Cross Country Runners!

Romans 15

 ⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, ⁶ so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I now have a granddaughter who is a Cross Country Runner. I love Cross Country. I enjoyed Coaching CC so much and now that Lauren is running it brings back fond memories. Cross Country is a tough sport. Not only in running a 5k race, but also in running every day. Workouts grow in order to  build endurance. Endurance is built by lengthening your training runs and by increasing the speed at which you can maintain that endurance. The job of the coach is to design the workouts. But, the highest priority of the Cross Country Coach is encouragement. Endurance and encouragement go hand-in-hand. You can't build endurance without receiving encouragement. You have to have encouragement from your Coach, Family, Friends, and your teammates.

As Christians, we need to have that same combination. In order for us to endure the pains and struggles of this life, we need encouragement. Our main source is God. Those who know the Lord get a great dose of encouragement through their Lord and Savior. I am not the least of these. My life's struggles have been the subject of many of these Blog Posts. Yet, through it all, God has been there to encourage me through those times. I am constantly in awe of how he speaks to me. He speaks through his word, through prayer, through the message of my pastor, through my CMA friends, through my family, and through my co-workers. Even when I am down, I have hope. That hope is in and through Jesus.

Praise God for helping me endure and encouraging me to move toward him! Praise God!