THE RUTTED & DIFFICULT PATH

For those of you that are not runners, you will find this difficult to believe, but running can become a lesson about life. When you run all months of the year and in all weather conditions and on many different kinds of trails, you begin to realize that this is not unlike the path our lives take.

There are days that your run is pure joy-sunshine or stars light your path, the weather is perfect, the company is ideal, and you physically feel like this could go on forever. There are days though that the run is pure torture and nothing but toil and trouble. The weather is horrible-it is way too hot, or it is freezing cold, the rain is falling or the fog is so thick you can't see where you are putting your feet, or there is lightning and thunder and impending doom on the horizon. You feel like you are running alone, even though someone is in the road just in front of you or just behind you-you still feel so alone. Your body is not coorperating and you feel every single ache and pain as you struggle to just make it down the road. The path is strewn with obstacles and holes are in the road, yet you must continue on as the only way to the end is down this path.

I find myself in the season of life with many of my loved ones facing rock and rut strewn paths. They are having to jump puddles with no end in sight and the going is tough-VERY TOUGH! The path should lead to the glorious finish line, but that line is not visible and the only thought they have is of just quiting and giving up. Quiting though is not an option, when you are running down the path of life. Life can become a terrible obstacle course with no end in sight and no clear knowledge of the path you are going to have to traverse.

I hope you know, friends, that I am RIGHT beside you! I am whispering in your ear and encouraging you every step that you take. I will pull along beside you and I will be your encourager. I will help you find the right path and if you fall, I will be there to pick you up and brush you off. You are not going down this rutted and difficult path alone, I will make every step with you. If you do not feel me beside you, it is because I am running just behind you. I will shield your back and watch out for the obstacles that are coming your way. No matter what path the race leads you down, I am willing to go with you and when your strength has been sapped from you, I will lend you my strength.

This life is like the run that I love to take-I never know when I go out the door what will be in front of me, but I know that I will run until I get to the "Glorious Finish Line."I thank God for my dear friends. I thank God for the strength to be there for my dear friends. I pray for each of you everyday and I pray for the wisdom to know how to help you continue to "run the race." We will all cross the finish line one day and what a glorious celebration we will have knowing that we have run the race well. Yes, life is truly like one of my runs and I am so glad that I have you all to run that race with!