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<\/p>\nSometimes my husband will comment on an athlete that he knows, usually a professional nordic skier or runner. The comment will often be along the line of, \u201cJoe used to be fast until he gained 10 pounds. If he could lose the extra weight he could be faster.\u201d Or, the comment may be, \u201cFrank is just so scrawny, he really needs to do some weight-lifting to bulk up so he\u2019ll have strength to race faster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Interesting, isn\u2019t it? Two different athletes, the same goal, opposite needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As an average \u201cfitness jogger\u201d I am often very confused if I have the chance to see Joe when this comment is made. See, \u201cJoe\u201d is still a lean, fit and healthy athlete. Only a coach\u2019s eye would ever think that Joe needed to lose any weight.<\/p>\n
Ever found this to be the case in your walk with God? I have. I often hear the voice of the Holy Spirit saying, you need to lose some weight, you need to \u201cthrow off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and \u2026 run with perseverance the race marked out\u2026\u201d (Hebrews 12:1) I find that I have picked up an offence, justified unforgiveness, a sinful thought or attitude and that is slowing me down, holding me back from running my race and finishing strong.<\/p>\n
One of the workouts prescribed by my high school track coach was to have us run sprints across the football field with a large tire attached to us with ropes and belts. That tire would just drag across the grass behind us, all our effort and bodies strained forward, we could not go any faster. But when the tire was removed it felt effortless to cover the same distances in less than half the times. Many of us struggle day in and day out lugging behind us weights that we were not meant to carry. It may be time to \u201close some weight\u201d in your life, so listen to your coach and ask him to point out what may be hindering you.<\/p>\n
What about Frank? Some of you know the race set out before you, but you feel like you just can\u2019t finish. You are trying so hard, but your issue might not be weights pulling you down. You may just need to \u201chit the gym\u201d and start bulking up your faith! For the past couple of years I have had a knee that, during about half of my runs has voiced its complaint for the activity from dull ache to sharp pains. Of course, I just ignored it. Then, one night at the gym I asked Duncan for a way to spice up my routine. I had been doing the same-old-thing for interestingly, a couple of years, and was starting to see the anti-results in my body. One of the exercises was a hamstring curl, doing one let at a time. I found out that the leg with the knee issuing grievances was significantly weaker than the other leg. See, sometimes our strengths get out of balance, and we forget to build up our weaker areas of faith. In the case of my knee, my stronger quad muscles were pulling my knee from where it should be, causing pain. The solution was simple, build up the strength to keep the knee held in place. Strong quads weren\u2019t necessarily the problem, weak hamstrings were.<\/p>\n
If you are finding places in your life where you might be a spiritual \u201cFrank\u201d, then spend time with others with lots of faith, stay in God\u2019s Word, pray and fast, worship! Don\u2019t let your life or walk with God become so routine that you are not sensitive to the coach telling you to do some new exercises with your faith muscles!<\/p>\n
Seek God, Run your Race. Do what it takes to get to the finish line!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sometimes my husband will comment on an athlete that he knows, usually a professional nordic skier or runner. The comment will often be along the line of, \u201cJoe used to be fast until he gained 10 pounds. If he could lose the extra weight he could be faster.\u201d Or, the comment may be, \u201cFrank is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[37,49,52],"yoast_head":"\n