second, congratulations to my cousin jeremy and his new bride stephanie on their wedding yesterday!
yesterday morning, i had a coffee date with Jesus. while i made my breakfast, i listened to a podcast by christine cayne while she interviewed jeanne mayo. both of these ladies are role models of mine and great women of God. during the interview, jeanne mentioned that most youth pastors hold that position for an average of two years. when christine asked her why so short a time, jeanne replied, "our culture has not put a priority on endurance."
oh, how this struck my heart! it's just so unbelievably true. i live in a generation of back-up planners who figure their biggest dreams won't last, if they're even worth pursuing, so get your degree in a back-up plan. the minute things get tough, bail. there's always plan E. there's always mommy's leg to hide behind.
as this occured to me, a verse came to mind:
hebrews 12:1, "therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses (who have borne testimony to the Truth), let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly qnd cleverly) clings to and entangles us, *and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us." (AMP)
Jesus and i talked the passage over, and this is what i realized:
1. "patient endurance"- no back-up plans. God gave me so many crazy big dreams because i'm going to see them lived out. why settle for what i can plan when i'm promised plans that give me hope and a future? (jeremiah 29:11)
2. "active persistence"- i cannot afford to take a passive posture. i cannot give up or watch idly by.
3. "appointed course of the race"- i don't have to worry about what's ahead. there's no need to make a back-up plan, because God already knows. i just have to take it one leg of the race at a time.
now, i have been training to run a 10K (i only know of a 5K i'd like to run, but i want to be able to run a 10k anyway). the training i've been doing is an iphone app called "couch to 10k", and it turns a non-runner into a 10k runner in thirteen weeks. the secret? building endurance! using this program, i am building my endurance so that i can run the six miles straight without dying (lol!).
my prayer is that we will build our spiritual endurance as well. let's don't be a generation of back-up planners! let's be dreamers, persistent and enduring!
welcome to my first deep blog post :)
<3 robin
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