Beautiful Hands

Sometimes the beauty of music and drama can speak more powerfully than the most eloquent of sermons. This video is such - a powerful mime illustration performed with a blacklight and accompanied by the Casting Crowns song "Who Am I". Words simply cannot do it justice. I've watched it many times over and over.

Take a look for yourself below.

(FYI: A group of middle school students performed this same illustration in my own church this morning. It was so powerful and moving. After searching, I found this video made by another church's youth group.)

Ready, Set, Go!

Well, in two days I will run my first race ever - a 1ok. That's 6.2 miles for all of you metrically challenged people out there. It's taken seven weeks of training to get to this point, and I've spent much time reflecting on the similarities between running a race and following Jesus. Just to be fair, I'm not the first person to come up with this great analogy. All you need to do is read the passage in Hebrews from my previous post, and you'll see the idea's not a new one. In fact, I've read that passage in Hebrews numerous times in my life, but since I started training for this race, the analogy has become so much more powerful in my heart and mind.

Here's one thing I've learned about running a long race: it is hard and painful at times, and you will want to give up. If I want to have any hope of finishing this race on Saturday, I must be committed to finishing. Crossing the starting line doesn't guarantee I'm going to cross the finish line. If I start to envy those on the sidelines, and say to myself, "It's so much easier to just watch the race," then I'll suddenly find myself right beside them and out of the race. I have to stay focused on the prize at the end (in this case bottled water and snacks because there's no way I'm winning the cash prize!) and stay on the course. I may have to battle the weather, side cramps, knee pain and fatigue. If I trip and fall, I need to pick myself up and keep running to the finish line.

That's a lot what it's like to follow Jesus, isn't it? He's the race leader, and I need to keep my eyes on him, so I can follow him to the finish. If I want to finish the race and receive the prize that awaits, I must be committed to staying the course because there will be times when I want to give up. If I'm not careful, I may be drawn into sin - greed, pride, lust, anger, selfishness - you name it - and find myself slowly entangled by it and no longer following Jesus, the race leader, but hanging out on the sidelines with the crowd instead. I'll certainly have to battle temptations and troubles while running this lifelong race, and I may even get tripped up by them at times, but I need to pick myself back up and fix my eyes on Jesus, the race leader.

He's leading the charge, and I'll win the prize if I just keep following him.

Endurance, Part 2

A scripture passage that should have been included with my previous post on endurance:

¹ 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 trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. ² We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. ³ Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.

Hebrews 12: 1-3 (NLT)

Endurance

I have a friend, who a few years ago at the young age of 31, had to endure the physical and emotional pain of a breast cancer diagnosis (while pregnant with her second child) and the chemo, double mastectomy and reconstructive surgeries that followed her diagnosis. Throughout her treatment, she would regularly send out email updates on her progress and share her thoughts and feelings on her experience. Throughout her entire ordeal, she remained a true inspiration to me on how to handle adversity, and I remember one specific email she sent out, in particular. It was written a day or two after one her many surgeries - perhaps her mastectomy. She described the incredible and intense physical pain she felt when she awoke from her anesthesia and that she had to endure for a few days afterward. Instead of using her pain as a reason to give up or complain, she used her pain as reason to worship Jesus in the midst of it all. Her own physical pain served as a reminder to her of the agony Jesus willingly endured on the cross when he died for us. Ever since, I've begun to think in the same way. Whenever I have to endure physical pain - great or small, I'm reminded how much more my Savior suffered when he died for me.

Which brings me to my own little world as of late. I decided last month (at the urging of a friend - it wasn't even my idea) to run a 10k race at the end of March. This will be my first race ever, and let me be clear: I am a wimp when it comes to pain and exercise, so training for a race has not only been a challenge for me physically, but also mentally and spiritually. Everyone who runs knows there comes a point in the run when your body just begins to hurt - your legs, feet, back, everything. This is when the mental battle really begins - when you have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and endure until you reach your finish. I've been trying to use those few agonizing minutes at the end of my training runs to focus on Jesus, just as my friend worshiped through her pain. I just think about what Jesus endured on the cross for me, and it gives me the endurance I need to keep going.

At the end of a recent training run, where I was really struggling to cover my longest distance yet, the most amazing, God-inspired thing happened. I had been intensely focused on enduring to the end and thinking about the cross when a new song began to play on my iPod, which had been randomly shuffling songs throughout my workout. This particular song, though I've heard and sung it many times before, brought special meaning and tears to my eyes as it serenaded me through the last half mile of my run, when my pain was at it's greatest and I really wanted to quit. Singing along to the lyrics gave me the extra measure of strength I needed to endure the remainder of my run. What an amazing God we have!

The song is entitled "Here I Am To Worship" by Chris Tomlin, and below are some of the specific words that spoke so directly to me:

And here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that you're my God
You're altogether lovely.
altogether worthy,
altogether wonderful to me.

I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross
I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross
And I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross
No, I'll never know how much it cost

Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that you're my God
You're altogether lovely
Altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful to me

Wii Fatigue

Yesterday afternoon as I was straightening and vacuuming our family room, I asked my 6-year-old son, who had been playing Star Wars on the Wii, to take his toys upstairs. He looked at me (very seriously) and said, "But Mama, my hands are tireder than yours because I've been holding the Wii controller FOREVER!"

Really?!?

Let's just say after a brief reality check, he realized his hands really weren't so tired after all.