“SUCCESS is not based on WHERE you START, but WHERE you FINISH.” 

This is a quote given by a very determined runner.  It took him four days to complete a marathon because he “ran” it on his hands and arms.  He lost his legs in the Vietnam War. 

Determination, perseverance, and endurance are all helpful traits to have when facing personal trials.  The Lord tells us to run the race set before us with endurance.  Our life on earth is a race to heaven.  We must train for it just as any skilled athlete might train.  Spiritual muscles must be built up so that our endurance is developed and increased.

We will have desert and mountain top experiences in our Christian walk.  Both of these terrains require special training.  The lack of water in a desert can dehydrate and weaken a runner.  A Christian going through a dry spell or a season in the desert must continue to read the Word of God, even if it does not seem to speak encouragement or direction.  We need the “springs of living water” at all times, it strengths us.  It enables us to run past those dry riverbeds in our spiritual walk with God.

Climbing a mountain takes endurance, perseverance, determination, and a lot of skill.  Even the most advanced and mature climber can make a silly mistake or take an unnecessary and thoughtless risk that ends in sudden death.  Pride can also get in the way of reaching a summit.  It can cause a horrific fall.  Athletes might boast in their ability yet find they don’t have what it takes to reach a peak with success.

Dear Reader,
We are running a race down here.  Each landscape requires wisdom and perseverance.  We need trials to exercise our faith muscles and storms to develop perseverance so that we are made mature, not lacking anything we need.  Do not despise the path God has placed before you as it is equipping you for the next few steps in your journey.  God does give us reprieves and times of rest……. Remember what HE DID ON SUNDAY?

HEBREWS 12:1   Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us

GENESIS 2:2   By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.

JAMES 1:2-4   Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.