Pull-up Bars

1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Every day I walk down the hall, I pass by the pull-up bar hanging from the door of my home office. The boys go through cycles of chin-ups, my aging shoulder injuries make this extremely hard, but I am hoping to try again at 52 for a revival for next race season. This will be my last hoora, my last attempt at the incredible demands of training to be better prepared to race for a championship in 2020. I have found myself called into a ministry this year I never envisioned, returning to what was once my god, to proclaim the One true God. I cannot discuss this calling at depth, because I am humbled to tears, seeing my testimony come full circle, God’s plan for my life, and even Satan’s attacks when others try to tear it down. The racing community is only understood by racers, the addict only understood by other addicts, the lost understood by the testimony of someone who was found.

I prayed this morning, and God led me to 1 Corinthians 7, much about marriage and remaining in the state you are in. Paul writes about how God can use you where you are currently at, how we are to think about what we are doing daily, and how others watch our every move. Paul continues to write about the freedom in Christ, and of how others even judged the Christians in what they ate; breaking the laws Moses had given earlier. 1 Corinthians 8:9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. Paul writes of how we must pursue self-control, how we must think of how others view Christ by the acts of the Christians. Oh, the depth of the sermons that lie in those passages. Paul continues in these chapters to write of a pattern of self-denial, one of how he is living his life for Christ, to be used by Christ, to be content in whatever state Christ has him in for that time. Paul lived the life we need to live. Paul understood hypocrisy, and his desire was to be true, lest his preaching be in vain to himself.

I have listened to many sermons this week on prayer, it is just how God works in my pursuit of him through podcasts and messages. I have been praying a lot for my own struggles, seeking God in his Word early again. I am hitting the pull-up bar, trying to get in better shape. I am seeking the prize, the one that does not perish, one I receive passing from this life into the eternal one. Matthew 25:21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ Will you seek to get in better shape with me?