Keep running....

It's hard to keep running when you have a pebble in your shoe. Not only is it uncomfortable and often painful, itis very irritating. It would make sence to stop, take the pebble out of my shoe and then start running again.

So how do we do that in life? Hebrews 12:1...."let us throw off everything that hinders us...." I don't know about you but there are things in life that can rub against me/us and become uncomfortable, painful and irritating, just like trying to run with a pepple in my shoe. In Hebrews we are told to "throw off everything that hinders", remove, or get rid of "what" is hindering or slowing you down from running your race.

What is the pebble in my/your shoe that is hindering you and slowing you down? Is it pride, an attitude, jealousy, anger, gossip, a negative tongue, envy or bitterness? Whatever it is if it is not removed can lead to "the sin that so easily entagles us." There are days when I feel like life is good I am moving and growing and then something stops me in my tracks, like a pebble in my shoe. On this journey of faith there will be many twists & turns, bumps & bruises and even pebbles that make us stop in our tracks. If I do not remove the pebble from my shoe it can become so irritating that it becomes my focus and then can lead to sin in my life. We can stop and start over as many times as necessary. It doesn't matter how many times I stop and start over, what matters is that I keep getting up and running toward the finish line.

The hard part for me sometimes is stopping to remove the pebble. Not all the time but there are times when I live with the pebble in my shoe, I learn to work around it because I don't want to fail, or lose control and fall out of the race. There times when we learn to live with the irritations in life and we would rather talk about it being an irritating pebble in my life. It will require me to "throw off everything that hinders", remove, get rid of it, let it go and redirect my focus. At times in my life this is easier said than done.

So how do I keep running with a redirected focus and the pebble out of my shoe? Let;s talk more later, I am stopping to get the pebble out of my shoe.