Devotional 1-4-09

Everyone says not to give into peer pressure, but early this summer I caved into the constant pressure coming from my closest friends to join the Huntington High School Cross Country Team. I didn’t know much about Cross Country other than that it was running long distances. The first few weeks of practice were pretty easy, and I could manage the relaxed 3 ½ to 6 mile runs. But when the season officially started in the first week of August, the training became intense. During these hottest weeks of the summer we were doing 10+ mile runs. We would do a run in the morning when it was cool, but then later that night at 6 o’clock, we would have to run again in the scorching heat. On some of these days, my mind would start to scream at me at that I couldn’t go any farther, but I pushed on through. I discovered strength which I didn’t know I had. I would wake up in the morning, and not want to get out of bed because my body was so sore. But God gave me the mental strength to get out of bed, and the physical strength to continue to run.

There is one workout in particular that strikes despair into the heart of even the most seasoned runner. Mile Repeats. It consists of running four miles as fast as possible, with short breaks between each mile. I remember one of these workouts in particular where God helped me do a miraculous thing. The first mile I ran was clocked in at 6:00. The next mile I ran was 5:55. I had never run two miles under 6:01 before, so this was already a record breaking day for me. I knew that the third mile is the hardest mentally to run. As the other boys were yelling “Oh God”, using his name in vain, I asked God for help with this mile. The coach yelled “go”, and I took off. My head was spinning, and my legs felt like lead, but I pushed through the mile and came in at a time of 5:53. That was a tie with my personal record! On the final mile, I knew that if God could help me through that third mile, then I could push through the fourth one, too. On the fourth mile my time was 5:43. God gave me the strength to cut 10 seconds off my record, and that was even after just running 3 miles. I looked up the heavens and thanked God for giving me that great strength.

Sometimes when we are weak, exhausted, thinking we can’t go on any farther, sometimes all we have to do is look to God to help us through our problems. When you do ask God for help, he can give you great and glorious things.

Matthew 7:7 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Job 5:9 He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.

Matt Shideler