{"id":700,"date":"2015-04-29T15:43:13","date_gmt":"2015-04-29T15:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/?p=700"},"modified":"2015-04-30T19:59:34","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T19:59:34","slug":"keep-on-going","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/keep-on-going\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep on Going!"},"content":{"rendered":"

“…and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…”<\/em><\/p>\n

A good start is vitally important in a race.\u00a0 When the runners go to the starting line they position themselves in the blocks and await the sound of the gun.\u00a0 Every muscle is tense and ready to go at the signal.\u00a0 “On your mark…get set…”\u00a0 A bad start can have devastating consequences.\u00a0 Any pause or delay can change the results at the finish.\u00a0 But, did you know, you don’t get points for a good start.\u00a0 There is not a ribbon for “Best Start”.\u00a0\u00a0 You have to run the race to the finish to even be considered for a reward.\u00a0\u00a0That being said, the finish is what counts.\u00a0 Many have had great starts but stopped before the finish line.\u00a0 They quit.\u00a0 For one reason or another they did not finish.\u00a0 Maybe they were distracted by other things.\u00a0 Maybe they lost interest in the race they were running.\u00a0 Maybe they were injured along the way and could not recover.\u00a0 Maybe they became overwhelmed with fear and just froze up.\u00a0 Maybe they just got tired of running and walked off the course.<\/p>\n

There is no shortage of excuses to quit running the “race marked out before us”.\u00a0 The Bible encourages us to “not\u00a0become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”<\/em> (Galatians 6:9).\u00a0\u00a0 The Scripture we have been looking at challenges us to run the race with perseverance.\u00a0 This means “Keep on going”.\u00a0 Don’t quit!\u00a0 Run it to the end.\u00a0 We will always be tempted to give up.\u00a0 Things get hard sometimes.\u00a0 In the running world they call it “The Wall”.\u00a0 It is the point in the race when you reach the end of what you think you can do.\u00a0 It is when you have to make a choice…to run or not to run.\u00a0 It is the point that determines if you are going to push through…persevere…finish.<\/p>\n

Most of us can remember the start of our “race” called faith.\u00a0 It was\u00a0 a life transforming experience.\u00a0 Maybe at the altar during a youth retreat.\u00a0 Maybe it was a quiet moment at your bedside when you gave your life over to the Lord.\u00a0 Old things passed away, forgiveness was experienced and the starting gun sounded as you were born again!\u00a0 What a\u00a0great start!<\/p>\n

Likewise, most of us have already encountered\u00a0 the temptation to quit.\u00a0 We\u00a0get distracted…weary…angry…hurt…tired…and we want to quit.\u00a0 In my life endeavors\u00a0I have discovered that I am a much better starter than finisher.\u00a0 I have often needed the encouragement of others saying, “run with perseverance the race set before you”.\u00a0 Our Scripture tells us that we have a cloud of who are doing just that for you.<\/p>\n

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“…and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…” A good start is vitally important in a race.\u00a0 When the runners go to the starting line they position themselves in the blocks and await the sound of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all_posts","category-daily-devotions-2015"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":713,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions\/713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}