Blog #1001

A runner's body goes through many changes during the 26.2 mile marathon course. In the beginning of the race he has to fight the strong urge to run fast. But a marathon is not a sprint. It's called an endurance race for a reason. A runner has to pace himself. And then midway the runner has to again fight his inclination to listen to that voice in his head that's telling him he's run a good race up to this point. He can be pleased with himself. People will be impressed that he made it this far. Quitting now would not be such a failure. As he continues to run he must work his way through cramps and strains and blisters and aches and pains. But if he is to finish the race he must keep his eyes on the finish line and keep going for the glory he will receive when he finishes at the end. He must keep his mind on the goal he has set before himself and continue to strive for the end, step after tiring step. He must endure.

To endure according to Webster means: "to hold up under pain and fatigue ,,, to stand; bear; undergo." It doesn't mean to slack off or give up before reaching the goal. To endure we strive ever onward toward the goal, ignoring and working our way through all obstacles and hindrances. We set our eyes on the finish line and endure whatever it takes to get to the end. We don't give in and we don't give up before gaining the victory.

This is the kind of image we should have in our minds when we read the challenge for us to "throw off everything that hinders ... and run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (Heb 12:1). Endurance is the kind of effort that says, "Whatever it takes, Lord, I'm in it until the end. I am in the race of my life and I will not give up. I will not give in. I will finish my earthly marathon to Your glory and Your honor. You've brought me this far and I trust You to take me to the finish line!"

If we believe that the goal God has set before us is worth the effort, we will continue to endure no matter the hurdles and heartbreaks. Then, like Paul, we can say, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2Tim 4:7).

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Just a short blog today. Now that I'm doing all the writing myself, it'll take me awhile to come up with devotions of the right length. Until then I may have short ones and I may have long ones. I think it's easier to have longer ones and then trim off the excess than it is to have short ones and try to think of things to add to it to give it a better length so I'm not going to try to make them any longer when they turn out to be on the short side.

We had a wonderful thunderstorm blow through our area last night. Not all that much thunder and lightning but lots of rain. It was raining so hard that I could feel the vibrations through the soles of my feet. It was just pouring off the roof. Forget about the gutters. It just filled them and then over flowed them. It didn't last but about 15 or 20 minutes (if that long) and we have .40 in the rain gauge. And the rain really knocked the leaves off the tree and down into the yard. What a mess!!! I will get out there and rake as soon as it warms up. Probably tomorrow. It doesn't look like it's going to warm up today. I can't see Hogback Mountain because of the overcast but we don't have any ground fog to speak of. After the rain last night, I thought for sure we'd have ground fog this morning but no such thing.

Today will be a housecleaning day for me. Housecleaning and laundry. Seems like I just did that and now I need to do it all over again. It's almost like "Why bother?" But I think we all know the answer to that question. You have to bother once in awhile or you'll end up neck deep in debris and cat hair. I get the vacuum out every couple days and take care of the carpet but I need to now use the vacuum on the furniture. Everything is so dusty! Oh, and let's not forget the cat hair. And the clutter has built up around the house. I have to face it; it's time to do some housecleaning as much as I dislike doing it. I guess I don't dislike it so much as I just don't want to spend my entire day doing it. I have other things to do. (Actually I don't. I just thought that sounded good in there. LOL)

I woke up at 7:30 this morning and got up. Turned on Michael's coffee (he forgot to put the water in the coffee maker last night so I poured it in for him so he'd have hot coffee instead of hot water when he got up). He's been having a mental block with making his coffee lately. I do the same thing sometimes with my stuff. He forgot to set it to come on in the morning for a couple days and so he was so bent on getting the right buttons pushed last night that he forgot to pour in the water. You do things like that too, don't you? Come on, I know you do. We all do.

Well, I hope you have a nice day today. Nice and productive because that's what I'm hoping for myself. But mine isn't going to be so productive if I don't get to my chores. Michael slept until 10:00 this morning so I haven't even gotten the bed made and I want to change the sheets this morning too. I washed them yesterday just so I'd have clean ones to put on but I thought I'd have that done by now. My plan was to wake up early, type my blog, and get busy doing housework. Here it is almost 11:00 and I'm just now finishing my blog. But I thought I'd check my emails before I got started on my blog and several of them needed to be answered. And one turned out to be a really long email so I'm already behind schedule. That's discouraging. Well if I just keep at it I'll get at least some things done. But I have to start to keep at it so until tomorrow...