I had just checked the weather on the internet and it was a reasonably comfortable 72 degrees at 7:00am as I walked out the front door to go for an eleven mile run. The only problem was that the weather information also included a humidity factor of 100%. It was miserable outside.
Within a couple of minutes my body was dripping with sweat and since the air already contained all the moisture it could hold there was nowhere for it to go. Sweat evaporation, one of the bodies best cooling mechanisms was running at a zero. Knowing this to be the case I started at a very comfortable 8:30 pace, just trying to accept the reality of the conditions in which I was running. At mile six I considered quitting after eight, at eight I decided I could push on for two more and quit at ten. As I passed my house at the ten mile mark it took every ounce of energy I had not to stop and push for one more mile. I made it all eleven miles, but my pace slowed considerably and I finished with an 8:46 average.
During the run I was thinking about how we sometimes, perhaps oftentimes, have to endure conditions that are less than ideal for and how easy it is to quit when the going gets tough. The Apostle Paul reminds us to press on toward the goal and not to be "anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Indeed he even says that he has learned to content no matter what circumstances he finds himself in. Now you may think that's great for Paul but Paul didn't have to live the hectic pace of life and face the pressures of life in modern day America. That's true he didn't but he still said that he could, "do everything through him who gives me strength." And Paul did have to deal with a great deal of hardship for the sake of the gospel...
I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own people, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
Followers of Jesus have to press on in spite of the circumstances that life may throw at them.
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