The boat swayed and rocked so much so that you would it looked like people were performing a dance routine in unison as they walked and tried to keep from falling.  I was planning to be strong and take it head on, but my stomach waged an all out strike at the idea.  We made it back to our room and I dove for the bed. I trusted in a good night sleep for the night fully anticipating to be better in the morning

I woke early; ready for my last run on the ship.  I stepped out of bed and quickly realized my bout with the waves was not over.  I tried twice to push through and finally on the third try, I made my way to deck 13 where the running track was.

As I began to run, I noticed some things right off the bat.  First, I started feeling better as soon as I took off.  Scientifically it made sense that if I was running, I was in the air more often and not feeling the ground move beneath my feet.

The day also happened to be incredibly windy.  When I would make my turn I was met with 40mph wind.  While this was a challenge, running also made this section of track pass more quickly.  Had I walked I would have been a mess between the wind and waves.

As I reflected, I realized that sin parallels with sea sickness.  It’s something that is internal and corrupts our ability to perform the most basic of functions.  We must throw it off and run.  When our eyes are fixed on Christ, and our feet are running, we can stay steady even when the “ship is rocking”.  When the wind blasts in our face, we will still make progress for the kingdom of God if we press on.

Reflection

What things are most likely to rock your boat?

What’s holding you back from the decision to run?

Make your mind up to run the race He has set before you, even when you’re not feeling it!

Prayer

Gracious Father, you have instructed us to run with good reason. Help us to fix our eyes on Jesus and run steady in the storms while we carry out the ministry of reconciliation.  Thank you for your life lessons in everything.  We love You and lift these in Jesus’ name!

The competitive spirit in me decided I would try to do a 100 to see how well I would do.  I have not run one of these in over 20yrs!  I wasn’t even sure I could maintain top speed all the way to the 100 mark. As I was running, I was all in, focused on giving everything I had. No Olympic records, but my time was right in line with theirs.

It’s amazing what happens when we run to win.  Unlike a 100m dash, we are not running to win glory for ourselves. Instead we are running for the glory of the Lord and His Gospel.  In fact Paul writes this a few verses later:

“I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.” (‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭9:23‬ ‭NASB‬‬)

That’s running the race with focus!  Not driven by comparison or competition but by the Gospel.

Personal Reflection

questions for today:

1) What and who do you do all things for? (  Yourself, recognition, family)

2)What would your life look like if it was all for the Gospel?

3) What do you need to stop doing, start doing, keep doing to make the vision of question 2 a reality?

Prayer Focus

Heavenly Father, renew our minds with Your truth, align them with Christ and strengthen us to run the race to win for You! But all things that we do be done for the Gospel, in Jesus name, Amen!

#runtowin #allfortheGospel #truthtalk4life

@brianfridel