Real Inner Champion

"Do you know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air."

- 1 Corinthians 9:24-26

Yep... these are pictures of me believe it or not. Funny huh!? Well, I'm not sure why it's on my heart this morning to write this but it is... so I will. I was a runner in high school. I LOVED IT! And I loved running over hurdles especially. I mean... I can't imagine doing it anymore... but just talking about it... that passion is still there... running over hurdles... what an awesome challenge. Often my left knee was swollen and black and blue from hitting the hurdles on the way over... at times (just a couple) my back or shoulder was scraped up from flipping over the hurdles... but that is what made it fun!!! That was the challenge... to better myself. Well I was decent... not GREAT... but decent and my senior year I finally made it to regionals to compete to go to states... and well... I missed states by a 10th of a second. What a heartbreak that was... but if I would have listened to my coach and avoided fear... I would have gone on.

You see in hurdling you can take 4 or 3 steps between hurdles. Of coarse 3 is much quicker... but it requires switching which leg you go over the hurdle with. To me that was "too hard" but in my coaches eyes... it was certainly obtainable. He felt I had enough in me to do it... I thought I was too short. He saw reality and I saw lack.

SO... it's all about where we keep our eyes right!!?? Keeping our eyes on the prize and what we certainly could be capable of if we tried, or settling for what SEEMS to be true without even trying.

So... this adoption... well we are going to three step through it.