Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run…
Okay. That’s enough to make me stop there. Run? Me? I hate running! I have some friends that just came specifically into Nashville to run in the Music City Marathon. This is crazy to me! Run? Much less pay to run? Who in their right mind would do this? Running is for dogs. Well healthy dogs anyway. Lately things have been a bit difficult for my husband and I. We have 2 dogs that we absolutely adore. I completely understand now when people say their dogs are like their children because I feel as if I would do anything for my dogs. We don’t just have dogs-we have big dogs. One is a 120-pound Alaskan Malamute named Rio who looks to be about 200 pounds because of her fur. Lisa, who played drums for me at Connection actually referred to her as a polar bear recently. She is every bit as beautiful as this breed can get- very smart, independent and man oh man does she have a dominant, stubborn nature. Our other dog, Forrest, we adopted about a year ago. We’re not quite sure what kind of dog Forrest is. He looks to be a boxer mix of some sorts and is literally half of Rio’s size. Forrest is an energetic, fun-loving dog who is eager to please, always ready to run…….ugh! There’s that word! Run! And that my friends is where the trouble begins….
We brought Forrest in for his yearly vaccinations, and as we were waiting in the room my veterinarian comes in and says, “I have some bad news.” Not really the words I was expecting to hear. I was thinking, “what? He has fleas? No big deal.” Nope. This was something else. My sweet Forrest has heartworms. How is that even possible since he’s been on heartworm medicine as soon as we got him? My sweet boy was diagnosed with something that I knew was expensive to treat. We have a baby on the way! Spending exorbitant amounts of money on our dog was not really something we were expecting at this point. Not only is it expensive to treat, but also after treatment there is a long hard recovery period. Ugh.
….with perseverance the race marked out for us…
For those of you that don’t know heartworms are transmitted through a mosquito and primarily affect our canine friends. Heartworms are treated by giving a dog 2 different shots that are really harsh on a dog’s system. They give him one shot on one day, keep him overnight to monitor him, and then give him one the next day. After giving him these shots it is now our duty to make sure Forrest remains still and calm for the next 6 weeks. SIX WEEKS!?!? Are you serious??? This is my little dog that loves to run and has the energy of 5 of my malamutes rolled into one. Keeping him still and making sure his heart rate doesn’t go up is very important because during this time, as the heartworms are breaking up, Forrest could throw a clot if his heart rate gets to high and it could kill him. Oh. I see. So there is purpose in keeping him calm for 6 weeks. We can do this. By the grace of God we can do this. This means we have had to choose to keep him indoors. We have had to choose staying home over going out of town so that we could make sure he was okay. We have had to choose to walk him on a leash when he goes outside to go to the bathroom instead of just letting him run out there. We have had to choose the hard things. We all have a choice to. We can choose to persevere and endure. It may feel impossible but this is how it is done. This is how we run this race:
…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1,2
That’s how I feel in my walk with God sometimes. Sometimes the daily life-the perseverance part can get me so bogged down to where I definitely don’t feel like I’m running. Maybe I’m going at a turtle’s pace, but then again the turtle did win that race in the story about the turtle and the hare. (Rabbit for those that don’t know what a hare is. I know? Why not just say rabbit?) =) Let’s look at why the turtle won the race though…the turtle won because he stayed on the path. He kept racing towards his goal-the finish line. The rabbit got sidetracked and decided to go off the path and take a nap and lost all track of time until it was too late, and there was no way he could win the race. The turtle won because he kept going. He kept his eyes on his goal. It is the same with us. No matter what the pace in our journey with Christ, if we fix our eyes on Jesus we will reach our finish line. I love that word “fix.” It doesn’t just say keep your eyes on Jesus it says fix, which means to become stable or permanent. With our eyes permanently set on Jesus we can stay on the path and achieve our goal. The only way that Michael and I are able to endure going through this with our dog Forrest, is to keep our eyes on the end result. To throw off or get rid of those nasty worms that entangle his heart so that he can run again, we must endure and persevere through these 6 weeks by keeping our eyes on the end result. At the end, he will be better and healthy and finally able to run again! Praise God that our journey with him is this way. To get rid of the things that slow us down and the sin that keeps us from racing, sometimes we walk, sometimes even crawl but with our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ we will run again. We will “run and not grow weary,” we will “walk and not faint” as it says in Isaiah 40. The only way that Jesus himself was able to endure the cross was he kept his eyes on the end result. He knew that in the end death would be defeated as he sat down at the right hand of the Father. It is finished. Let us keep in mind too dear sisters and brothers in Christ that this life is not forever. It may seem like it, but it is quick and even our most trying times will be worth it if we keep our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. Praise the Lord that as we run this race we are not alone! There are many racers alongside us. I was so grateful to meet many of you at Connection this year and look forward to the day when in heaven we can gather around our Savior’s throne and look at each other and shout about our own race- it is finished! Then we will bow before the One who has gone before us and marked out the finish line. In the words of the song Our God by Christ Tomlin that we sang at Connection: Our God is greater, our God is stronger, our God is higher than any other, Our God is healer, awesome in power-our God! Our God! And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us. And if our God is with us than what can stand against?
Let us fix our eyes on Him!
