Get In the Race!

While listening to an interview with Dean Graziosi, I heard him say,  "You have inside of you what it takes to accomplish your dreams." 

I argued silently with him. Maybe you do, but I don't.

When he said, "You have more resources and talents inside you than you can possibly imagine," I wanted to yell, You don't know me. If you did, you'd see how limited I am, when compared to others.

Even though he couldn't hear me disagreeing with him, he challenged my stinkin' thinking with these words: "You have more to give the world than you realize. Self-doubt stops you from taking steps toward your goals."

I shut up and listened to more of his wise counsel: "I’d rather come to the end of my life knowing I’d tried and failed than to have spent my life waiting on the sidelines for that perfect moment. Take action! Go for it! Now! Don’t wait to start!"

As I reflected on his words, I recalled having taken photos at a harness racing track. As I looked at hundreds of photos of beautiful horses giving their best as they sped around the track, I realized that failing to win a race doesn't mean a horse isn’t strong and capable. It just means another horse did a bit better in that particular race than he did. 

But if his owner enters him in another race and gives him another opportunity to do his best, he just might win! But he definitely won't win if he refuses to train and to try again and again..... 

Each time he races, he becomes a better and stronger competitor--even if he doesn't officially win.   

Horses have been given the strength and the desire to run well. So have I. So have you. Let's stop watching others run. Let's get in the race and do whatever we're gifted to do!

Line Leader

When I taught third grade students many years ago, the students yearned to be the “Line Leader” for the day. I thought about that just recently when I read an article by Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer in the April 2015 issue of *BBN Monthly Newsletter. In the article, Dr. Lutzer says, "Christ was resurrected with a new, indestructible body, a prototype of the body we shall receive,” as Philippians 3:20b-21 affirms.

Dr. Lutzer then says, “Our Lord goes ahead of us, first through the gates of death and then beyond to His resurrection and ascension to glory.” Thus, we are promised safe passage on the path He followed.

He mentions that W. Frank Harrington uses the title a “Go-ahead God,” based on Bible accounts such as when God, in the form of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, led His people through the wilderness. Centuries later, Jesus, when speaking to His disciples mere hours before His arrest and crucifixion, said, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14: 1-3, ESV).

Thus, Jesus is not only the “Line Leader” (based on what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:29, “the first-born of many brethren”) and the “Go-ahead God,” He is also “the Ever-present God” (to whom David is speaking in Psalm 139) and “Immanuel” (God is with us, Isaiah 7:14).

Oh, how blessed we are, Dear Reader, to have an awesome God who loves us and leads us and LIVES IN us in this life and in the life beyond.

Note: *BBN=Bible Broadcasting Network is my favorite radio station. And, much to my delight, I recently downloaded an app for it on my cell phone, which means I can listen in anytime, anywhere! To listen on your computer, visit www.bbnradio.org. 

Kindred Spirits

As soon as I read on http://www.betterphoto.com/ that “kindred spirits” was the theme for that month’s photography contest, I began thinking about photos I might take in order to have some that would fit the theme. In previous contests, such as "gold" and "bliss,"I submitted photos I already had on hand. But my supply of “kindred spirits” photos was woefully lacking. I did find one I’d taken of my two oldest grandsons having a grand time playing in the leaves last year. But that was the only one I thought I could enter.

So, while my husband and I were on vacation in Prince Edward Island, Canada, I often said, “Remember, I need a ‘kindred spirits’ photo!” Since he knew what I liked to photograph (churches, flowers, horses, lighthouses, barns, etc.) and was willing to pull over so I could snap such pictures, I encouraged him to help me spot “kindred spirits” photos.

One day as we were leaving the northernmost tip of the island, I noticed two horses in a pasture right beside the road. “Pull over!” I said. “Those horses will make a great ‘kindred spirits’ photo.”

But when James parked near the fence, the horses were too apprehensive to hold their heads close together, as they had been doing when I’d first spotted them. However, they soon relaxed and renewed their focus on each other, so I snapped photo after photo until I finally got one that I was excited about.

Several miles down the road, we stopped at Northport to photograph a lighthouse. As we strolled on the pier, I saw several cormorants sitting on the edge. Two of them were sitting fairly close to each other. But as I snapped photo after photo, they moved even closer together. The perfect shot came when they turned to face each other, their beaks only a short distance apart. “What a sweet pose!” I said. “You look like you’re best friends!”

I didn't know if my photos would receive awards, but having to photograph an abstract concept like “kindred spirits” made me do a lot of thinking.

“Kindred spirits” calls to mind the close kinship two people have with one another. Perhaps they enjoy the same kinds of things, feel similarly about certain matters, and/or share common goals and dreams. Some “kindred spirits” could even order from the menu for the other person or go shopping for him or her, for what one likes the other does, too. They often exclaim, “You sound just like me!” or “That’s just what I would have done!” Or they might say, “We’re two peas in a pod, aren’t we?”

Jesus spoke of that kind of kinship when He said to His disciples, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father! Even the words I say to you and the works you have seen Me do have come from the Father. For I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.” (See John 14.)

Truly, the relationship between the Father and the Son epitomizes “kindred spirits.” But guess what? Jesus also said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him” (John 14:23, The New American Standard Bible). We, too, can become “kindred spirits” with them and with fellow believers!

©2007 by Johnnie Ann Burgess Gaskill. For permission to use, please contact her.