Running Our Race

Good morning! Yes, it's still morning. I had to check the clock. I get myself in trouble with that quite often. Happy Sabbath! It's great to be here with you. Thanks, Jeff and Carolyn, for that special music and for sharing your talents with us. It is truly a talent and a gift to be able to do that. And so I do appreciate having that for us today. And it is a fun time to be back from the feast. Anybody tired? Yeah, a few. Yeah, it's an exhausting but wonderful time. And we always joke that it's why God can't let us do it for two weeks. We'd eat ourselves out of health in an instant if we kept it more than one week. But it is great to be back. Okay, I've got to start out with a question again. What do you call a race event that is comprised of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a 26 mile run at the end? I hear some answers. I'm not sure they're exactly right. That's closer to what I was going for because I think it's called insane, crazy, ridiculous. But no, you're right. It's a triathlon. It's a triathlon is the actual technical name of it. And more specifically, an iron man triathlon. An iron man triathlon. For those not familiar with the iron man triathlon, once again, it's a race comprised of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and finishing up with a 26.2 mile run. It's a full marathon after competing the other two events. So I was curious to figure out, because these numbers are just numbers to me. They sound crazy, but they are just numbers. So if you were to swim from here down to the Walmart at the bottom of the hill, that would be the swim portion. If at that point you jumped on a bike and you rode all the way up to downtown Dayton and back, you'd finish up the bike portion. And then from that point at Walmart, if you were to run all the way downtown and then add three more miles to it, you would finish the actual full race.

So when I think through that, it truly does sound crazy or insane to me to consider doing this. But you guys have all got this, right? You're signing up tomorrow for the Iron Man.

The history of the Iron Man triathlon is an interesting one. Like so many other things in life, it starts off with some guys standing around saying, who's tougher? Who's the better athlete?

This actually did happen. It was at the awards ceremony for the 1977 Oahu perimeter relay. Among the participants were representatives from a couple different clubs. They were from the Mid-Pacific Road Runners and the Waikiki Swim Club.

And they were standing around, and this debate had come up before, time and time again, who is the better, more fit athlete? Runners or swimmers?

And this wasn't, like I said, the first time this question had come up, and the guys were standing around talking about it.

Well, there was on this occasion a US Navy commander, John Collins, that pointed out that in a recent Sports Illustrated article, that had declared that Eddie Merckx, the great Belgian cyclist, had the highest recorded oxygen uptake of any athlete ever measured.

So he thought, well, maybe it's cyclists that are the most fit athletes.

So Collins and his wife, Judy, had already ran some triathlons a few years earlier. Triathlons were kind of a new sport in the mid-70s, and no one had very much experience. There's a few.

But him and his wife had some experience running triathlons themselves.

And a number of other military athletes were also, who were there, were also familiar with the concept of triathlons. So when Collins presented this idea of changing up the triathlon a little bit, making it a little bit more tougher, they were with him and understanding what he was saying.

Because on the island, there was already a couple events that they had done traditionally.

One was the Waikiki rough swim, which was a 2.4-mile ocean swim.

And there was also the Round Oahu bike race, which was actually, at the time, 115 miles.

And so they were already familiar with these two events.

And so Collins presented a third option.

How about we tack on at the end the Honolulu Marathon?

And so he came up with this idea, and of course, as a whole bunch of guys together in a room say, sure, that's a great idea, let's do something crazy, they came up with the idea of the Iron Man triathlon.

Up until that point, no one present had ever done a bike race, so this was all new to them.

And so they put out the course that they could all piggyback on the other portions that they had already declared and had already ran previously.

And they sent out an application, and 15 people applied and agreed that they would try this crazy race.

And on the handwritten, and handwritten on the last page was this exhortation.

Swim 2.4 miles, with an exclamation mark.

Bike 112 miles. Run 26.2 miles. Brag for the rest of your life.

And with a nod to a local runner who was notorious for his demanding workouts, Collins said, whoever finishes first, we will call him the Iron Man.

Each of the racers had their own support crew and supply of water, food, and encouragement during the race.

Of the 15 men to start off on February 18, 1978, 12 completed the race.

Gordon Haylor, U.S. Navy Command Communications Specialist, was the first to earn the Iron Man Triathlon title by competing it in a time of 11 hours, 46 minutes, and 58 seconds. He was one second faster than me, technically.

The runner-up, John Donbar, led after the second transition and had a chance to win, but ran out of water, I like this part, on the marathon course. His support crew resorted to giving him beer instead.

And so this first ever Iron Man Triathlon was ran, and it has continued up to this point to be one of the premier triathlon events that anyone considers out there.

But there is an aspect of the triathlon that many have not thought much about, but it's critical to each of their races.

With most types of races, someone competes primarily in one event. A marathon, you're only running.

Or if you're in an open-water swim, you're swimming. That's it.

But here in this triathlon, you're competing in three separate events at the same event, one right behind each other.

When someone completes in a triathlon, they must transition from one stage of the race to the next in order to complete it.

And it's at these transition points that the athletes face some unique obstacles.

Each athlete has trained for long periods of time on each of these three stages to discipline. Sometimes they will even malt at them together in one day.

I have a friend who ran him one time, and the sheer number of hours that he logged on his bike, on running, and on swimming, was just staggering.

These athletes train, and they train, and they train.

Transitions is an aspect that they can't really train for.

This transition point of when you finish your swim and then you transition to the bike, or when you finish the bike and you transition to the runner.

Because transitions take on some complex aspects of switching out gear.

So if you're swimming, you've got your goggles and your cap on, and you've been swimming like that, and you've got to drop that, pick on your bike shoes, put on a bike helmet, and grab your bike and you start off on that.

And then when you come out of that transition, you also then have to stow all that equipment, tie on running shoes, and head out on the course.

So it's these transitions that can be a deal breaker for these athletes.

But what I understand to be one of the most difficult aspects about these transitions is with our bodies themselves.

Because as anybody who's ever done an athletic event, you realize you've been working, and you're working, and your muscles kind of build up a memory.

So if you're swimming, you get into like a kind of a rhythm where you're used to swimming, and you're doing great, and everything's going fine.

But imagine if at that point you had to switch to a bike suddenly, in a matter of a few minutes.

Well, your muscles are used to the whole body of swimming, and your legs doing more of this motion. Now they've got to switch into a cycle motion.

This is called muscle memory, when your muscles get used to working in a certain way, and then you've got to switch it up. And a lot of times, the muscles are like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, what are we doing now? No, I don't want to do this.

And then after the bike, they have to transition again into the run portion.

So even though the bike seems familiar, or similar to what it would be like to run, it's much different because the gait is different, the motion's different.

My friend said it was kind of like, you get off the bike, and you're feeling good, and you go to run, and your legs are still doing the cycle motion. And so all these runners start off running, kind of looking like a kid, learning how to run for the first time, and then they have to work through this.

And it's this muscle memory that can be sometimes the most difficult.

Successfully executing these transitions is critical for an athlete in continuing their race.

And it's this aspect of making the transition I'd like to look at today. Specifically, I'd like us to consider how we are making the transition in our lives after returning home from the Feast to Tabernacles.

I appreciate the sermon, Ed. There's a lot of parallels and crossover we're going to dive into today between the two messages.

One week ago, we were at the Feast of Tabernacles, observing God's Feast days. I'd like you to think back a few days earlier to that Feast, when you were there, and that excitement on opening night or the first day, of being together and having that room filled, and the sound when everyone started singing. Many times I get goosebumps hearing that many people praise God and realizing that excitement and that joy that is in the air. Do you remember the excitement that you felt?

Do you remember the excitement you had for the spiritual messages? One after another, day after day, just ready for another meal, another spiritual meal. How exciting that was! It's a wonderful time, but it has to come to an end. And until we celebrate it again next year, this was our Feast of Tabernacles for this past year.

So here we are. We've returned home, and most of us have started getting back into our normal lives.

We are getting back into the normal swings of daily life at work, at school, or at college. Maybe you're a parent who's staying home with your children, a mom or a dad. Or maybe you're retired, and I don't really know what you do with all your time.

No, I do know. There are lots of people who serve, a lot of people who volunteer, who take care of the grandkids.

And so whatever you are transitioning back into, keep this in mind, because we are in a transition period of the year where we have just completed it, the Fall Holy Days, and are entering a period of time until Passover in the days of Unleavened Bread.

This is the long stretch. Over five months are going to pass between now and Passover. It's 161 days specifically.

This is our long stretch of the year. And as we entered and exited the Fall Holy Days season, we are now transitioning back to our normal spiritual race that we each are running.

Paul used the analogy of a race when describing the work and effort that each of us are expending as we struggle against the pools of the world and against our own human nature. Let's turn to Hebrews 12 as we consider this first aspect of the race that we are running.

Hebrews 12.

And we'll start off in verse 1.

Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Run with endurance the race that is set before us. That's what we're going to look at today in the aspects of transitioning that come into it as well.

Athletes who run triathlons prepare, and they train with a purpose and a focus to deliver results on race day. They don't just wake up one day and say, oh, that was a good night of sleep. You know what? I think I'll go run an Ironman today. There are occasionally a few crazy people who have done that, but for the most part, that's not what people do. The athletes train, and they train, and they train, and so we are also training. They log many miles preparing their bodies for the events ahead of them, and an aspect of their training is not just the individual components of the triathlon, but they also focus on and plan the transitions they will need to make to continue running their race. As with an athlete who runs a triathlon, we also too must run our spiritual race with purpose and a focus on the end results that we desire to achieve. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 9 as we consider the purpose that we are running our race. 1 Corinthians 9.

And we'll start off in verse 24.

I like the aspect of not as one who beats the air. Imagine a boxer who's just swinging, not making any contact. The air is no resistance. The air is doing nothing, but they're tiring themselves out, wearing themselves out. But Paul speaks here about having a purpose, a focus, for what he does and what he was encouraging the Corinthian church to also do. And it's running with a purpose that allows us to make this transition to the next portion of our year. It can be tough at times to make the transition. We can be busy at work or at school. We're busy getting unpacked and back into the flow of our daily life at home. We could be dealing with things of life like medical issues or health trials, finance problems. Whatever type of things that are on your plate can make that transition back to life very difficult in keeping the aspects that we learned at the feast and the focus we had there on the front of our mind. But the professional athlete expects the unexpected because this isn't their first rodeo. They've ran multiple races. They've hit their walls at times, and they've learned from those examples and those encounters. And as I look out on the crowd today, I see a lot of people, and I know growing up here, a lot of people that have just withstood the test of time. This isn't your first rodeo coming back from the feast. You've stepped back into life, and you've realized the difficulty it is going from a symbolic world that we were able to picture of peace and joy and happiness and how it filled our hearts to going back to the world. It's tough, and we've done it before, and we'll do it again. And so I'm speaking to veterans who have all done this themselves.

It's also during the transition phase of the runner's race that he will take time to refuel. Hopefully while we were at the feast, we partook of so many spiritual messages, every opportunity that we could to take in that spiritual food to gain our refueling. Some have said it before, and I think I calculated this correctly. I'm not a math major. But if you were to add up how many hours of spiritual lessons we were able to get while we were at the feast, it comes out to about 15% of our daily, yearly study and messages and knowledge that we can gain and put into our life. 15%. This is a significant amount. Imagine if you were to get a 15% raise at work. You'd be pretty happy with that, wouldn't you? Or if you got a 15% decrease in your college tuition? That'd be pretty nice. So we're not just talking a tiny bit that really doesn't make that big of a difference in our lives. We're talking a good amount that really day after day after day that kept our focus, kept us on the same page with each other. And that spiritual teaching is what is so powerful going through this transition and provides that refueling that we all need. The spiritual refueling we received is what is going to give us that boost as we start the next stage of our race. The long, cold, winter, Ohio months. Fun, fun, fun.

Laura's from Detroit, and she wants to go the further south that we can get. It just cracks me up because she's from Detroit, and you would think she would love the cold or at least be used to it. But it's this time of the year that we are getting into. I can only imagine what it would be like to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112, and then to realize at the transition point, I've got a full marathon in front of me. That's what we're hitting right now, this 5 plus months between now and Passover. We're in that transition period where we realize we've got a whole marathon ahead of us, and we've already been working pretty hard this year. God has positioned the Feast of Tabernacles perfectly in the year to provide a wonderful opportunity for us to be refueled and to receive a boost now.

Runners many times use energy gels or chews, or they get water at these transition points to replenish the energy that they've already expended through the race working up through the swim and through the bike. And so we've done now the same thing. God has given us this opportunity to refuel for the next stage of our race coming up here through the winter months.

And our refueling is so vital to our spiritual health. And so if you had the best Feast ever spiritually, then good for you because that is exciting to have those types of Feasts. You are ready to take that next stage. You are ready to conquer the marathon at the end of your race.

Using the race analogy once again, you can imagine that you are running that perfect race. Your body feels good, the training has paid off, you are hitting that transition, you're taking off the bike equipment and you're putting on your shoes, and you feel really positive about the next part of the race. I encourage you today, then, to keep it up. Keep up those things that you took from the Feast, those lessons that you learned. Keep up the new habits that you developed. Maybe it was your Bible study or a different prayer habit. Whatever it was, keep it up. If you worked at overcoming a sin, keep that up as well. Whatever it is that you were able to do with this Feast, keep it up. By doing these things, you are running a successful race. But maybe your Feast didn't go so well as it should have spiritually. Maybe the physical aspects took more of a front seat. Maybe the Feast site was placed in front of the spiritual aspects. Maybe you have some regrets now that you're back home and your refueling didn't go all the way that you thought it should have and you really wish it would have been different. Back to the race analogy again. Maybe you're hitting that transition point, you're just not feeling very good. Your stomach's a little queasy. You've got this spot on the bottom of your foot that just is constantly just bugging you and it hurts. You might be wishing that you had a do-over for your Feast. But like the athlete running the race, you can't go back to the start and say, let's just start this all over again. That's not an option for the athlete, and neither is it for us. We can't say, like, can we schedule this in a couple months? Because I'm going to put more practice, more effort in. We don't have that option. The Feast is already gone. But what we can do, you can keep running. You can keep running. Let's look at Luke 9, verse 62. Luke 9, verse 62.

Luke 9, verse 62.

It's moments like these that, through the power of the Holy Spirit, God is talking to us. And He's making us rethink some of those Feast decisions that we might have made. He's reaching out to our heart and causing us to pause for a moment and to consider those things. And that's okay. It's the moments like these that God can work with us and transition us out of maybe a bad experience that we had and say, now go this path and redeem it.

Redeem what you missed out on and work towards something greater. These are those life lessons that we've each had to learn and then resolve to handle differently going forward. You may need to go to God and ask for repentance for something that you did or not did during the Feast. And then refocus and redeem your race that is still in front of you. And then there's a third kind of category that I think people fall into, and Mr.

Porter mentioned. Maybe that you did everything you could. You had that focus. You worked hard. You went into the Feast with the right attitude and your study and everything was going perfect and you were ready for the Feast. But then things of life out of your control just happened. Maybe it's a death in the family or an illness with a child or an illness with yourself.

We know there are people who miss the entire Feast because of illnesses. They miss it because of trials. Sometimes these things happen. These are just some of the things that can significantly impact your Feast and your ability to get everything you hoped for from it. If you've been in the Church for a long enough time, these Feast experiences are going to happen.

It's just the way that life seems to go sometimes. It can be frustrating. It can be disappointing. It can be difficult to understand, like, why is this happening? It may be difficult to put into words exactly what you are feeling as you go through these things because it's just a strange and difficult Feast that you're having. But even through this type of a Feast, we can gain insight by going through it. It's not always easy, but we can work to maintain a positive attitude and then look for the lessons that we can learn from these types of Feasts.

These lessons that we learn can be powerful lessons that you will be able to either share with others to encourage them because people are going to have their tough Feasts. Not out of anything that they did wrong. Just life sometimes comes this way. Maybe in a future year, you can talk to somebody that you can see is going through a difficult Feast, or that you know they're going through it and you can do something great and buy them a gift. Get well package. Send it to them or drop it off at the room. These are wonderful ways that you can then share a lesson that you learned from a previous Feast and help someone else through their transition.

Regardless of how you are making the transition from the Feast back into your normal life, the important thing is to keep in mind that you are moving forward in your spiritual race and that you still have a great opportunity to run a very powerful race with God's help and his assistance. Another aspect of making the transition I would like to look at today is that as we have returned home, we are still transitioning back into a world that is not God's. As Jesus Christ was being questioned by Pilate before his death, and this is in John 18, verse 36, Jesus answered and said, My kingdom is not of this world.

My kingdom were of this world. My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here. This is not God's world. This is Satan's world. But we had an opportunity to experience just a taste, just a glimpse of what the kingdom will be like while we were observing the Feast of Tabernacles. And while we took partook of this small amount, we can already see just that little taste that we got.

We can see from that taste the stark contrast between God's way and the kingdom of God that will be ushered in and the way that we still have to live in today with Satan's influence in Satan's world. We can see clearly that this world is not God's at this time. In the New Living Translation version, this is 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, and I'd like to read it from the New Living Translation. 2 Corinthians 4, 4, it says, Satan, who is the God of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe.

They are unable to see the glorious light of the good news. They don't understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. This world is blinded, and yet we got a taste, that little taste of what the kingdom of God is going to look like and really be when Christ returns with it. While we were at the feast, we were presented with an opportunity to step away from the world for a bit. This was always one of the most encouraging aspects of the feast for me.

I get one week to turn off the news and to not have to book up anything on the Internet if I don't want to. One week to step away from the discouragement from all the filth that's being thrown around about different presidential candidates. One week to be with my family and to just spiritually be uplifted. One week to be refueled. I get that one week every year to rejoice with you guys and with others from around the world. One week to meet somebody brand new that I've never met before but instantly I have a tight bond with because we have the most important things in our lives in common.

This one week, one week, it's an absolutely wonderful time of the year. But it's also a time that we can see so clearly the contrast between God's way and Satan's way. We are making the transition back into a world that is ruled and governed by Satan and his wicked influence.

There is not a corner of this world that has not felt his influence. Through the Feast of Tabernacles, we were reminded that we must become less and less like the world around us. As technology and knowledge has spread without boundaries around the world, so has the slippery slope of man ran down towards Satan's ways.

It's at this transition point we must ask ourselves, are we slipping down that similar path along with the world, or are we running our race against the world's tide? Are we becoming more tolerant of sin? Are we apologetic of our Christian beliefs? Is our conscience becoming seared or desensitized to the way the world that are contrary to the ways of God? Mankind has become desensitized to things in this world that couldn't be stomached a short while ago, things that used to be viewed as indescribable violence or crimes against humanity.

We must ask ourselves, are we also becoming desensitized? As we make our transition, we must be very careful that we don't transition back to a world that is against God we value in teachings. Let's turn to 1 Timothy 3, verse 1. 1 Timothy 3, verse 1. 2 Timothy 3, verse 1. Here we have described what the world will look like in the end times. And what's scary is a lot of this is already, we see this already, out in the world that we live in. This is 2 Timothy 3, verse 1.

2 Timothy 3, verse 1.

Turn away. We've read over this list many times before. And still, every single time I read it, I have to pause and think about each one of these words, because like any other list, we could just run through it quickly and say, oh yeah, that sounds horrible. Oh yeah, it's going to be a bad time. But if we actually paused and thought about some of these individual words, can we think of events going on in the world right now that describe these things? I think we can. We'll get worse. It will. But that's why we have to use a list like this to compare against our own lives. To say, where's my list? What am I supposed to be doing? Because this is obviously not the list that we are to strive for. What does God expect of me? He expects that we become like Him. Let's flip back to 2 Timothy 2. 2 Timothy 2. It's across the page for me. 2 Timothy 2, and we'll start in verse 1. This is what God expects.

This is a faithful saying.

If we are faithless, He remains faithful, He cannot deny Himself. In the book of Titus, one page forward, we have another list. It's another encouraging list of what God expects that we become. Titus 2, verse 1.

Sound in faith, in love, and in patience.

In verse 11.

In contrast to what we read just a little bit ago, these are the lists that we should be focusing on and judging ourselves now against. How are we doing with these things? How are we doing in our transition? Because we just came out of the Feast of Tabernacles, and we had so many positive things, and we had so many opportunities. How are we doing in our transition? Are we going to transition back to the world? We have to, because that's where we live in our jobs and our lives. But spiritually, are we going to maintain the spiritual focus that we've had up to this point? This is the first Sabbath after coming back from the Feast. We must maintain, through the transition, the focus that we need. Radical change is going to occur on this earth someday with the return of Jesus Christ. Radical change must also be occurring in our lives today. So, as I said before, if you started a good habit at the Feast, keep it up. Keep it up. Keep up any positive change that you made in overcoming sin.

Keep up any progress that you made in an area of your life that you're just not happy with how it's measuring up to Jesus Christ. Keep it up. Making it to a transition point in the race doesn't mean we have already arrived at the finish line. It means that there's still more race in front of us. It means that we keep up the pace we have been running so far in our race. We must keep up everything we have been doing to continue the race that we have started. But this also means that the last part of the race may not be easy. I've seen people hit transition points watching a documentary or other things, and it's tough. They run into difficulties. They jump on the bike and they start pedaling, and a mile in they get a flat tire. Come on. A flat tire. Or they start the running portion and they get a cramp. And they've ran races so many times. They've never cramped. Why are they suddenly cramping at this point? There are some athletes who have struggled through different things. But what do they do? They do what they only know they can do. They keep it up. They fix the flat. They work through the leg cramps. And they keep going. Our race does not have a finish line until God says, Our race is complete. So through difficulties that may occur, I encourage you and myself to keep it up. Keep it up. As we make the transition back into our lives, we must remember that our race is also being ran through the power of God in our lives, working through the Holy Spirit. Through this power that we all have the support that we need.

The Iron Man Triathlon World Championship is held every year in Kona, Hawaii. And a few years back, I watched a documentary on this race. I mentioned this a few years ago in a sermonette that I gave. As I described earlier, this is the Pinnacle Triathlon. The top finishers of this race competed in a little over eight hours. The original guy who ever ran it took him over 11 hours. My friend, who was not a professional, took him over 11 hours. But these guys, men and women, these are professionals. They complete the race in a little over eight hours. But to be counted as finishing the race, each participant must complete it within 17 hours. They have stops along the way, checkpoints you must meet. And if you don't finish the entire race within 17 hours, you have to quit. You have to be pulled off the course. I noticed something extraordinary at the end of the race while watching this documentary, about the 15th or 16th hour. Because they start early in the day, they start about 7 a.m. So about 15 or 16 hours into the race, it's dark on the course. It's dark. And the few people who are left on the course are struggling. They are really, really struggling. But there are people, average people like you or me, who just come out. Their only purpose for the day is to encourage these last runners. It's really something neat to see. They come out with their flashlights, and they come out and they shine the course for them. Because it's dark, they can't see the road, the roads aren't lit up. And so they're running alongside with these runners. And they've got the road lit up in front of them, and they're trying to help them. They can't touch them. They can't pick them up and move them. But when the runners are running, they're running alongside of them. When the runners stop, they stop. Because their only purpose for that day is to come out and to encourage these lone, struggling runners. We have a Savior that gave up His own life, the author of our faith, who is running alongside of us in our own individual race. He gives us encouragement through His Word. He gives us bread and water that feeds and nourishes us our entire lives. He will not leave us nor forsake us when we feel like our legs are giving out and we can't continue on. Turn with me to Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13.

Hebrews 13, verse 5. Let your conduct be without covetous. Be content with such things as you have. And here's the part. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? What can my race do to me? What can anything in this world do to me when we have God on our side and He is running our race with us? Is our race hard? Oh, yeah. It's hard. But our God is great, and His Son is our Lord and Savior and soon coming King. There is no one greater, no one more powerful, and this is who we have on our side, cheering us on during our race. And Christ is not only alongside of us, He's also in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. He is that inner peace that we feel when we are on that road alone, racing in the dark and reaching out to Him in prayer. He is that extra boost of energy when we are tired and ready to quit. He comforts us when we hurt and we have scrapes and bruises from the obstacle course of life. Let's turn to Isaiah 43, verse 1.

Isaiah 43, verse 1. But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up. The flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. This is who we have on our side. This is our author and finisher of our faith. We are committed to running our race.

There is a finish line ahead. Can you see it? Can you mentally see that finish line in your head? Because we need to. Because we have a shared vision of reaching the end of our triathlon, a picture in our mind of what that will be like. A race that we thought was too crazy to start when we first considered running it. A race that many others, when looking at it, determined in their mind it was too difficult for them to start.

Yet here we are in the midst of our race. And we are running it. We are running it.

I look forward to running this segment of my race this year. And I look forward to running it with all of you, too, as you run your race. And as our elder brother runs alongside of us, encouraging us and strengthening us to keep running. Make this transition and keep running your race.

Thank you.