Joe and Jessa when I was in high school I played slow pitch softball. There is no stealing bases in slow pitch but my coach was the master of aggressive base running. He knew how to keep the play alive by training us to continue running past the bases and forcing our opponents to make frantic plays. My dad was constantly reminding me that no matter what happened I needed to do exactly what the coach the coach told me to do!

The day came that I found myself on first base. On a hit through the infield to right field I was supposed to book it directly to third and look at the coach for the signal to slide or stand. We had prepared for this moment in practice, I knew the drill. The batter drilled the ball right ahead of me into right field so I rounded out my path and glanced over to third. For some reason my cleats did not grip as I rounded second and I found myself sliding out of the base path on my side. I quickly scrambled up headed BACK to second base. When I stood up and looked over at my coach, the look of disappointment is an understatement of what I saw! Not because I fell but because I quit!

My coach knew that I could have made it! Yes, he saw me fall but he knew what I was capable of. He knew that I didn't have to stop! Today the Lord is asking the same thing of me! Yes, He sees me wipe out and yet He wants me to keep going! Some days falling can be emotional, relational, physical, intellectual, or a sin issue. However, from God's perspective there is nothing bigger than what He did on the cross! He died so that I can finish running to Him! When I fall now I know what way to scramble. I know the drill!

Philippians 3:12-15

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.

Mended by Matthew West