ENCOURAGE - EQUIP - EMPOWER
IT STARTS HERE.
There are several reasons I have for believing in God, and one of them is my high school junior year track season.
Looking back, I still don’t know what compelled me to sign up for the team. I’d never been gifted or really interested in the athletic department, but I had long legs and good lungs and running seemed like something I could do. I had visions of crossing the finish line in a blaze of glory with Katy Perry’s “Firework” playing in the background. (It was 2011 and that was the tune of the times.)
Have you ever sat around a bonfire with friends late into the night? Every once in a while someone adds an extra log or pokes the pile with a stick to keep the blaze alive, but inevitably there comes a point when it’s time to let the fire die. The flames slowly shrink until there’s nothing left but the red glow of embers, and your fingers and toes quickly begin to feel the difference. If you stay out for too long, even the blanket you’re wrapped in won’t do you much good.
This new season of life for all of us has brought an array of emotions. Some of us have been anxious with the unknowns of how long this quarantine will last. Some are frustrated at losing their senior year of high school or college. Some don’t know how to manage working from home and doing all the other tasks that include caring for an elderly loved one or teaching their children. There are job losses. Friends and family getting sick. This list is not exhaustive, but there is so much going on in our world right now.
She was skipping along, smiling, and searching for the moon. Before I could remind her to watch her step, her feet lost their place and the sidewalk reached up and ripped the skin from her knees. She howled. Using the sleeve of my hoodie, I wiped the blood from the legs of my tender-hearted three-year-old and held her tight.
When I was twelve years old, I started a running career that I thought would be little more than a social outlet. That was 30 years ago. Over these decades and countless miles, I’ve endured fatigue, sprained ankles, sore muscles, and excruciating neck and back pain that drove me to the chiropractor more than once. Despite these relatively minor issues, I feel fortunate to have enjoyed so many years of running without a debilitating injury.
I think we all fear judgement, and this especially seems to be the case when it comes to sharing our faith We fear backlash we might receive, questions we won’t find the words to answer, friendships we might lose. So how do we conquer that fear and share the Word? How do we go about bringing others to Christ?
