God called me to run

I have not blogged in awhile. This summer was quite busy. In the past I have posted many of my race reports on here but today I turn to another topic. As I spend so much time training for my races many times I examine God’s calling for my life. I once read a book that discussed how to find God’s calling for your life. This book did not really help, but after reading the book I realized that finding God calling can be quite simple. God gives us talents/skills and gives us things that we enjoy doing. We should use these skills that we enjoy to glorify God while remembering these talents are from God. We can work at these talents that God gave us, but God gave us the natural skill.

I feel like God called me to run. This is one of my callings in life. I feel alive when I run and I feel like a day without running is missing something. I enjoy running and feel as if I have some natural talent, which I am trying to refine. I am thankful for this talent; yet, at times I get frustrated with my performance in races. I know that talent has to be refined through hard work done in a strategic manner but even with hard work many times races do not go as planned. At times I want to thank God when things go well, but I forget to be thankful when they do not. As I strive to live out this calling, I need to remind myself that emotion is part of all humans.

Expressing emotions is not sinful. Jesus was fully man and fully God. During his time living as a man on earth he express a variety of emotions from sadness to happiness. Toward the end of Jesus’ earthly life, Jesus was sitting in the Garden of Gethsemane and said the following in Mark 14:34 “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Holy Bible, NIV). Jesus knew he would die a physically painful death on the cross. He never lost hope in God’s overall plan for the world, but as a human he expressed sorrow. I need to use Jesus as my example. At times things may not go my way and I may have a vast array of emotions, but I strive to remain hopeful in God’s overall plan for my life and the world. When things do go well, I also need to remember all I have comes from the Lord.

As I express my emotions, I hope to be thankful and remember that the Bible says all things from God are good. Psalm 118:1 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his loves endures forever” (Holy Bible, NIV). I take great comfort in knowing that all things from the Lord are good and that once I put my hope in the Lord, nothing can separate me from the Lord.

Lastly, many times I feel a sense of selfishness while I pursue my running. Spending so much time running can seem like such a selfish use of time when people are going to bed hungry in places right near in the Bay Area. I wrestle with this issue. However, I am reminded that my calling to run is equal to other callings in life. Using my counseling skills to help people, working in marketing, and running are all equal callings by God. I find great joy in living out all the callings that God placed on my life. What has God called you to do?

Today I sit here in Tahoe looking at God’s beautiful creation and I am thankful God called me to run. As I train hard for the next couple of years, I am hoping to run many PR’s while also remembering that all I have comes from the Lord. Look for race reports to come in the future.