Staying Hydrated in the Race of Life

I woke up this morning with the thought: "Challenges we face are opportunities for us to grow stronger and see the hand of God in our life." Later in the afternoon as I was walking I thought of a lesson I learned from my son when he ran cross country in high school.

When you are training for a race it is important to hydrate the day before, because that is what will sustain you through the race. Now, Christine Caine has written a book called "Run to Win," which is an excellent read for any Christian. It relates running a race to the Christian life. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend the read. She talks about conditioning and all that relates to the runner.

I want to point out something else relating to a race and the Christian life...being prepared for the race by taking in enough fluids. Coaches will tell you to drink plenty of fluids the day before a race. As Christians we need to follow this example by staying spiritally hydrated with the Word of God...with Christ, who is the Living Water.

By staying in the Word and absorbing what God is telling us through Scripture we are preparing for the race of life...the race of a Believer. When the obstacles and challenges come at us, we will have what we need in order to stay in the race; just like a runner needs the fluids to make it to the finish line.

It is very important that we never think we don't need to read the Word or pray: "Oh, I can skip it today. I will do it later." We need to be careful to not take either of them lightly. They are what will sustain us through, to the finish line. When the obstacles and challenges come at us, we will be able to pull from the strength our training has given us.

If we have been slack in our training, it will be evident in the way we deal with difficult circumstances. It will be evident in the way we respond to our family...our friends...our collegues. We cannot lie about how much, or how little we have trained. Our lives will tell the truth.

So...how are we dealing with life? What are we going through right now? Are we running strong, or are we a little weary? Maybe all we need is this blog to remind us to pick up our Bible and read. Maybe this is a reminder to spend more time alone with God worshipping Him for Who He is, not for what He has done. Maybe we need to just be still and listen to the "still small voice."

As we do these things we are going to be replenished. We will be reminded that we can move forward; we do not have to stay discouraged.

The obstacle or challenge we are facing at the moment is just an opportunity for us to grow stronger and see God at work in our life!