Who's Race are YOU .........Running ?

I sailed by person after person ....

I am a 'sort-of-a-runner'... 

Well, technically a jogger. 

I often run along a 'walking path', next to the sea. 

Most people I pass along the walking path, because of my speed, -however meager in running terms, is far faster than walking.
So I pass the walkers...Some walkers will come and walk for an hour. 

I am running when they come & still running when they leave.

I got several lessons in life....... today on the track.
As I passed the walkers like lamp poles, I got to feeling superior..... 

I know you shouldn't, (you don't have to tell me), but after the constant passing past far younger people, it does go to your head.

Then he came........
He was short, perhaps five feet three. 

He didn't look like much of a runner. 

I saw him get out of the car and stretch as I passed by a couple holding hands.
He started running a few feet ahead of me.
He was fast. 

I sped up to keep up. 

At last, I had someone to pace myself against. 

I was on his heels but..... my breath was coming harder and heavier. 

Later, I was gasping but still on his heels. 

Eventually, my foot started hurting.
I was hurting....
I was gasping for breath.

Then.........
I slowed down & got back to my pace. 

The pain in my foot went away. 

I could breathe again without sounding like I had a lung disease. 

He sped away.
In a fairly short time, he outruns me....

In life, there will always be those slower and faster.
Some have natural ability; some have trained harder. 

For some, speed is simply their destiny.
The point is, we each have our own speed, and we often end up hurting ourselves & pushing ourselves to the point where the breath is knocked out of us because we are trying to keep up.

I learned several lessons that day:
* Don't get puffed up because you are faster than some.
* Don't feel inferior because some are faster than you.
* Don't judge the capabilities of others by how they look.
* How much of your breath (spirit) is knocked out because you are running someone else's race?
* Are you trying to outrun someone's car, house, clothes, looks, job title, .... relationship with his spouse, perhaps?
* How much pain are you in trying to keep up with someone who may be running for an entirely different reason, heading to an entirely different place, with entirely different muscles?
* Slow down or maybe speed up, but run your race to the best of your ability.
* Whether you realize it or not, you are the real pacesetter.
* Don't run fast when you should be running slowly.
* Don't run at all when you should be walking, & don't walk when you should be running.


Heb 12:1 ......lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 

Shalom..... & Maranatha