A couple of days ago I ran my 25th New York City Marathon. For 25 years in a row I ran, walked and finished. This is not a testimony of my endurance but a testimony to a vision of passionate enthusiasm for God and people.
Someone asked me how I did it. I responded that I did not do it but the energy of love and grace that sits inside all of us helped me to see beyond all of it. I finished not because I am disciplined or strong but because I kept the finish line in front of me and simply continued to move toward it at a different pace each year, with different setbacks and problems each year but with the same focus: to finish in and by the grace of God.
When Eric Little, Chariots of Fire, was asked once how he runs. He said that when he runs he feels the breath of God, the pleasure of God, the presence of God, the wind of God's Spirit. While I do not move as fast or as famously, I have felt that same breath, pleasure, wind and presence. It is in all of us. It is not about how fast we run. It is not even about running. It is about moving in The Spirit and having the Spirit move in and through you. We can all feel that wherever we are and whatever we do.
When Jesus spoke of being born of Spirit in John 3 he said, "The wind blows where it wills, you do not know where it is coming from or where it is going so is everyone who is born of the Spirit". We know we are born of the Spirit when we a borne along by the Spirit regardless of anything or anyone. I have felt that energy of Spirit in me in the darkest of hours, in the brightest of times, in times of failure to stay on course and in times of finishing the course. In all times and in all moments: God is always present when I am present.
So today I am thankful not just for God's presence helping me to finish 25 NYC Marathons but more for God's breath that breathes in me, on me and all around me. I used to think I had to breathe in the breath of God. Now I know that God has breathed into all of us the very "breath of God". God's breath is in you and all about you because it is not about you but about the God who gives you breath. It is all about you and God walking living and being in Spirit.
Thanks be to God.
About Me
- Don Paine
- I am a pastor and a clinical psychotherapist. My life's passion is defining healthiness from a human perspective and paralleling it to the holiness of God, divine perspective. Shifting perspectives creates a paradigm that is alongside of rather than over and against. The parakalein of God and the paradoxes of humanity are redefined. Humanity is all about winning and yet we are losing ground everywhere. Divinity is all about letting go of the desire to win and the fear of loss. The Divine embraces the world with loving care regardless of anything.
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