One More Stride

So, this is a time of significant transition in my life... Things are up in the air, I don't know what to expect from a new move ahead of me that is now only a week away! I'll be living with a bunch of crazy young women that will challenge me and hold me accountable to my run with the Lord, and I'm so excited to see what God is going to teach me! He definitely has a long curriculum planned... some hard-core training to put me through, if you know what I'm saying.
So I've been running again recently after not running consistently for about a year. Oh... I love the exhilaration of flying down the street with music blaring in my ears and the thrill I get from pushing through the hardest parts of the run... running faster up hills and running harder when I feel the sun in beating down on my back. Now, I'm certainly not in the condition I was last year, but it doesn't matter. I can always work to get back into it, and soon be able to run even farther and faster than I did before!
Once in a while I like to run with my best friends. I love talking to them while we're running, or just listening to their feet pounding the pavement next to me and hearing their breath get faster as mine syncs with theirs. There's something special about running with other people. It encourages you to run better, farther, and faster! When I can share the mutual enjoyment of running with someone, we can encourage each other as we run as individuals towards a shared goal. Now, it's perfectly wonderful to run by myself, in fact, I really enjoy that... but there's something about a "push through it!" accompanied by a smile that just helps me keep running hard. There is nothing like a good friend who kicks your butt...

Biblical writers often used the same metaphor of running to describe our lives as Christians. I know that a lot of you don't like to run, but still, hear me. If you do love running, however, please feel the thrill of the metaphor next time you run!!!
Running is hard. Sometimes it hurts. Your lungs burn, your body aches, your tongue sticks to the roof of your mouth, the sun beats down on your overheated body, and everything in your body tells you to stop... but if you're a serious runner, you keep going. Today, after directing calisthenics for my little bro's football team, I decided that I wanted to run 3 miles or so. The catch? I was thinking about this metaphor. I decided that I would not stop running for anything and push through to the end. Of course, there were a few times that I thought that I would need to stop, but I didn't, I decided to keep going and keep running anyway, even though it was hard. I knew that the payoff would be that much greater in the end if I did push through. Because I did, I got a better workout, I got a higher runner's high, and hopefully I'll be able to run faster and farther soon... AND I get the thrill of saying, "yes, I did that!" and I'm excited that I've done it! It was hard, but it was oh, so worth it! I need to remember that.

Now, what are we running for?  We can have a lot of goals, but ultimately, we are running towards heaven, towards Christ. Sometimes our bodies and spirits will ache. Sometimes we'll feel like we just need to stop because the sun is beating down too hard and we're too thirsty to move on, but we can keep running. Difficulties come over us in life sometimes, but the wonderful thing is, that Jesus has overcome all of it. He is completely victorious over every part of everything. Ephesians tells us that everything is under his feet. Nothing is out of His control. We can look to him and know that in the end, even if the run is hard now, we are running towards Him! He is our prize! And running this race is worship and it is so worth it. Sometimes we don't know how long it will take us to get to the end of our run, but we do know that it will feel so good when we do! Until then...

One more stride
ligaments and tendons
muscle and bone
one more stride
hit the ground
feel the tension
one more stride
breath in
breathe out
one more stride
held together and
not falling apart
one more stride
life blood pumps
through my veins
one more stride
arms pumping
head spinning
one more stride
oxygen all around
breathe it deeply
one more stride
provided for
sustained
one more stride
trust in you
shaking sets in
one more stride
head pounding
heart aching
one more stride
emotions well
stride faster
one more stride
trees fly by
wind whips my skin
one more stride
push through
breathe in and out
one more stride
relax
run straight
one more stride
confused
lost
one more stride
mis-step
trip
one more stride
blood on my hand
wipe on my shirt
one more stride
sun is coming
higher and higher
one more stride
visible light
in the distance
almost there
one more stride....

All my love,
Julia Grace

Brothers, sisters, run the race and keep the faith for which Christ Jesus has called us heavenward!