He's racing and pacing and plotting the course
“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize…”
How often does my rearview mirror catch my eyes looking? How often does my body and mind lose stamina as it sprints toward the finish? I wish I could say that my spirit man was fatigued yet stronger because of the cost of discipleship and the race I in. But the reality is that many times he stops. Too many breaks. When the run gets hard, mind-numbing, or purposeless I stop. I stop. I stop and I look back. I look back and I consider all that I have already accomplished. No need to be in a hurry, lets not rush too much, I mean look how far I have come…
Lifting weights is a tedious task that takes so much time. No, it does require a lot of time because each grueling set of bench presses, curls, or the occasional sit up takes up so much time. The reality of it is that lifting weights takes so much time because of what happens between sets. Most of the time is spent in front of the mirror or walking across the gym for yet another drink of water. Take a trip with me: You just ripped off another set of 8 reps on the bench press and you have a good “man sweat” going (Ladies I apologize for all men ahead of time, mainly for thinking man sweat is a good thing) and you prop yourself up in front of a wall of reflection. Now, get into your pose position…nope bring your arm up a bit to show off your bicep. No, no, no, more like you are about to scratch an itch on your head…ah that’s it. Now you turn to walk away. Come on just one more look at the gluts…perfect. Its sad really, grown men flexing, posing, captivated by the man looking at them from the mirror. Praise God He has blessed me with one of those figures that does not require long looks in the mirror to determine that is not Schwarzenegger looking back at me and more importantly the occasional sit up needs to turn into one of those habitual habit things!
That is very indicative to how we run out our lives. We take breaks, we slow down, we reflect, sometimes we stop all together. Paul is just simply reminding us that the race that we all know is life, the sweat, the pain, the tears they are all worth nothing compared to the prize awaiting our finish. Paul had some serious spiritual definition. He had endured some great and heavy things. Paul was even lucky enough to be born with a great natural spiritual physique:“… circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.”
And here is the best part: “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” And here is Paul, no longer counting the steps he has taken, but counting the steps until he’s finished and he sees his creator and wins his prize…
Life is grand in BiH. I have been here four months now and God is rocking my world with His continued provisions in my life. My best friend here in the city, Rudy, is moving to Sarajevo to attend university. This is bittersweet. Rudy is the kinda guy that will do great things in his life and will make a difference in this world. An education is the start of that. However its sad to be losing my friend. He is the hub in which I work out of. I fear life in BiH will be like when George and Elaine decide to hang out without Jerry and they realize that the only thing they have in common is Jerry. To break the silence and boredom of the situation they began telling stories of when Jerry did this or said that. I have a lot of friends here, but Rudy is that glue that holds it together, so hopefully I can press on! Language is yet another concern. I fear I am getting dumber…I find myself trying to gather thoughts end up floating around in some kind of linguistic purgatory where even the saints themselves cannot pull me from. I think English, Bosnian, Spanish, 6th grade French, and sometimes some kind of pig Latin that I am not familiar with. It seems that as my Bosnian gets better, my English gets worse and for those of you who know me and have talked to me, that is a bad thing… But God has not left me hanging and he is allowing the people here to be patient and insightful as I sputter off incoherent ramblings. Praise God for His provisions. I will be going to Austria on Sunday and will not return for a week and a half. When I get back I will be sure to let you know how awesome Europe is and what God is teaching me. Until then…
How often does my rearview mirror catch my eyes looking? How often does my body and mind lose stamina as it sprints toward the finish? I wish I could say that my spirit man was fatigued yet stronger because of the cost of discipleship and the race I in. But the reality is that many times he stops. Too many breaks. When the run gets hard, mind-numbing, or purposeless I stop. I stop. I stop and I look back. I look back and I consider all that I have already accomplished. No need to be in a hurry, lets not rush too much, I mean look how far I have come…
Lifting weights is a tedious task that takes so much time. No, it does require a lot of time because each grueling set of bench presses, curls, or the occasional sit up takes up so much time. The reality of it is that lifting weights takes so much time because of what happens between sets. Most of the time is spent in front of the mirror or walking across the gym for yet another drink of water. Take a trip with me: You just ripped off another set of 8 reps on the bench press and you have a good “man sweat” going (Ladies I apologize for all men ahead of time, mainly for thinking man sweat is a good thing) and you prop yourself up in front of a wall of reflection. Now, get into your pose position…nope bring your arm up a bit to show off your bicep. No, no, no, more like you are about to scratch an itch on your head…ah that’s it. Now you turn to walk away. Come on just one more look at the gluts…perfect. Its sad really, grown men flexing, posing, captivated by the man looking at them from the mirror. Praise God He has blessed me with one of those figures that does not require long looks in the mirror to determine that is not Schwarzenegger looking back at me and more importantly the occasional sit up needs to turn into one of those habitual habit things!
That is very indicative to how we run out our lives. We take breaks, we slow down, we reflect, sometimes we stop all together. Paul is just simply reminding us that the race that we all know is life, the sweat, the pain, the tears they are all worth nothing compared to the prize awaiting our finish. Paul had some serious spiritual definition. He had endured some great and heavy things. Paul was even lucky enough to be born with a great natural spiritual physique:“… circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.”
And here is the best part: “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” And here is Paul, no longer counting the steps he has taken, but counting the steps until he’s finished and he sees his creator and wins his prize…
Life is grand in BiH. I have been here four months now and God is rocking my world with His continued provisions in my life. My best friend here in the city, Rudy, is moving to Sarajevo to attend university. This is bittersweet. Rudy is the kinda guy that will do great things in his life and will make a difference in this world. An education is the start of that. However its sad to be losing my friend. He is the hub in which I work out of. I fear life in BiH will be like when George and Elaine decide to hang out without Jerry and they realize that the only thing they have in common is Jerry. To break the silence and boredom of the situation they began telling stories of when Jerry did this or said that. I have a lot of friends here, but Rudy is that glue that holds it together, so hopefully I can press on! Language is yet another concern. I fear I am getting dumber…I find myself trying to gather thoughts end up floating around in some kind of linguistic purgatory where even the saints themselves cannot pull me from. I think English, Bosnian, Spanish, 6th grade French, and sometimes some kind of pig Latin that I am not familiar with. It seems that as my Bosnian gets better, my English gets worse and for those of you who know me and have talked to me, that is a bad thing… But God has not left me hanging and he is allowing the people here to be patient and insightful as I sputter off incoherent ramblings. Praise God for His provisions. I will be going to Austria on Sunday and will not return for a week and a half. When I get back I will be sure to let you know how awesome Europe is and what God is teaching me. Until then…
posted by Adam Jones at 8:12 AM
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