Topics:<\/b> Anxiety; Commitment; Courage; Dedication; Despair; Discouragement; Doubt; Endurance; Fear; Limitations; Motivation; Overcoming; Perseverance; Quitting; Steadfastness; Testing; Trials; Weariness<\/p>\n
References:<\/b> Luke 21:12\u201319; Acts 20:24; 1 Corinthians 9:24; Galatians 5:7; 6:9; 2 Timothy 4:7; Hebrews 10:36; 12:1; James 1:2\u20134<\/p>\n
The first half of the New York City Marathon is a party. You\u2019re swept along by 28,000 runners and the crowds lining the streets. You\u2019re touring the ethnic neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens. You feel like you could run forever. At mile 13, you cross over into Manhattan and start heading north, away from the finish line. The crowds are thinner now. The party\u2019s over.<\/p>\n
At about mile 16 or 18, you hit the wall. You\u2019re absolutely miserable. Physically and psychologically, you\u2019re busted. I remember passing one of the first-aid stations, where runners were lying on cots\u2014pale and gaunt, with IVs dripping into their arms. I thought, Those lucky dogs<\/i>. At that point I began to despair. I imagined myself having to go home and tell everybody I didn\u2019t finish. Why did I ever sign up for this race? What made me think I could do this?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when it hit me: one way or another, I had to get to Central Park. I had no car, no money. I would have to get there on my own two feet. So I might as well keep running. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Don\u2019t think about the next six miles; just think about the next step. Gradually the miles will pass. And when you cross that finish line, it feels like glory\u2014even when you\u2019re in 10,044th place.<\/p>\n
Some of you may be hitting the wall right now\u2014feeling like you can\u2019t go on, like you\u2019ll never make it. Following Christ is harder than you ever imagined it would be, and you\u2019re thinking about giving up\u2014about doing something foolish. Don\u2019t do it!<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no magic to endurance racing. It\u2019s all about making it to the finish line.<\/p>\n
\u2014Bryan Wilkerson, \u201cEndurance,\u201d PreachingToday.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Topics: Anxiety; Commitment; Courage; Dedication; Despair; Discouragement; Doubt; Endurance; Fear; Limitations; Motivation; Overcoming; Perseverance; Quitting; Steadfastness; Testing; Trials; Weariness References: Luke 21:12\u201319; Acts 20:24; 1 Corinthians 9:24; Galatians 5:7; 6:9; 2 Timothy 4:7; Hebrews 10:36; 12:1; James 1:2\u20134 The first half of the New York City Marathon is a party. You\u2019re swept along by 28,000 … Continue reading “MAKING
\n IT TO THE FINISH LINE”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}