My feet hurt!

So, many analogies have been made to our walk of faith to actually walking or participating in athletic type activities. And it's fitting. I learned something about myself and my faith today. I learned, physically, I'm a "middle distance" kind of person. In swimming and running, middle distance is in between the sprints and crazy. I have stamina to go for about 60-90 minutes but after that - all bets are off. That's pretty good - a lot further than a lot of folks. However, tince this ended up being a 3+ hour walk, you can imagine my state of mind after my usual store of energy ran out.

To say I was ready to quit was an understatement. But we were only 1/2 way there. My husband, who happens to have much more mental toughness than I do (and has done this trail about 5 times) was very patient with me. In fact, looking at it now - he was a good example of I think how Christ is with us.

I think a lot of Christians are really middle distance-type people. That's why we aren't all missionaries. I don't think we should all be, in fact, we go a lot farther and more often than those sprinters. Everyone had their place for sure. But there are those times when The Lord asks us to go to the absolute end of our endurance - WAY past what we think is possible. Personal trainers make their living on this - of course - that's how they sculpt bodies like they do. But in our spiritual life - how often do we let God lead us to the very end? I have met several people here in Trinidad that have or are in the process of going there with Him. And they will be forever changed - and I hope/pray for salvation along with it.

So - back to my point about Dave as Christ's Hands today. He really was. Everytime I started to complain (and it was often), he let me slow down, or sometimes even stop, gave me water and then took my hand and kept pushing me onward. He was so sweet about it all and it was a great physical challenge for him too - but he had been there and knew what I was going through.

Christ certainly has done that for me - but how often do I go so far as to let Him? See - being someone with strong faith - do I really rely on Him to do that for me, as He promised He would (and has followed through - or do I just keeping going on my own power until I reach my limit?

It's an interesting question I'm going to have to go to Him in prayer about. I don't have a nice neat answer this time - nor do I go past my human limit very often. And I know that's a blessing. He has given me a gift of endurance, physically, mentally and spiritually. There have been several situations where I have had nothing but Him - like Psalm 124 says "If it hadn't been for The Lord...." (paraphrase) But I think most days, I'm just running on the reserves He has given me. So - let's see what He says - maybe this is the way I keep going for now, but I have a sneaking suspicion that's not the way He wants it!!