Not the Fastest, But I'm Running

Matthew 26:31 Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night..."

               ...35  Peter said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!"

We've been in Riverside, CA the past few days and it's been a little bizarre.  We're staying with my good friend Kyle, who works and lives on the campus of California Baptist University.  My alma-mater.   And as we've been here it's caused me to be a bit reflective.

You see the last time I was here, I thought I was doing pretty good in life.  I would have considered myself a well rooted tree.  But I was giving myself too much credit for how fast I believed I had grown.  I was more of a sapling.
 

I felt like a super Christian.  Invincible.  Ready to take on the world.  But I wasn't.  Soon after being here I began to wear away.  All the things that I believed brought me here, weren't really adding up, and it affected every part of me.  I thought I covered it up pretty well.  I didn't.  I was sad.

Tuesday, we went to go see Dave, my ceramics teacher.  He and I always talked a lot about life and God and he was always pretty blunt about things, but it never bothered me, I welcomed his truthfulness.  As soon as we walked through the doors, I was glad to see his bearded smile.  We caught up a bit and he was excited for our journey and the path we're on, and he was glad to see I was happy.  And not just happy, but once again contented in the Lord.  And he even let me pick out a piece of his to commemorate the occasion.

It was a beautiful symbol of God's promise to those who call themselves His children. 

And as I set out for my run this morning, all of these thoughts came rushing into my mind.  Being back made me stop and take a look back;  back to where I was, and where I've been.   And as my feet hit the pavement, all of my running I've been doing began to make sense.  It was a metaphor.  An image of the spiritual course that I've been on.  And that's what caused me to reflect on the verses I started this post with.

I never would have imagined that I would have denied Christ in my life.  Maybe it wasn't verbally, but there wasn't much in my life during my stint at Cal Baptist that showed I belonged to Him.  But praise God He never gives up on us.  He didn't give up on me.  Now I'm firmly rooted in Him, back on track for where He wanted me to be.  And I feel so blessed to be used by Him both now and someday when we get to the Philippines.

We're all part of a race, and we can't expect to get to the finish line in a day.  It takes discipline and hard work.  And I wouldn't change the sweat, and sometimes tears, that it takes in training to make it to the end.  And I may not be the fastest, but I'm running.  And some day...I'll get there. 

(P.S. I wrote this out a few days ago, but I thought I would also add that this was also the day I finally got over my hump in training and completed 8 miles!  I was glad to have done it there.)