“Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step” …“let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”
                 1 Corinthians 9:24-26…Hebrews 12:1 NLT

I love the movie Secretariat. In the movie Penny Tweety takes over managing the farm for her dad and remembers his words of advice to her as a child, “RUN YOUR RACE”. After her father’s death, Penny’s brother wanted to sell their horse Secretariat to pay off taxes. He was planning that things would go downhill for the horse and that would leave them…well, penniless in the financial sense! Penny was willing to take the risk in keeping Secretariat and believed the horse was more valuable to them if they allowed him to continue racing. My favorite part is when Penny says, “This is about life being ahead of you and you run at it because you never know how far you can go unless you run.”

Living the Christian life is compared to running a race on a few occasions. Never are we told to saunter, or jog, but to run for the prize; run with purpose! Running can be a scary thing. Running is risky. Most everyone walks, but only the diligent run. Running for the prize takes confidence and determination. If you run hard in the wrong direction you get lost, but if you run hard in the right path you will win!

God has a race for each of us to run. Penny had hers, Secretariat had his and I have mine. No one can run your race for you! Ask God what the race is He has set out for you and then RUN YOUR RACE! It won’t always be easy, but it will be rewarding!

Prayer:

Father…Help me to run the race you have set out for me. Help me to put on blinders so I don’t compare myself to the race others are running. May I keep my focus on You, because You are the prize! In Jesus Name…Amen.