yeah, what a great holiday this is – National Running Day! Of course I had planned on a nice easy run this morning when the temperature was in the normal range, but I overslept a few minutes too long, which messed up my schedule, so I will have to go out tonight in the record heat. That’s correct, why not make it a challenge.
And of course a day and a post about running sends me directly to one of my favorite verses in the whole entire bible. Yes, the one over in 2 Corinthians that I used to have on my wall in my bedroom when I was a young boy right next to my running goals.
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27, New International Version)
And as most of you know this is the cornerstone verse for this blog, when it is take from the American Standard Version:
24 Know ye not that they that run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? Even so run; that ye may attain.
25 And every man that striveth in the games exerciseth self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
26 I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so fight I, as not beating the air:
27 but I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27, American Standard Version)
On the National Running Day web site, they have various statements that fill in the I Run… badge that you see at the top of this post. I think this verse is a pretty good way to fill in that statement – “I Run.. with certainty, making my body my slave, and winning the prize!’
Get out and run a little today, even if it is from the front porch to the mailbox and back. And more importantly, run the race of life in a way as to get the prize and keep on buffeting your spiritual body each and every day!