So my new little running partner for the 5k races is my nephew Odin! We recently ran the pizza run and the way it was set up, the track looped back around through the park so the people that were the fastest would pass the slower people.
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Well there was a particular runner that I noticed that was one of the first runners to pass back through, and it wasn't just because he was tall and handsome and fast that I noticed him, if so I would have forgotten about him by now. But what struck me about this guy as so memorable was that after he completed the race as one of the first to complete it, he may have even come in first, I'm not sure, but after he completed the race, he ran back through the course towards all of us runners that were still finishing the course...
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And as he ran towards us runners that he didn't even know, he began yelling encouraging things to us. He was saying stuff like, come on guys, keep going! Don't give up! Just wait til you taste the pizza it's so good! Come one, come on, come on!!!! And he kept running, going past my group to the people further back and the ones even further back, cheering more and more for his fellow runners that he didn't even know.
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And in my mind I couldn't help but conjure an image of what the Bible says about the cloud of witnesses in heaven, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses...
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There are people in heaven, that have already made it, that have completed the course and they're cheering us on. Telling us to keep going! It could be someone you love that has finished, but there are others that have never seen us but they want us to have what they now have.
I imagine them saying COME ON! Keep Going! It's worth it! There's no heartache, no offense, no hurt, no disappointment that is worth missing heaven over! Your so close! Your almost here! Soon you'll be dancing on streets of gold! You can do it! Don't give up! The crystal river is so near, just wait till you sit down to the marriage supper of the Lamb!
JUST WAIT TILL YOU TASTE IT!!!
Just wait till you see Jesus face! Pretty soon you'll be touching His nail-scarred hands! I know your tired, buuuuuut don't stop running!
"...Let us lay aside lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." (Hebrews 12:1)
♥Mary Frances :)