Monday, June 13, 2016

RUN TO WIN - June 13 Today's Perspective


PERSPECTIVES FROM DAVID’S 7 SECRETS
Chapter Two, “Sit at God’s Round Table” p. 27
                                         
RUN TO WIN

In 2016, we are in an Olympic summer.  In August, athletes from all over the world will fly to Rio de Janeiro to compete in the XXXIst Olympiad.  1988 was also an Olympic summer and George H.W. Bush was running for President as the Republican nominee. And appropriately, the Continentals theme was "RUN TO WIN".

Our T-shirt that summer had five contemporary designed runners with big red printing across the front saying, “Run to Win” I Cor. 9:24.  I still have one and actually wore it this morning at tennis!


George H.W. Bush also had one and he wore it everywhere that fall.  There were pictures of him wearing that shirt in newspapers and magazines, so we framed one that hung in the Continental office for a long time.

In 1 Cor. 9:24 Paul said, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize!

George H.W. Bush did and he won the prize and became the 41st President of the United States.

We sang a Twila Paris song that year called “Runner”

RUNNER
Courier valiant, bearing the flame
Messenger Noble, sent in His name
Faster and harder, run through the night
Desperate relay, carry the light, carry the light

Runner, when the road is long
Feel like giving in, but you’re hanging on
Oh runner, when the race is won
You will run into His arms.

Hanging on is sometimes the tough part.  Many of the most successful people in the world faced impossible situations and found a way to keep going.  Dale Carnegie said, “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”

Paul’s prize was winning people to the Gospel of Christ.  He was shipwrecked, beaten and lashed, he was stoned, and when people rose up against him and threw him in prison, he still found a way to keep on running.  He had a determined goal to run the race and win. 

At the end of his life he wrote in 2 Timothy 4:7. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

So what about us, you and me?  

Are we running to win?  If some days you feel like you are treading water like I do, start asking God for some really big scuba fins.  Today’s world needs us runners as Ambassadors for the Lord more than ever. 

But if you do decide to really get in the race…
RUN TO WIN…

you may enjoy listening to the song Runner





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