Run Your Race

You have to run your race. No one else can run it for you. What’s more, you can’t run someone else’s race, even when you can see what they need to do. It’s all about our willingness to do what we have been called to do, no matter what the risk or what others think. Tonight we our “Dinner and a Movie” cell watched Secretariat. It was the second time I have seen it, and I want to watch it again soon. There is so much to gleen from this movie. It’s almost like Disney sponsored a Kingdom movie, and I don’t mean the magic kingdom either. There are so many Kingdom principals that are brought out in this film. We must have paused it five times at least as we talked about what was said and the significance of what it means in the Kingdom.

Penny’s dad told her to let the horse “run his own race”. It’s so simple and yet so profound. As parents it is awfully hard to let our kids run their own race. We often try to get them to run the race we wanted to run growing up, or we make them choose a path that they don’t want. We can force them, for a season. But sooner or later it will all fall apart. If we can learn to let them run their own race and then be there to cheer them on. You see, if you run your own race, you can’t lose, not really.

But what about me, what about you? Are we running our own race? Are we going after the dreams that God has placed in our hearts, or are we too caught up in the rat race that is the American Dream? Or worse yet are we running a race that others told us we should run? I hope not, because it won’t be rewarding even if we complete the course. If I can do what God is calling me to do, then I will be at peace, and I will know that I have done my best. So, how do we know what our race is?

It’s all about our heart, and what God has placed in it. If we are believers, and we hear His voice, then we have to trust that He will place His dreams in our heart. It’s our job to search them out and then run after them. They don’t just happen. We have to persevere and be willing to stand when it’s all we can do to stand and then run as hard as we can when we are able to run. We have to believe in ourselves when no one else believes. We have to trust that what He has told us to do, He will accomplish.

Secretariat had heart. He lived to run. His owner Penny had heart. She had to prove that her belief in her horse was justified. It cost her everything, or it would have if he had failed. She took a chance to believe. So many times we stop short of reaching our destiny be cause we don’t want to risk. We only live once. I have taken many risks, some good, and some foolish. I wish that I hadn’t taken the foolish risks, but if that means that I wouldn’t have risk in the other things, then I wouldn’t hav wanted not to risk. The kingdom of God is risky, and we have to be willing to risk everything we have to see it advanced. So, our heart has to be big. We have to run, run without ceasing to reach the prize that we have been called to get. We all have to be willing to run our won race, whether any one else understands or not. If we do this, then we really can’t lose. We only live once, what are we living for? What are we willing to die for? To really live, we must be willing to die. Stir up the passion within your spirit. Ask Holy Spirit to show you what your race is, and then help you to run it with great abandon, come hell or high water. If you do this, you have run already. Maybe you won’t get to your final destination, but the journey will be exciting and Holy Spirit will be there cheering you on until you reach your finish line, wherever it may be.