I suspect that for many of you, as for me, this is the season of the school sports. Mike and I been out doing our duty as grandparents, watching young children, run, hop, bounce, jump and throw things. For some of the children it is just about fun and time away from normal lessons, but we have some quite competitive members of the family who are very serious about sport, they train and compete on a regular basis.
But even those of you who are not at the stage of having children or grandchildren taking part in school sports, will hardly have been able to miss the little football tournament which is ongoing at present. These are men who have been training for years, learning skills, putting in the hours and the effort in the hope that it will pay off for 90 minutes in front of fans and TV cameras.
Paul reminded us that we should take our Christian faith every bit as seriously as athletes take their sport – reminding us that we should ‘run with perseverance the race that is before us.’ I thought I would share with you that passage as it appears in ‘The Message’
Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honour, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he ploughed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! (Hebrews 12; 1 – 3 ; The Message, Euguene Peterson)
I wish us all ‘adrenaline in our souls!’
Blessings!
Anne
