Recently a friend of mine was telling me about her experience participating in the Birkebeiner, a cross country ski race in Hayward, WI. She told me there was a crazy big hill and she wasn't sure she would make it to the top. But there was a man who took it upon himself to cheer on the thousands of skiers. He had fun music playing and was making people laugh. She said before she knew it she had made it to the top! Another friend who was standing there said she had a similar experience when she was running a race. She was ready to give up, and sure enough a stranger who was volunteering was playing a guitar and singing funny lyrics to songs to take the runners minds off of their pain. The three of us stood there and talked about how nice it would be to have people cheering us on to make it through our every day tasks. Imagine if you would pull into your driveway and someone was cheering for you. "Way to go!" "You can do it!" "Unload those groceries, put them away and make dinner!" "You've got this!" "You are amazing!"
There are several verses in the Bible that compare our faith life to a race. And there is even a verse that says we have those who are cheering us on.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us." Hebrews 12:1
We need encouragement! We need to give courage to one another. We need to be reminded to hang in there, to not give up, to trust God, we are not alone in running this race that God has set before us.
Who can you cheer on today? What sign would you hold up to show them? What if we don't wait for the next 5k or 10k or Ironman to come through your town to motivate you to encourage someone? What if you would send an email, text or call today! Perhaps you could go be with the person you want to encourage. What if we would even encourage a stranger? Remember.. God's got you!