Words of Worth

How Will You Move Forward?

October 5, 2012

For several years, I have been fond of saying that I keep a “5K” in my back pocket. Now I certainly don’t mean I keep five thousand dollars there. My “5K” is a reference to running not money.

In 2008, my husband and I ran the New York City Marathon. Unless a miracle occurs, it was our first and last long race. Maybe it was more of a “bucket list” thing than we realized. But since then, I have continued to run. Not long distances and never, ever fast but nothing clears my head like a satisfying run outside. So the 5K in my pocket simply meant at any given time, I could jump off the couch and out the door to run five kilometers with no problem.

This past summer I ran a little longer and a little harder to prepare for the physical challenges of our trip to India. I didn’t plan on exercising in Chennai but I was putting a few more “K” in my back pocket for endurance. After returning to the US, what I initially thought was jet lag turned out to be an unwanted and unwelcome souvenir from our visit overseas – Dengue Fever. Now running was out of the question; walking was even too painful to consider. They don’t call it “breakbone fever” for nothing. I ended up flat on my back for days and days. Thankfully with good medical care and the prayers of many of you I started to recover. As soon as I could put weight on my feet, I started moving forward again. My friend Debbie (who is also a marathoner) would say to me, “Forward motion, Cammy, forward motion.”

At first I could only walk to the mailbox. Then I made it to my daughter’s bus stop. Gradually I could shuffle around the first loop near my house. I was “slower than slow” but it was forward motion. This past Sunday, as I started around the bend on my route, I stopped and looked down at my feet. I asked them if they could do more for me than walk. After a couple of deep breaths, I ran a few steps. I only covered a short distance but I did it! Now it’s time to start putting that “5K” in my back pocket again.

Sheryl and I have been teaching a Bible Study on Ezra and Haggai. The Israelites should have had all God’s laws in their back pockets. His promises – His guarantee of Covenant love. But when discouragement and hard times came, they just stopped working on the temple. They “went flat” and stopped running and left their work unfinished for years! When God confronted them about what they had left undone, He used these words, “Consider your ways!” (Haggai 1:5)

Do you need to consider YOUR ways? What have you had previously in your back pocket? Long prayer times? Memory verses? Bible study? An accountability partner? Have you let the circumstances of life get you down? Have you stopped working on your spiritual endurance because you got distracted or tired by all the effort?

Maybe it’s time to consider your ways and start building up that arsenal of verses to call on when you get overwhelmed. Maybe it’s time to call that accountability partner and say, “Let’s meet for coffee.” There’s no doubt it’s time for spiritual “forward motion”. I have a long way to go before I run a mile, much less 3.2 of them. But I’m determined to regain what I lost and get that “5K” back in my pocket. What about you? (ct)

“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2 (NLT)