Running Into 2017

In general, I love running. I feel so much better after I run and feel like I can breath and think. Some races I love, and some - well, we can say I have a love/hate relationship with. I love difficult races because they are a challenge and I love to say, "Oh yes, I ran that one." - I "hate" them though, because I don't always finish them the way I want to have finished them.

One of the races I ran this past year was the worst race I've ever run - not based on time, but based on endurance. I stopped and walked. "Therefore, we also, since we surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our race," This was the "running" passage my dad had for us when we were younger. While I walked, this sauntered through my mind. As it slowly made it's way through all the passages of my brain, I thought about other aspects:

1. When we run with endurance and do not walk or stop, we are an encouragement to those we run with and against - we each would like to win, but at least we are all still running.
2. When you stop to walk or even stop, it is a discouragement - "If they are walking, it's ok to - I mean, this race is tough and, well, I'm tired."
3. It is interesting that, even if you finish well in a race that you walked in, you will not do as well as you would have if you had continued to run. You cannot make up lost time in a race.

This "Run with Endurance the Race that is set Before You" speeds through every aspect of life. Are you wasting time right now reading this because you're avoiding reading your Bible, doing chores, or fulfilling a commitment?

I don't know how your race was this last year in 2016. I don't know where the steep hills were or if you just had a type of "plateau". You can't change what happened this year, but, having learned from this past year, you can change you race plan to hopefully be more successful this year. If you plan goals, don't make outlandish ones. Make simple feasible goals as well as goals that will push you. Don't make goals lightly either - be willing to change them, but not lazy with them. Remember, people are watching you.

The Colors of Christmas

As you know, we have two main colors that symbolize Christmas - at least they symbolize Christmas in the States: Red and Green. Occasionally, we throw in the colors of a mid-night Blue and Silver or Gold.

For sure, some of the colors are simply because they look good - they're elegant and we like them, so why not throw a silver bow on the gift?

Colors do have meaning - sometimes they change over time, but sometimes, they meaning is so much associated with the color it cannot change.

Green symbolizes Rebirth. Is there a question as to why this color suites Christmas so well? Christ came from heaven, having pre-existed from eternity, so that we could be born again into life with Him.

Red symbolizes several things: War, Strength, Passion, Determination, and Power. There is a war we are a part of - a war that we in ourselves would utterly fail at winning (in fact, we did fail). Christ never did and never will. He is all powerful. Passionate and "Determined" (that feels like such a human term) to the point of death to do the Will of God the Father.

Yes - Green and Red make sense.

Midnight blue? Angels came to shepherds at night to declare to the lowest of lowest that God had come in the flesh. It's a reminder that God doesn't just care about those who are rich or appear to ha
ve something to offer - He sent His Son for people like you and me.

Silver and Gold - wealth, but Gold also symbolizes Wisdom. Jesus told us that a greater than Solomon was among them - Solomon, the wisest man in the world - but One was greater.

Merry Christmas!