Staying In My Lane

I'm posting this from my hotel room in Manhattan before I head into a day filled with not so fun tests, scans, sedations, procedures and recovery. The chemotherapy pump that was installed in my abdomen to deliver cancer-killing drugs directly to my liver is malfunctioning slightly and a team of doctors are going to repair it today. I am just now recovering from three days of systemic (full-body) chemo which ended on Friday. I was strong enough to make it in to church and it was amazing as usual. It's next to impossible to have a bad week when you get to be led in worship by Jay Boykin (and team) and led in Bible study by Pastor Todd Mullins along with the most amazing church family on earth! If it sounds like I am biased, I am. Christ Fellowship is flat out the best place this side of Heaven. New York on the other hand, not so much. Under any other circumstances I would probably LOVE this place but too many bad memories now and maybe too many people! We were in crazy traffic the whole way from the airport to the hotel and our driver, like most of them, drove a little more aggressive than I would have....constantly changing lanes and trying to figure out a better route to avoid more traffic. (as I write this, the sound of the constant horns of New York traffic have invaded the room at 6:30 am! 6:30 am!) The trip to the hotel reminded me of the text we have been camped out in...Hebrews 12:1-2. By the way, did you know that the reason we offer coffee at Christ Fellowship (and we allow it in the sanctuary at the Royal Palm campus!) is because God drinks coffee? It's in the Bible! "Hebrews"! Get it? "He...brews.?! haha...just kidding!

Hebrews 12:1 says, "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." The Holy Spirit inspired the author to tell us to not only run, but to run with perseverance and stay on the course that has been set up for us! Huge! Life-changing instructions! God not only cheers us on to keep going but also reminds that the path we are on is no mistake! It's not an afterthought...it's been "marked out for us." As I run this race, I tend to look at other runners and their course wishing sometimes I was running in their lane. Maybe I saw less hurdles or hazards...maybe from my perspective it looked mostly downhill. God wants us to stay focused on the life He has planned for us. Todd Mullins just finished a tremendous sermon series encouraging us to do just this by studying Joseph's life in Genesis. Click here if you want to check it out.

As I prepare for a tough week, and maybe a tough remainder of the year, this is huge to me. I must persevere because this course has been marked out for me by God. Whatever you are going through right now...if you feel like your course in life seems to be mostly uphill...or if you see that you have twice as many hurdles in your lane than the person in the lane next to you...just run! Don't compare your life's problems to other's problems...or lack of them, just run! And keep running for God's glory! He won't put anything in your lane that you can't handle! (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Stay in your lane, don't let up, and just keep putting one foot in front of the other! Love you all!