Shout

Shout to the LORD all the earth, let us sing.

Power and majesty, praise to the King.

Mountains bow down and the sea will roar at the sound of Your name.

I sing for joy at the works of Your hands.

Forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand.

Nothing compares to the promise I have in You.

Now Jabez was more honourable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain." And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!" So God granted him what he requested. 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 NKJV.

Desperation does not sit on the fence. It reacts. Thirst does not sit by the well. It jumps in. Hunger does not wait. It rushes to the manna. Are you hungry enough? I was, still am. So I shouted. Not typical of me, but hey, desperation can extend a person.

I love running. I run to stay alive. Pure and simple, and I thank God for giving me the passion to run the distance. It was not so initially. I took off from the blocks as a sprinter. Confidence oozing out from every pore down to the finishing line. If it was a sprint, I'd make sure I'd hit the tape first. No problem. That was before I discovered distance running. And man, for the first time, I had to come to terms with finishing countingfrom the back. Number 24.

That was my first year in high school. So I did what I had to do, put my head down, waking up at 5am in the morning, I would run around my block until I hear the first prayer call bellowing from the Mosque nearby and I would head home and get ready for school. I would do it everyday. In my second year, I took part in the cross-country run again. That year I improved four places. Nothing to shout about, but a seed of faith was sown, that as long as I put my heart into something and train for it, someday I'm going to make it. In my graduating year, I made it a shade shy of the top ten. No big deal, but I had transformed from a sprinter to a long distance runner. Running has kept me alive and been my solace since. I run to stay alive. Pure and simple. I need it to breathe. To stay alive, I need to run enough.

Lately it has dawned upon me that running is akin to life, especially distance running. Anyone who has taken part in or train for a long distance race knows that IT IS GOING TO BE LONG, and PAINFUL at times. You have to be prepared for that. You need it to survive the aches and pains that will come over you during the race. Most of all, you need it to complete the race. There will be times when you WILL question your sanity and intelligence for taking part but mostly focusing on the goal, you press on because in life as in race, it's about finishing.

Don't give up, don't give in, give it all to Him.
For He cares so much more than you know.
When it seems that you really want to be someone you'll never become,
Just look how far you've come.

And if you are desperate enough like me, you'd shout to the Lord, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!" 1Chronicles 4:10 NKJV.

Shalom,
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