Leaving My Fuzzy Hinderance Behind

(As the first post on my running page, I'm re-posting something I wrote in 2008.)

Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God's throne in heaven. (New Living Translation)

I love to run in the early morning hours. I wake before anyone else is up in the house—no one but Blue, our dog. He has learned that when I get out my running shoes, I’m heading out. He loves to go with me. So often I would look at his sad eyes and give in, “Okay, boy, you can come too.”

Running with a dog, at least my dog, is not really a run. It’s more like a jog….stop…jog…stop…walk….jog. Every tree needed to be smelled and “watered.” But he was such a sweet companion, I didn’t really mind. I knew it was doing him some good to get out of the house. And frankly, I liked the excuse of a rest every now and then. After we’d go a couple of miles, I’d start to feel like he was getting hot and tired. Better head back. After a few weeks of this, I realized that he was loving it, but I was getting nowhere in my running plan. I was letting my dog dictate how far I ran. As good a dog that he is, he was becoming a hindrance. If I was going to reach my goals, I was going to have to leave him behind.

Is my spiritual journey like this? Have I let some sweet thing hinder me from running the race that God has set before me? I have run long enough with the Lord that the really “bad” sins aren’t the ones that hinder me these days. I have to watch out for the cute, cuddly kind. The ones that just look at me with those sad eyes and say, “Can I come, too?” I know that if I am going to run with endurance I must leave those things behind. I must fix my eyes on Jesus. He is my running buddy. He encourages me and challenges me to run my best every time I go out. Jesus is the one “on whom my faith depends from start to finish.” (vs. 2)

I was sitting outside after a good run. I had gone farther that day than I had in months. It was just me and my praise music on my iPod. Finally, I was getting back to the distances I had run in the past. And Blue? He didn’t mind. He just sat beside the treadmill and watched.