He is Worthy....

"Worthy is the, Lamb who was slain,
Holy, holy is He.
Sing a new Song, to Him who sits on,
Heaven's mercy seat."

As I sang this in church yesterday, during worship, I realized something. Granted this song is not from the Bible, nor a commandment, but, the phrase "sing a new song" was heavy on my heart. What is my song that I sing to the Lord in my soul? Is it the same old same old ballad? Is it praise? It is thankful? Is it cheerful? Sing a new song. What should the song in my soul be?

On a different note, I ran my farthest run ever. 5.25 miles yesterday. As I was running the first two, there was an incredible pain right below my rib cage that was caused by my breathing. I stopped for a little, then decided to push myself and run even further than originally planned.

As I was running further, I started realizing some similarities between running and the Christian walk. For one, the devil tries to distract us, to cause us pain, to continue in pain. He does not want us to succeed. He wants us to stop.

I have heard it said (and say it myself) that running is at least 80% mental, and as long as you can get over that wall, you can succeed, and go even further than you thought you could in the first place. If you think about Satan being that wall, you always run into it, it's always scary, seemingly unable to get past. But, if you just push yourself, a little harder, than before, you run at that wall, and you show it/Satan who is boss. Not him. Not you. Christ.

At first I was discouraged because my time was longer per mile, but then I realized as well, that it was the furthest I had ever gone in one run, and one year and 2 months ago, I ran 1.75 miles less and way slower. Satan wants to come along side of us and discourage us from any improvement that we come across and remind us how far we have yet to go. Ignore him. He has no business telling us, whom believe in the blood-striped body of Jesus Christ, what we can and cannot do.

The very last thing was the endurance. Endurance for both running and a solid Christ following life, is essential, that we continue to run, to endure, for the promises that Christ has for us. Even if it hurts, even if you keep hitting an invisible wall, even if it seems impossible. Keep going. Keep running. There will be a victory, whether with running, or with Christ. The victory may seem small, but no victory is a small one.