else.  There is so much darkness it would be easy to just crawl back into bed and pull the covers up and give in, but then what.  Women would continue to be damaged by abortion, innocent lives would continue to be snuffed out before their time in the name of convenience.  See there is one simple truth, a truth so obvious it is mind boggling to me that anyone ever supports abortion.  No woman's right to convenience EVER supersedes another persons right to life!  Never!  Then will come the arguments about rape and children who will not be born perfect, and still I say that we are not the ones to decide life or death over another.  It has already been shown that women who choose life for their child following rape never regret choosing life, but those who choose to end the life of their innocent child after such a tragic event are even more broken and often struggle not just with the rape but with the guilt of the life they took.  Every life matters, and that includes the innocent children conceived in rape.  As for the 90% of babies who are aborted simply because they have a diagnosis of Downs Syndrome, well that speaks of the selfishness of our time.  Who are we to judge who is worthy or less worthy of life.  God created every last single one of us.

With the lies of Planned Parenthood being exposed there has been a growing anger rising from the public to see an end to their funding, but an end to Planned Parenthood is still not enough.  Until we decide that ALL life is precious and we all fight to protect it, abortion will still fracture our society leaving broken families, scarred women, and generations cut off too early.  Endurance is the only thing I have to keep me going.  My legs are tired, my heart is weary, but I will not give up.  I simply can't.....

2 Corinthians 12:9
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.