Pro 13:4 The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.

As runners, we all have different routines that we go through. Unless, it’s the weekend or an off day, or a day when my schedule gets tossed around, I get up in the early morning to run. I usually get up, drink some carrot juice with barley green, fix myself a cup of coffee with stevia and cremora, put on my running clothes, grab my Bible, sit down on the sofa with my mug and Bible, pray and read, and enjoy the waking moments with God. Then I eat a tablespoon of chia seed. Not to long after that, I put on my running shoes, lace them up, get my car keys, water bottle, head lamp, and pepper spray. I then get in my car and scurry to meet my friends at our normal meeting spots. In the car on the way to our meeting spot, I watch closely for deer along the way as to not to hit them. I also know that a police man is waiting on a particular corner every morning, so of course I try not to speed. The point is, I and many of you are creatures of habit and discipline. Runners are generally disciplined people.

In our personal walks with God, we must also be disciplined. Just as we make sure to get in that daily run and follow our normal routines, we must make sure to spend some time with God. If we quit running a few days, it is hard to get started back. The same thing goes for spending some time with God. If we take time off from Him, it’s easy to go through our days and skip that personal time that is so good for our souls. God is gracious, and He does not want us to feel guilty for missing a quiet time with Him. He is full of love and grace. He is waiting with open arms for us to talk to Him and seek Him out through His word. I promise, if you take time for Him, you will want to spend more time with Him; your time will not be wasted. If you are a person who spends time with Him daily, I urge you to continue in this discipline. If you are someone who has never really thought about spending some time with Him, try it by reading some of the Bible, I suggest the book of John to get you started, and just talking to Him. Let’s all take the discipline of following Jesus and run with it!

Psa 139:1

O LORD, You have searched me and known {me.}

Psa 139:2

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.

As runners, often we can feel misunderstood. Our desire to run is a mystery to some. Others say that they could never do it because they do not have time. Now we know that they do have time because if we can wake up at 4:00-5:00 am to get in our run, they can too. Some say that we are crazy for getting up early to run, or taking our lunch hour to run, or running in the late evening hours. Family and friends can even try and give you a guilt trip for running. However, your running friends understand you. They understand your mindset. Don’t get me wrong, running should not consume us to the point of forgetting our other priorities. All in all, there is nothing wrong with you taking a daily run.

God understands us all completely. We all have issues in our lives where we feel misunderstood or alone, even when we are surrounded by people. We feel as though no one quite understands our intentions, our emotions, our desires, our dreams, our feelings, our way of doing things, our mindset, or our ideas. However, there is One who understands us better than we understand ourselves. That One is Jesus, God , the Holy Spirit. If you have these feelings of being misunderstood, know that He understands you. If you do not know Him intimately, ask for that intimacy with Him and give Him your feelings of being misunderstood.

Psa 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"

Running has a way of quieting the soul, a release of all of the world’s noise. I have always enjoyed the aspect of quieting myself while I run. When I do this, I have rhythm and I do not worry about the time, the pace, or the distance. Instead, all of those details just happen. However, this is not always the case for me. Some days, I am so focused on the time,the pace, or my form. This all becomes a hindrance, and I lose that harmony that I can have with the run. Yes, all of those details are important, but when we lose our sense of “being still” in our run, we lose the reason why many of us began running.

We do this many days with God. We are so concerned with trying to “figure out” how we can adjust this or fix that. We consume our minds with the “what ifs”. As humans, we find it hard to be still and trust in God’s work. First, before we can be still and know that He is God, we must surrender ourselves over to Him. We must ask HIm to help us to be still and listen, because in our chaotic world, being still and listening can be difficult. Try it. Be still before the Lord and know that He is God.

1Pe 5:6

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

1Pe 5:7

casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Sometimes running in Georgia weather can be tough. The humidity can feel like it swallows you up. The air feels so think that you feel as though you may not get enough air to breathe next breath. The pressure in the air makes the run feel so intense. Your lungs seem to almost suffocate. The humidity tests your endurance, your lung capacity, your drive to keep running. Then you go out on another morning and the humidity has ceased. You feel that you can run forever and the air feels abundant and your lungs feel open and free.

In our daily lives, we sometimes feel that we cannot breath because of the various anxieties, circumstances, and tasks in our lives. We allow the anxieties of the mundane to take over us, and we forget that we have air. In fact I can recall sometimes just saying.. “ I feel like I can’t breath”. This is a terrible feeling, because life is not meant to crush us. We have Jesus to give our anxieties too. He cares for us, and wants us to find our peace in Him. He wants to help us to get through our days without feeling breathless. Christian, remember He cares and wants your anxieties to be given to Him. Pondering runner, He desires to take your anxieties. Ask for His help so that you may breathe again.

Psa 150:6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

As runners, we have the privilege of enjoying God’s creation. As a runner, in the area in which I live, I enjoy seeing different wildlife. Many days, I have seen deer run out in front of me or on the the other side of the road or path. I have seen a few wild turkey, a heron, various types of ducks and geese. I have spotted beavers and otters in a lake. I have sighted armadillos, opossums, and foxes. To my dislike, I have seen slithering snakes. While running in South Africa, I had monkeys swinging back and forth above me in the trees. I have not run with lions though, and I do not think that I would want to have that experience. Many of you have perhaps seen bears. Of course, we have all seen domestic animals along the way.

I am amazed at all of the wild life and how each one has his own niche. The animals always spark my curiosity. I like to think about how they each know how to survive and inhabit their homes.

Sometimes, when one doubts God’s existence and creation. I think that just by watching animals live and exist, one can begin to ponder and believe in God’s creation. Each creature praises the Lord by it’s vary existence. We can be in awe of God’s creation and how He creates everything so perfectly to bring Him glory!

Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

Isa 32:18 My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.

As runners, many of us run all but one day a week. Our bodies are so in tuned to daily

running that if we skip a day, even on our rest day, we may not feel up to par. Another time that we tend to take a break and ease up on milage is before a big race. We want our bodies to be at their best for a race or a long run. When we give our bodies a rest, many times we feel refueled and ready for the race or the new week of running.

In our daily lives, we also need to take breaks. We rush around all week. We are busy at work, overtime, church, taking the kids to their sports practices, studying, meeting with family and friends, paying bills, going on errands, and the list goes on without end. Sometimes, we even feel guilty to take a break and rest our minds and bodies. I feel guilty because I know that there is so much that I still must get done. However, if we give ourselves a Sabbath rest, as God desires for us, we will be refueled and ready for another week of business. Whenever, I give myself a break, I never regret it, so why should I skip out on this priority? Let’s seek God when it comes to rest. He wants us to feel our best as we serve Him. Without rest, we cannot function at our best. I challenge us all to take a weekly rest. Even God rested!

Eph 4:16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Isn’t it strange, how when you are running, your whole body can feel great, but you may have one little ache in your toe or a sudden pain in your knee, and this slows your whole body down. Your body needs all of the parts to work properly to help you run. You can run with small injuries, but when one part of the body is not in tune, it seems to affect your whole body. Other parts begin to overcompensate and then you grow tired and weary because you need every part to run efficiently. In order for our bodies to function properly as a whole, each part must be in fine tune. Each body part plays an important role in our running and all daily activities.

This is the same for the body of Christ (His children). He has given each person a gift to add to the church as a whole, the church being the family of God. When one person is not able to contribute his/her talents and gifts the way God intended, the whole body is suffering. When we all use the gifts and talents that God gives us to contribute to the whole, the church functions with more harmony. Christian, are you contributing yourself to the body to help it function properly, or are you making it work harder than it should? If you do not know how to help out in God’s family, ask God to show you. He desires for you to use the gifts and talents that He has entrusted you with. There will be greater joy and satisfaction when you are part of the functioning body.

Gal 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

For about a week, the rain poured down. In fact, I have never experienced so much rain until that particular week. My friends and I had been trying to get out early in the mornings to get a run in and beat the day’s storms. We made it all but a couple of mornings. One day during the week, we were running in the afternoon after work. We began our run in a drizzle, but then a down pour began. Now, these downpours were frequent occurrences on this particular day, but we had decided to run anyway. We kept contemplating if we should turn around or not. Nonetheless, we ran about three miles in the downpour. I felt like a child again. We laughed and laughed at ourselves running in the rain. I felt so free like nothing could stop us and nothing was keeping us from this fun. We only went three because my friend’s baby was with us and a little thunder began to roll.

On my way home from that run, I stopped at our local park and got in another half of a mile in the rain. I just felt so free that I wanted to run more. After a half of mile more my feet started to get sopping wet so I went home. I will never forget those moments running so free in the rain.

As children of God, we are not to be bound up but free. The Lord has given us Himself so that we can be free of the things and thoughts that bind our minds and keep us from living fully. God wants us to run freely without feeling the burdens that we allow to consume us. Have you given Him all of you: your emotions, your circumstances, and your thoughts so that you can have the freedom in HIm that He intends for you?

Trust in Jesus to give you the freedom that He came to give you.

Mat 18:4

"Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Mat 18:4 "Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Thinking back to my first marathon, I was naive just like a child. I trained by myself in Statesboro, GA (flat terrain), but the marathon was in Atlanta. I went by a plan that I got out of a running magazine. Needless to say, I had to do my hill work on the treadmill. I got to the race, not knowing what to expect. The marathon was on Thanksgiving Day ,so after the half finished, most of the spectators were gone. The day was an overcast with a few sprinkles and hight humidity. I wore all cotton clothes. At that point, I knew nothing about dri-fit, and I had my cumbersome walkman. There were no such things as ipods. The amazing part of the whole race, was that I finished that race with one of my best marathon times. I went into the race with faith like a child. As Christians, sometimes we forget what our faith was like when we first accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We forget the simple step of trusting in Him with our entire life. Children are quick to trust. Jesus wants us all to come to Him with faith like a child. As adults, we fear the unknown, we are quick to be critical and judgmental, and we do not trust God with many of our circumstances. I challenge us all, Christians and those who are contemplating in trusting Him, ask Him to help you to have faith like a child. Have no inhibitions, like when I ran my first marathon.

Jam 1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds

Running is fun, and with it, comes much reward. However, you know good and well if you are a veteran runner, that there is also pain. The pain is not always excruciating, yet, it is present. I realize after running for about 17 years now that I usually have an aching muscle, bone, tendon, or ligament at any given time on any given day. Part of running consistently and training to make yourself better is having pain. If we did not have pain, we would not become better runners, or we may not be working hard enough physically.. As for me, I always have some little ache somewhere. I know from older, more experienced runners that you are going to have to deal with the pains if you want to gain endurance, speed, or shape.

In life, the Bible tells us that we will face hardship. If we do not face trials, we must not be experiencing all that Jesus wants us to experience. He never promised us that life as a Christian would be easy. Part of knowing Jesus more is knowing some of the suffering that He went through while He lived on the earth. In order to know Him, we must experience some sort of pain. We may have emotional pain, financial pain, relational pain, persecution, or even physical pain. One day, we will have no more pain, but let’s endure it and take in the joy that comes with it! Christian, do not be surprised by the pain. If you are not a Christian, pain is much easier with Jesus in your life.

1Th 5:23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Some days the rain pours too hard to run outside. Time to hit the gym on those days. In the event of the harsh weather, I will either run on the treadmill or go to spin class. I prefer the outdoors on foot or cycling. There is just something about the greenery and fresh air that makes the sport a little more enticing. However, the gym is fine, especially when others are present to keep you motivated. Have you ever been on the treadmill or spin bike and felt like you were going no where? You were right, because your bike and treadmill are stationary. Sometimes, I look down at the milage too much, and the time seems to creep by so slowly. The surprise is when you look down at the milage and calorie count after an hour has gone by, and you have actually clocked quite a distance. Your body feels great, and you have made it through another gym workout.

On our life journey, there are periods of time when we feel like we are at a plateau and we cannot get anywhere. We feel that we are static and unchanging. We wonder when things will get better or we will achieve a certain goal. Everything is in God’s timing. Day by day He is changing us if we surrender to Him. He is making us to be more like Him. One day or even today, you can look back on the past and see where God has taken you and how He has changed your life in wonderful ways. The journey may not always be easy, but you will find that the end of some long roads, you are at a better place.

Eph 6:17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

1Th 5:8 But since we are of {the} day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

Many days, I have gone for a run and not had on the right running gear. One day, I went out for a long run with my friend, and I had on the wrong shorts. The weather was humid, and not long into the run, I was already dripping wet. I had also lost a few inches around my waist. My favorite shorts had suddenly become too big. The rest of the run, I had to constantly pull them up. This irritated me the rest of the run. Some people wear cotton instead of dri fit, and the cotton can become heavy on your run. Perhaps you have experienced chaffing because of the wrong clothes, or maybe you wore a sock with a hole and rubbed a blister. I have forgotten to put on sunscreen or a hat when the sun is at it’s hottest and later regretted the mistake. Many of us have forgotten water or gels. In the winter, I have forgotten gloves and had to wear some socks over my hands. I am certain, that as a runner, you have not been comfortably dressed on all of your runs. For some reason, when our clothes do not feel right, the run just is not as good as it could be for us.

In our Christian walk, we must be prepared everyday. The Lord gives us the tools necessary to have a day in which we can be ready for whatever comes our way. He does not want us to be surprised by the stuff that the world throws at us. We can leave our homes everyday with the assurance that God is with us, and He wants to help us with the different avenues of grace. He has given us His word, faith, love, hope, salvation, and His presence. Let’s remember to dress ourselves daily with all that we need to face the world.

2Ti 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Have you ever finished a daily run and felt great, like you were in the best shape of your life? Maybe you had a PR at a race or even won a race. The victory belonged to you. You trained hard to win the race; day after day you logged your miles, you had hill days, and speed work days. You ate healthy and got plenty of rest. After a runner has a victory, does he/she quit training? We all know that the answer to that is “no”. Most people who have a good or great run, only desire to train harder to keep their fitness levels and even improve them. To quit after a victory would be to give up all that you had accomplished.

Similarly with our faith, once we become Christians and understand the message of the gospel, what do we do? Do we just quit seeking God. By no means, we continue to seek Him through the Word, prayer, and fellowship. We continue to share our faith with others. If we do not seek Him to strengthen our faith, we will not gain greater intimacy with Him, but we will grow away from Him. Just like if you quit running, you will lose your endurance, your speed, and even your desire to run. In order to know God more, let’s persevere in our faith. The more we seek Him, the more we will desire Him.

Ecc 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

As runners, we participate in all of the seasons. We run during the winter, spring, summer, and fall. In the winter, we must bundle up with our long-sleeve drifit, our running tights, our winter hats, our gloves, and warm socks. Sometimes, we even bring along the hand warmers. In the spring and fall, we feel comfortable in our running shorts and dri fit sleevless, short sleeved, or maybe even long sleeved shirts. Sometimes, there are cool mornings in those seasons, but they are usually welcomed. In the summer, we run in hot humidity here in the south. We wear the least amount of running gear that we feel comfortable in, and when we finish our run, strangers may think that we just got out of the swimming pool. We are drenched! We guzzle our water , take our gels and salt tabs as though we could not survive without them.

In our spiritual and physical lives, we experience different seasons. Sometimes we have great seasons of fruitfulness and happiness. During those times, it seems as though everything in the world is just perfect. Other times, we are sad due to a loss of a life, a sever in a relationship, or a universal tragedy. Maybe we are depressed because others around us are suffering, we are suffering with pain, or maybe we have had an economic crisis. I believe that the Lord takes us through different seasons so that we can rely on Him and appreciate His constance in our lives. We can learn to experience Him more in ways that we may not have if it were not for the seasons. We can also benefit others by encouraging them during seasons of their lives that perhaps we have already experienced. Let’s pursue God in all seasons of our lives. Let’s ask Him what He wants us to learn during the seasons that we experience.

Psalm 19:14 (NIV); "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

As runners, many of us have our running cliques, at least in the town in which I run. We tend to have our particular running buddies. However, we are all aware of the other running cliques. In fact, we know which runners are the fastest, the slowest, the oldest, and the youngest. We even know who we can outrun and who can outrun us. Many times we compare ourselves to the other runners, we are negative about the other cliques, or we do not even engage in conversation with those outside of our group. Perhaps, you have tried to talk to the other group of runners and have not had much of a response. The Lord wants our hearts to meditate on His truths and for the outpouring of our hearts through our actions and words to be pleasing to Him. The Lord desires us to speak truth with love. He does not want us to gossip or have negative attitudes. He wants us to be lights to others and salt to the earth. I challenge myself and the rest of you runners out there. Let’s try and lift one another up and encourage one another. May we be a light that leads others into a sweet relationship with God and into a greater community of runners.

Mat 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Woooo...I almost tripped, or ahhh crash, I hit the ground. I do not know about you, but there have been many occasions where I have almost fallen or actually fallen while running and hurt myself. Several times, when one of these unfortunate events have occurred, I have taken my focus off of the run and the direction in which I should be going. My eyes are not fixed on my goal of the run.

As Christians in the midst of a chaotic life, we can easily take our eyes off of our focus, Jesus. When this happens, we may find ourselves hurt. We fall hard and realize that we have not been looking to Jesus to keep us from falling. Our falls may be in our family or our finances, or other areas of life. We must make sure that Jesus is our focus. When he gets taken out of the center of our lives, we become entangled in circumstances that take us away from our purpose. I challenge you, Christians to evaluate where your focus is in all areas of your lives, and I challenge you who are not sure of your relationship with God to ask Him to help you find your focus.

Psa 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

I have lived and visited different places. I love traveling, and I enjoy learning about different cultures. I believe that we learn more about God and ourselves as we are surrounded by people of different cultures. The way that I learn about new towns or cities in which I reside, is usually by running. I am bad with directions, but once I have run a route several times, I will eventually find my way back from where I started. One of the most fearful times I had of getting lost was in Bangkok, Thailand. I had a few friends that ran with me in the mornings, while we were ministering together at a University in Bangkok. Well, one morning,no one wanted to go running. However, that did not keep me from going. We had only been in Bangkok about four days at this point. Somewhere along my run, I took a wrong turn. I kept running and realized that I was not on the right path. I felt fearful because though the Thai people were friendly, they could not speak English. I stopped at different places to ask different people where the University was located. Because of my poor pronunciation, it took me about 20 minutes to find someone who could finally point in the direction of my destination. Because I did not have a map and know the language of Thai, I was confused and lost. Eventually, with the help of someone pointing me in the right direction, I found my way back to the University and the apartment where I was staying. While I was lost, I felt nervous and unsure of myself, as well as confused.

In our walk with God, sometimes we lose our direction. We do not seek direction, and we get caught up in our circumstances and forget to pay attention to the direction in which our lives are moving. God gives us clear direction through His Word. He wants to help us as we journey through our every day. He wants us to ask Him for help when we feel lost and confused. Perhaps, you have never asked God for direction. Try it and see where you end up. I think you will find yourself in the right place.

Psa 51:6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Have you ever had those days when you did not feel like going out for your day’s run? Perhaps it was a lazy weekend day or an early weekday morning when running just did not appeal to your senses. However, after contemplating you decide to go. You know that you have already had an off day, and you are training for an event. You want to be as ready as you can for the event, or perhaps you are not training for an event, but you know after you get that run in that your body and mind will feel good.

God delights for His children to spend time with Him. Some days, we are too tired or feel too rushed to spend some time meditating over the Word and in prayer. Perhaps, something unexpected comes up, and we just keep putting off our time with Him until later. Yet we know that if we take time out to spend with our Lord, that we will have a better perspective on our day and our circumstances. The Bible is full of rich treasures that our soul, mind, and body crave. The next time that you go for a run on a day you did not feel like it, remember to continue in your daily walk with God. Seek Him. He is gracious and full of satisfaction.

Phl 2:3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. (ESV)

I have often been encouraged by others as I struggled to finish the end of a race. For example, I am part of a cycling club, and many of these women not only participate, but they go out to see and cheer on fellow members in races . Additionally, just the other day, my friend and I were inspired as we saw a group of women running on the same running path we take. These women were not in the best running condition, but nonetheless, they were running. As each one battled to make it up a hill, the others spoke out words of encouragement. In the world of running, it can be easy to get caught up in self. How much faster can I go, or if I could only beat that person, or wow, I ran that race good, or even, if only I were faster. As Christians, we are commanded to encourage one another. We will find joy in being humble and seeking the best for others. Not long ago, I found myself at a triathlon while I was on vacation. The night before the event, I was envious of all of the athletes. I was irritated because I did not have my bike with me and I did not know about the race. Early on the day of the race, I decided to go and watch this ocean triathlon. I was envious when I saw each person gearing up for the swim. I decided that I would make the most of my time and encourage these athletes to finish what they had come to accomplish. After many had mounted their bikes, I decided to run along side on the sidewalk and speak words of encouragement to the athletes. The cycle course was an out and back. I ran from the end down to the swim start, so I ran the course back encouraging the cyclists all the way. I was all by myself, and yet, I had so much fun. I felt that God filled my heart with joy as I encouraged the racers. I will never forget that day.

How do we treat our fellow runners, family, coworkers, and others we come in contact with everyday? Do we encourage them, or do we secretly hope that we will be better than them? Try for one day to consider others better than yourself, ask for God’s help in doing this, and see how your day is changed. If you do not know God personally, ask Him for a relationship with him, and I assure you that you will be encouraged.

Pro 17:24 The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.

I enjoy running with people who have run more years than me, who have different experiences than me, who have trained more than me, who have participated in events that I have yet to partake. Why? I consider many of these people as wise runners. They have mastered different aspects of running that I am seeking to learn about. These more mature runners can give me tips and hints on how I can improve my endurance and my speed. I love running with others who are willing to teach me something to make me more successful in my run.

As we live our lives on this earth, we seek wisdom from many different people, books, and even our own experiences. Sometimes, we allow ourselves to get captured by the ways of the world, and we do not look to our Creator for wisdom. The ultimate wisdom is from God; He directs us through His truth in the Bible, through prayer, and through other Christians who are seeking Him. In the end of our lives, will the wisdom of earthly things really matter? If Jesus is your Savior, I encourage you to keep seeking His wisdom, and if you do not know Him as your Savior, I encourage you to read the Bible and ask Him to show you wisdom.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

I love challenging myself with a fast 5K or 10K . I like the training and endurance of the marathon. However, so many times, even if I have a PR, I think to myself..if only I would have gone a little faster at this mile or if only I had not stopped for water. I always think that I could have run just a little better and faster. I am never “good enough” in my own eyes.

We often have the same kinds of feelings about our spiritual walk. We feel that we cannot be “good enough” for God; we feel that we do not measure up to earning favor from Him. Thank goodness that God does not expect us to be perfect or as some would say “get to Heaven by good works”. Rather, he wants us to come to Him as we are: broken, needy, tired, weary, sinners. He wants to give us a free gift of salvation through His son Jesus Christ who took on all of our imperfections. If we try to reach Him through our own works, we will never be quite good enough. If you have a relationship with Jesus, remember the truth of grace. Quit trying so hard and let Him help you. If you do not know Jesus, ask Him to show you this free gift. Maybe the next time you do not get a PR or you do get a PR, you will think about grace. I know that I will.

Mat 11:30 "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Wow! I do not know about you, but some days when I run, my legs feel like heavy weights. I feel as though I can barely lift each leg, and my daily run feels like a burden. My body seems weighted down and restricted. Those are days that my legs may need rest. I have to give into my body and allow it to rest. Then, I will have relief. Once I have relief, my legs feel great , and I wonder why I did not rest them sooner.

Many times we feel weighted down by our life circumstances. We feel bound up, and we think there is no relief. These circumstances may include finances, relationships, or work. By surrendering our circumstances to Jesus, He frees us from the burden. He takes the burden for us. Having faith in Him seems like a big step, but once we give into Him, we feel rested and relief. Have you given your burdens over to Jesus so that you can take up His easy yoke?

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever”. (Hebrews 13:8)

Some of the best times of running for me are early in the morning. I enjoy the solitude of me and the road or running with a friend early in the morning when everyone else is sound asleep. I also love running in the morning while on vacation at the beach. The most beautiful part of the morning run is seeing the sun rise. Sometimes, the sunrise is brilliant in colors reflecting off of the lake, peeking up behind the trees, or rising above the ocean. Even on cloudy days, the sky becomes enlightened by the hidden sun. As humans and early morning runners, we rely on the sun to rise. The sun rises everyday; we do not even question its coming and going. Maybe you are an evening runner and watch the sunset, or maybe you are a lunchtime runner and feel the heat of the sun above. No matter the time of day, God’s beautiful sun is constant and unchanging in patterns.

In the same way our wonderful Lord never changes. He is faithful. He will always remain the same. He never wavers. The more we grow in our relationships with him, the more we appreciate His perfection and His reliability. Some days, we may choose not to get out of bed and take that morning run, but the sun still rises. In the same way, we do not always acknowledge God, but He is always faithful.

May we praise God for his faithfulness in our lives.

"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us). Matthew 1:23

Running follows us wherever we go. We can be anywhere in the world, and the one form of exercise that we cannot deny is the run. I have visited different places in the United States and all over the world. As a missionary, I lived in Africa and stayed for extended amounts of time in Thailand. I visited others in cities that were not my own. In the places that I have traveled, I have always been able to run no matter the temperature, new altitude, or new roadmaps. I just take my running shoes and go. Yes, I may not always want to do what I am so accustomed to doing nearly every day, run. Yet, I know the run is there just waiting to be ran.

You may wonder, how this relates to God. Well, Jesus is always with us. As his children, He will never leave or forsake us. He goes with us wherever we go. He travels to the deepest places of our hearts and surfaces the truth that only He can surface. We experience different countries, uncomfortable places, new jobs, unfamiliar territory, new life stages, sickness, sadness, and joyous occasions, yet, God remains with us. We cannot deny His presence and readiness for us. He wants to be part of our run in this life.

I challenge us all today with our acknowledgment of Him. If you know Him, are you aware of how He is working in your life, are you resting in the fact that He will not forsake you or abandon you, are you inviting Him into all of life’s moments? If you are not sure of His place in your life, have you asked Him to help you ? Do you want to know what it means for Him to be Emmanuel, God with us?

Enjoy Him today on your run, your rest, and all of your other given moments.

Blessings to all!

Introduction:

Who is your inspiration to keep on running? To all of my running, cycling, and triathlete friends and to those who do not participate in the freedom of running, I am attempting to begin a 365 day devotional for "runners". I feel that the Lord uses my times of running and adventure to show me more about Himself and myself in this journey of life on the earth as we know it. I believe that all runners, joggers, walkers, cyclists, and any other type of athlete or non athlete can learn more about God and himself/herself through his/her daily ritual. God breaths soft and loud wake up calls to me on my running journeys, whether I am having a day running with Him or a day running with my friends. He is always there. I hope this blog spot will help you all to reflect on Him and His glory. I pray that this blog spot will be a fresh inspiration into your daily routine, whether it's a "good running day" or a "terrible running day" ! May we all run the race, as running unto Him.

"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" Mark 12:30 (ESV)