A sprint or a marathon?

I have been part of a bible study this summer and we have been studying through the book of Psalms. (which in all reality has nothing to do with my post-just some background info) But anyways, we meet on Wednesdays and this past week we were talking about what God has been teaching us. As a lot of you know, some of us recently returned from a SMITE trip to the Bahamas. A dear friend of mine who went made a comment about how it was so easy down there to be on fire for God, but coming home has been hard. And I must say I am right with her. But my youth pastor’s wife gave an illustration that put things into perspective and helped so much. She was talking about how so often we go on trips and experience these amazing highs-we’re so on fire for God we don’t see how we could ever go back to the way we were. But then a few weeks later the excitement has worn off and we’re back to our normal lives, no different then we were before. But the Christian life isn’t a bunch of sprints-the trips we take, though they are high spots, are not the highest. The Christian life is a marathon-a very long marathon. And if we run it one step at a time and take each experience and use it to change our daily life we will see growth. As much as we would like it, we can’t live in the highs. Eventually we have to come back down. All the training we’ve done since January wasn’t just to prepare us for our trip-it was to train us for life. To help us grow in our daily walks-not just be on fire for two maybe three weeks. I don’t really think this was a new concept to me-but rather one I had forgotten about. I came home expecting to be different-but I realized being different doesn’t have anything to do with a missions trip or a week at camp or a school chapel..being different has to do with your daily life. Being different means I do my devotions every day. Being different means I love everyone. Being different is a daily struggle-not a one time experience. The experiences are great-often times they are springboards. They give us momentum-but what happens when it wears off. What happens two months down the road when that one person you don’t like just pushed your buttons, or when that teacher gave a ton of homework? Not a million experiences will help that unless you make a decision to live everyday different. I know this is one thing I am going to really work on and I hope you all will too. How awesome would life be if everyone got serious about their daily walk with God. I think it would be radical and get people’s attention..but then again..that’s just what I think.

I’m out..

Amanda