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!!