Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race. Show all posts

Friday, March 18, 2022

Love's Sweet Assurance



I enjoy watching golf, partly because it's so easy
to get emotionally connected to the highs and lows
of those little white balls and the drivers behind them...
I also find so many metaphors for life in the game
with its challenging courses, 
the exhilaration of an eagle, 
and the frustration of the bogie

What a competition it was last week
 for all who participated in the Players Championship 
finally completed on Monday!

And of course, tears at both ends of the emotional spectrum;
Anhirban Lahiri's tears of disappointment in loss...

and Cameron Smith's tears of joy in victory!


(Big hug from mom)


Cameron Smith, when interviewed, told reporters that the
joy of the win is secondary to the joy of being able to see
his mom and sister face to face for the first time in two years
due to covid restrictions.(he now lives in Florida)

 (smiles and tears from girlfriend, sister and mother)

His mother and sister flew in from Australia a few hours earlier
to share what turned out to be a celebration with the Champion!
Isn't it wonderful to have love's sweet assurance no matter 
what the results of a day's effort brings?
Love shares in both highs and lows of life💓💔

Here's to all our personal 'Sawgrass 17th holes

We are all in a Challenge with very grave stakes...
Imagine if we put the time and passion/effort into training like top athletes do!
And for the victor, oh the joy of that face to face meeting at last!

This life of highs and lows composes opportunity
To help us stop to smell the roses midst adversity
To let our words and meditation honor He who grants
His gift of grace, salvation, to the sinner who repents

This life of hope and heartache is a course of down-and-up
One copes with loss and heartbreak while one hoists the winner’s cup
But all of us are equal in the eyes of He who holds
Soul’s very sacred sequel to Time’s very temp’ral molds

This life of want and wonder thunders with faith’s wait-and-see
Time’s little haunt of hunger harbours immortality
Where the gift of salvation is no temporary prize
But seals our vindication through Lamb’s blood that justifies

This life of Good misunderstood and dreams never come true
Could drive us to despair and would faith’s quest for Best undo
Without love's sweet assurance proclaimed by Jesus, our Lord
All who run with endurance will receive Endless Reward

© Janet Martin

Heb.12:1-3
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, 
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. 
And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
 2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. 
For the joy set before him he endured the cross, 
scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, 
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.






Tuesday, July 14, 2020

To Incognito Athletes...


 My cousin Wayne, (mentioned here) 46 years old and bed/chair ridden 
because of MS and the loss of part of a leg in a farm accident,
 is one of the most valiant 'athletes'
I have ever met!

Also, another one of my faithful readers
is suffering immensely because of a fall 6 weeks ago and now some added complications!
She was admitted to the hospital last night and is feel physically and emotionally at her limit!
Will you pray for Jan R., for healing, strength and encouragement?

Will you pray that they (and we) may be faithful
in the fight to the finish! 
Because no one can predict who will cross the finish line first!!!


Philippians 3:14
I press on toward the goal to win the prize 
of God's heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.


Failure and success are like competitors in a race
And it is hard to tell sometimes which side the favor lies
We tend to measure success by position or by pace
But the One at the finish line sees beneath its disguise

I’ve seen a shadow of a man put ‘better men’ to shame
Humility is something that collects no accolades
But rather gives full credit to a Greater Worthy Name
Knowing our time on earth is like a bloom that quickly fades

I’ve watched one bedridden yet beating ‘great athletes’ by smiles
Surrender is a hard fought thing until we fully yield
And it is not always the one who boasts the most in miles
But he who knows that soon the inner man will be revealed
 
Failure and success are not always what they may appear
The road we see runs through a veil that ends the wend of Time
Beyond the slope where hope vies with the sigh of now and here
To the Reward after the race and its arduous climb

Not all who run will win a Prize; then pray and pray and pray
Lest we become distracted by the way faith’s rivals run
And test the spirit lest by decoys we are drawn away
And miss the most beautiful prize of these two words ‘well done’

© Janet Martin

...and then today's devotion fit right in to the topic!! 







Saturday, May 2, 2020

Happy Birthday, Matt!

 Happy 22nd Birthday, Matt!
We are so blessed and thankful by the laughter and love you bring to our home!
Whether you're working, working out, laughing and sharing crazy youtube videos,

or discussing life's more serious side,
may God bless and lead you in the year ahead!

The mettle of a runner is not proven at the start
The middle-to-end of the race proves who we are at heart
The most important matter is not how the race began
But how we finish that confirms the measure of a man

Then choose to be strong in the Lord; the power of His might
No matter what may try and test, will fit you for the fight
Do not be wise in your own eyes (for we see but in part)
We walk by faith and not by sight; Trust God with all your heart

Young man, rejoice while you are young but keep one thing in mind
The greatest mark of success is to be honest and kind
For these will bring true happiness through living’s highs and lows
And leave a good example for Small Fellow who follows

Who knows what you must brave before you reach the other side
While fire pulses in your veins with many dreams untried
Remember this, while you are young and feeling fit and fine
The measure of a man is proven at the Finish Line

© Janet Martin



Ecclesiastes 11:9
Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, 
and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. 
Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. 
But know that for all these things 
God will bring you into judgment.
 
Titus 2:6 NKJV
Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded,  

1 Cor.9:24
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.


Monday, January 21, 2019

Amazing Grace Race


Many of us enjoy the exhilaration of watching or competing in sport...
Whether we are athletes or not we are all part of an Amazing Grace Race!


Whether we're enjoying the great out-doors
or taking it easy indoors...
 whether working 
or playing
whether waking or sleeping,
 the race is on!

The past two morning's on-your-mark signals were saluted by sun-dogs!




This is more than just a challenge for the sheer love of the game
More than means to impress judges with amazing fetes of fame
More than ‘well, there’s always next time’ if we fail to meet the mark
For there is no consolation prize where Light divides from dark

No returning to the place where grace had granted hope’s reward
No rerunning laps to practise what the first time we ignored
This race has far more at stake than any other gain or goal
For this finish line unveils the Awesome Myst’ry of the Soul

This is more than just a ho-hum, lack-a-daisy here-and-now
More than mustering the effort to keep up the pace somehow
This fight-to-the-finish, precious, is no minor marathon
The outcome of this race, precious, all eternity hangs on

We are all in this together until that last hurdle; death
As our feet touch down we take flight on That Awesome Parting Breath
Then, what hell or what a Heaven will open before our eyes
Where damnation or salvation will unveil the final Prize

© Janet Martin

 Heb.12:1-2
 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, 
who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, 
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.…
 
Philippians 3:14
I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God's heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.

1 Cor.9:24-25
Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. 
They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable.…

 Romans 14:10
Why, then, do you judge your brother?
Or why do you belittle your brother?
For we will all stand before God's judgment seat.