October 25th, 1964 Vikings defensive end, Jim Marshall. Jim Marshall had really a career defining moment. He picked up a fumble and he started running. He started scrambling and here this defensive end took it 66 yards to the house. He looked up for the cheers and the applause to which he did not receive because yes, he did run 66 yards, but it was in the wrong direction and what he thought was a touchdown was actually now a safety for the other team. Now we've all seen this on little stages where it's cute where the little kid scores in the wrong goal or runs, runs the wrong way. But in this case, it was an NFL defensive end who did so he did so in front of the eyes of the nation. So, uh, it was his great, his most memorable play, but it probably won't go down as his greatest play. Now, why do I share that, that today's message is entitled, run your race and my hope and goal is that by the end of this morning, we can help you run in the right direction, right? Because, uh, it's been said before that, it's not just about, you know, it's not about being afraid of failure. You know, we used to be afraid of failing, but it's also about succeeding in things that don't matter. And so we want you to run and we want you to run hard and we want you to run fast, but we want you to run in the right direction. And so if you think of your spiritual journey as a marathon as a race, we want you to remember this. If you take a note, you can write this down that the best time to start spiritually running is now the best time to start. Spiritually running is now this morning's message is tailored for those who feel like they're either too early or too late. I've been in ministry now for almost 20 years. I started when I was four. And uh no, I, I used to be able to pull that off, but now the grades are coming in, you know, on top and it's, it's scaring me, freaking me out anyway. But in 20 about 20 years of ministry, some of the most common conversations I had were people who thought they were early or they were late. Here's what I mean. Someone comes in and says, you know what, when I get out of school, then I'm gonna really commit my life to God when I don't get so busy, right? When I get to college, when I meet the one, then I'm gonna get in church. When I, when I graduate I get the job, then I'm gonna get serious about my faith. Well, when, when I, when I get married, then I'm gonna get serious about when, when, when we get the house, when we get the kids, right, when we get out of the toddler face, right. When they grow up, uh, it's just if I can just get to, when they're teenagers, then there will be peace in the house. And that's not true. And so, and we keep thinking there's one thing after the next. And so we think we're just too early that we think faith and getting serious about our faith is like a one day journey or a some day journey. And we think that growing in our faith is something that we will do tomorrow. So people feel they're too early, but then there's also people that feel like they're too late. I've gone too far. I've messed up if God only knew, you know, we had a season as a church where we met in a bar. And what that was great for was when I was inviting people having conversations and, and some would say, oh, if I stepped in your church, the building would catch on fire. Like, ah, we meet in a bar, you'll be fine. But there are people who view themselves that way. It's been too long. It's, I'm too old. I've, I've I've spent too much. I've gone too far away. I've, I've been in too many relationships. I've done too many bad things and I think they're too late that they've missed it. I wanna tell you those that are here right now and those watching online you are exactly where God wants you to be. And that we have a God who has thousands of years of history and stories letting people know that it's never too early and it's never too late to put your faith in Jesus. You know, Mary most likely was a teenager giving birth to Jesus. David was most likely a teenager when he took down Goliath Abraham and Sarah thought they were way too old to father an entire nation. But yeah, all throughout scripture when people thought they were too early or it was too late. God says, no, your time is now. And that's why we want to say that the best time to start spiritually running your race is right now. We're in this series where we're walking through the book of Hebrews and is towards the end of The New Testament. We don't know the author exactly. We do know that the audience was most likely Jewish Christians. And so all throughout this letter, it's, he's writing to really share that Jesus is greater. Jesus is greater than all religious customs. Jesus is greater than all situations that you might be walking through right now. And so it's about putting your faith in someone who is the greatest and that Jesus is really will meet the deepest needs of your soul. And so we've been talking through each week how Jesus is greater and talking through all the religious customs and how Jesus really is more about a relationship than it is a religion. And then last week we looked at Hebrews chapter 11 and, and my friend, uh, Pastor Brent shared really how your time with God is more important than your work for God. And he shared from a guy uh the life of a guy named Enoch found in Hebrews chapter 11. Well, that entire chapter, if you read it this week is filled with stories of faith. In fact, people call it the hall of Faith. I would actually give it a slightly different name and I would entitle it the Hall of God's faithfulness because these people were ordinary people that were obedient to God's extraordinary call. And so there are 12 people mentioned by name in Hebrews 11 and it walks through their stories, some pretty big names in there. Noah, Abraham Moses and others. And then it throws in a whole list of names and just like a list like entire lives that are separated by a comma. And in all these crazy things happen. And it describes to the end as saying that people conquered kingdoms and forced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lion. People were raised from the dead others survived persecution and difficulties and challenges and people were being martyred for their faith. And it gets to the very end of Hebrews chapter 11. And that last verse says in there that and yet they did all these things and they hadn't yet received what was promised. In other words, all these stories in the Old Testament were before the coming of Jesus, so that we actually have something better, something greater. And so he's writing here to say that as believers, everything, all of the Bible is about faith that in the Old Testament, it was all about faith in what was to come that now since the coming of Jesus, coming to earth, living a perfect life, dying on the cross rising again, that now as the church and as believers, we believe in what was already done. So the Old Testament had faith in what was to come. And in the New Testament, we have faith in what was already done. And we put our faith in Jesus, an even greater picture of God's faithfulness. And so this builds this up. And so we pick it up here in Hebrews chapter 12 verse one. Therefore, that's why I shared all that context. Therefore, he's building off these stories. Therefore, in light of all these incredible examples of God's faithfulness, he says, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance. The race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. Man. That could be a whole another sermon right there that in that one phrase, you have joy and endured the cross, right? Those should not go together, but yet they do through Jesus. And he says, despising the shame. In other words, he put shame to shame and that cool, think about that. He put shame to shame. He put doubt on doubts, right? He guilted guilt. Think about that. He, he conquered it all. And he says, and he is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Verse three, consider him who endured from sinners, such hostility against himself. Now, why did he go through all those things so that you may not grow weary or faint hearted? He did that for you. He did that for me. The writer saying, I, I know you're going through a hard time right now, but it's time to run. You're not too early, you're not too late. It's now. So the best time to spiritually run is now. But what we see in this passage that every spiritual runner needs four things. First, we see from this passage that every spiritual runner needs fans for encouragement, fans, for encouragement. And this will help you fight the battle against isolation there in Hebrews 12 1. It says, therefore, since we're surrounded by a cloud of great witnesses in light of this, these great stories, right? There's this, there's when you're surrounded by greatness, it inspires you towards greatness. Uh Everyone that has ever been inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. And they get to don that gold jacket and they go to that Hall of Fame dinner and they get to meet the legends of the game. Everyone in these gold jackets, they stand in awe being in the, the company of the great the legends and it's like, wow, if you're not a football person, maybe golf, like there's an interesting tradition before the masters where when you win the masters, you get a green jacket. I don't know what sports world has with jackets, but apparently we, we love jackets and if you notice no one will say that they're ugly jackets. Can you just say that like, you would never wear those jackets out in public and say, because it's exclusive, let's make it as bright or as odd as it can and say only these people get these anyway side note. Um But there's this tradition where the winner of the previous year of the masters actually hosts and pays for the dinner and they call it the champions dinner. You know how cool that would be other than being stuck with the tab to, to have, hey, the new guy, we're gonna give it on the new guy and to be at dinner with all the champions of that tournament, wouldn't that be so cool? Like, you can't help but just feel like, wow, that would be great. You know, you get, I can't wait to stand in heaven. Have combos with Noah. Right. And, and Abraham and Moses Josh. What was it like? Right. What was it like? And have those conversations at that dinner? That Feast. It's gonna be so awesome. And when you have that man that would be really encouraging, wouldn't it? Here's the thing. I don't think it's just a future tense thing. I think it's a present tense thing that when you read the stories of legends, which you realize that they in fact were ordinary people too and that they are cheering you on, they are cheering you on to look what God did. He can do it again. Look how good God was and he will be there for you because all of us can use more encouragement. No one has ever in the history of the world, quit their job. And when asked for the reason that you know what I was just en encouraged too much. I was just, they believed in me and I was supported. So I couldn't take it and I left. No, all of us when you receive encouragement from someone, it gives you a little bit of oomph to keep going, doesn't it? Uh I got to enjoy uh elementary version of cross country meet recently and it's so cute. Right. They're running and the kids are all excited. I don't think the kids realize what they signed up for, what their parents forced them to do in the elementary cross country meet. And so they're running at very different races. Right. And they're running. But what every single kid did was you're running this course and no one's really out there. But the last little part you come onto the track where everybody stands and everyone starts cheering and every single kid from the first to the last as soon as they entered the track and they heard the cheer of the crowd, they started going for it no matter what speed someone was running. As soon as they hear those cheers, they start running faster. Why? Because everyone needs some fans for encouragement that we were not meant to live this life alone and that the church should actually be a place of encouragement. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 and 25 says this. So just two chapters earlier, let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another. And all the more as you see the day drawing near one of the authors that I enjoy reading. His name is John Acuff and he speaks in all over the country. He was at a speaking event and he tells a story. He was in Houston in the hotel lobby. He also likes to run and he tells people he likes to run and make us feel bad. Thanks John. And uh and he was going and so he was gonna run even when he's on his little book tour and speaking event. And he runs into his friend named Ryan Boone in the hotel lobby. Now, John this whole time had planned about running three miles. He was training for a marathon. And so he was at the three mile point. And so he had all intentions of running three miles. He catches up with his friend Ryan getting off the elevator and Ryan who knows him says, hey John, you go, so you're going running this morning and he says, yeah, so how far are you gonna go? He goes 03 miles and Ryan just looked down and he goes nah four and just got on the elevator and moved on. Do you know how many miles he ran that day? He ran four. Why? From two words, nah four that was enough to encourage him to run 33% more than what he planned to that day. Sometimes it doesn't take much. So I asked you and I asked myself this, do you have fans encouraging you in your daily life? Someone that can speak into your life like you've got this. Come on, let's go. And then the second part of that question is can you be that fan, that encouragement to someone else? Because on one hand, we have the stories of the legends of scripture that are not actually just legends, they are ordinary people that we see time and time and time again. And they are cheering for you to take that step of faith today. So not only do we have the legends, not only do we have the stories, but we have each other, We have the church and you could be that person for somebody else because when you do that, you fight the battle of isolation and you can run another day. We need fans. But secondly, every spiritual runner needs freedom from entanglement. You need freedom from entanglement. You can't run with a bunch of stuff doesn't work like that. What's interesting in that passage, it says therefore, in light of all these witnesses to lay aside every weight and sin, it separates the two categories. What that tells me is that sometimes the things that you're holding on to aren't even sinful, but they are holding you back. Is there something in your life that is holding you back? What are you holding on to or another way to put it? What is holding on to you? Is it stuff? Is it worry? Is it things? They're not even bad things, even good things but placed in the God spot, turn into idols that when you place subconscious expectations on somebody or something in your life to act as God. It is 100% guarantee that that person, that promotion, that thing will fall short because only God can be God. Is there something in your life that you are hanging on to that you are holding on to that is actually holding you back. Paul writes this in Philippians chapter three. He says in here he says, but whatever I gain I had, I count it as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. Jesus, my Lord. So he doesn't say in there that everything is loss. He says, I count everything as loss because God is so much greater and sometimes I think God wants to give us something more, something greater, but he wants our hands to be free to hold on to it. So is there something holding you down or holding you back? We have to ask ourselves that. But then the second thing is is that it says, and every sin that clings so closely, we got to take responsibility for ourselves because we do it to ourselves. We just do having little kids. Have you ever seen them get jump into sports? You've probably had this scenario where they're out there playing and their shoes are untied and you see them running around and the laces are flopping around like don't, you're gonna fall, you're gonna fall, tie your shoes, tie your shoes. I think there are many of us in this room that are running right now. A race with our shoes untied. Right. We've done it to ourselves. Look, some of you might have even gone as far to tie your own laces together. You're so wrapped up in sins. So wrapped up in something that you're trying to run a race and this is you. I can't, I don't know why I can't run faster. Some of you don't even have shoes on. Some of you are trying to spiritually run in flip flops like, oh man, I keep tripping and falling. I don't know what's going on. Put your dang shoes on. God has called you to something greater, something deeper, something of meaning of joy and purpose. But then where Satan comes in, he says no, but you need this. You want that. But James puts it so directly, half brother of Jesus. He writes this in James one. He says, blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial for when he has stood the test. He will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. But let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one. Here's the challenging part. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire, then desire when it has conceived, give birth the sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Look, folks, we got to recognize that it's us and the choices that we make sometimes we might be thinking, oh, I'm being spiritually attacked. No, you just made some bad choices. Ok? This is true physically, isn't it? Right? You don't see people running on the treadmill, eating little Debbie's at the same time, but we do it spiritually all the time, right? Uh Look uh no judgment here. I'm in this with you. OK? But sometimes we wake up and we're like, man, why am I so tired? Or maybe because we all processed foods. We drank way too much caffeine. We stayed up way too late. We avoided our responsibility and we did stuff we weren't supposed to and you were like, I, I don't know why I don't feel good, but my point here is not to make you feel bad. But let's just call it what it is that we're choosing something lesser that when we choose something that is not God. What we're saying is that I know better. I want this and I want to replace greater with immediate. And what we do is we leave our shoes untied or we even tie them together and we get tangled up. Yeah. But have you ever been carrying something super heavy? And like let's say you're moving, let's say you make the mistake. I mean, blessing of agreeing to help someone move and then you find out afterwards that they're on like the third or fourth floor, there's no elevator. You've been there. If not, you were the one asking. Thanks a lot. And right, you're carrying something heavy. It's like, 00, when you finally get there and you set it down and you have that moment of that's what God wants for you. He doesn't want to keep you from good things. He wants your hands open for the God things. Galatians 51, Paul writes this. He said it is for freedom. Christ has set us free, stand firm therefore and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. Same writer, different letter. Second Corinthians chapter three verse 17 says now the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. But understand this, that freedom is living in the context for which you were made. Freedom is living out who God has called you to be and what God has called you to do. It's not about just making our own choices doing whatever we want when we want. Why? Because we don't know better, we just don't, right. If I had a little fish bowl on the stage, a little goldfish in here. So I'm gonna set this goldfish free, right? Who wants to be confined to a bowl? And I take the fish out and I dump it onto the stage and say, go, Nemo, you're free. Go. It's like flopping around like all of you would just intensely stare at me and judge and rightfully. So why? So I take a fish out of the water and throw it here on the stage. I did not make it free. The fish was made for water. You were made for this life. You were made for a context and for a purpose. Right? There's a reason instruments are tuned, right? Freedom is not just saying, hey, play whatever note you want whenever you want. No, you know what you get with that noise. Do you know what God wants for your life? Music? No coach go and tells every player to say, run whatever. I don't care, play whatever position, do whatever doesn't matter. You're free, not if you want to win the game. God wants what's best for you but because he wants what's best for you. He invites you to let go of the weight that's holding you back and holding you down to let go of the sin that has you entrapped and entangled in a cycle of shame and guilt. Yeah. Satan will try to isolate you. Try to pull you away, convince you to do something based on your own desire. You have to take responsibility for that. I have to take responsibility for that. Then you do the thing that you don't wanna do, then you feel bad and then you retreat and then you feel shameful and guilty and then it just starts this spiral. When Jesus says, look, it's never too early, it's never too late. Just come to me. I already paid for it. I want you to be free. Step into the light, live the life that I've called you to battle the stuff and the sin that's in your life and God will give you something greater. We need fans for encouragement. We need freedom from entanglement. But thirdly, we need the fortitude for endurance. He says right out of the gate, therefore, set these down, set these away so that you can run with endurance. That tells me a couple of things that tells me that our race is long and that our race is difficult. He does not say accept me into your life and it'll be clouds and rainbows. No life's gonna be really tough, but I'm gonna get through it. See, it allows you to fight the storms and suffering in our lives. We don't have time to read through the whole chapter. Invite you to do that on your own time. But right after he says these things, the writer actually quotes Proverbs 311 and 12. Let's read this. He says, my son do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of reproof for the Lord reproves him who he loves as a father, the son in whom he delights sometimes God is disciplining you. He's shaping you, molding you. Why? Because he loves you. Every teacher, every coach, every mentor mentee relationship wants someone to work and grow and get stronger, get better. It's gonna take some work, but it's the Holy Spirit working through you. So like, I'm not gonna give this to you alone. I'm, I'm gonna give you my spirit to go through and do it. That's called Grace. And he continues on in here and he actually says they're in Hebrews 1211 to 13. He says, for the moment, all discipline seems painful anytime you're starting something, it's tough, isn't it? He says, but rather rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. I give you a little bonus truth here. OK? This will help you. OK? Need to flip our vocabulary. OK? Notice that word trained by it. This will help you. OK? Say I'm not trying, I'm training, I'm not trying. I'm training. See in training you're expected to fail and fall down. That's part of the process. I wonder how many people are trying Christianity like uh set it down. But when you're training, you're not supposed to get it yet. But through that process, through the resistance, through the struggle, you will get stronger and God's power, God's discipline will work through you. And so we get to verse 12 here. It says, therefore, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet. So that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. I know it's tough but God wants your healing. One of the other apostles. Peter writes in his letter first Peter 17. It says so that the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to result in the praise and glory and honor and revelation of Jesus Christ. Some of you are in a fire right now and it's hot and you feel like you're getting burned. But what I wanna tell you is you're not getting burned, you're getting refined. All the impurities are getting pulled away. Isn't it interesting that you can go through your daily life? And as soon as strategy or tragedy strikes, your priorities are changed, what used to feel important is not so important anymore, vice versa that you mean just going through life, the routines and something happens like, oh man, that's not as important as I thought it once was CS Lewis writes this. He says, God whispers to us in our pleasures. He speaks in our conscience. He shouts in our pains. This is megaphone to rouse a deaf world. I don't know why you're going through what you might go through. But I know that God's with you and you might be in the fire but you're not getting burned. You're getting refined and guess what God says, I'll be in that fire with you another way to change that logic of thinking that pain is not a prison. It's a pathway. Psalm 23. Doesn't say though I live in the valley of the shadow of death says though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, pain is serious. Pain is real. That's why we need endurance. But the person who modeled how to have endurance is Jesus himself. Which means that when you are suffering, when you are hurting, you can actually be closer to Jesus himself. And what I know to be true is that trauma might describe your past, but it doesn't have to define your present and it will not determine your future. Trauma is very serious and very real. For some, it lasts a week, a month, a year, others, it's decades, others, it's a lifetime, but you are not defined by the tragedy. There will be healing. I think a student of mine, early days of youth minister named Seth the nicest kid, just whatever. And I mean, this in the nicest way possible, whatever stereotype you could possibly have of a home school kid in the midwest. It was him. I always joked with them. I was like, hey Seth top of your class buddy. Yeah. And then he whipped my butt in monopoly monopoly and nicest kid, sweetest kid got this massive cancer volleyball size on his back. We prayed for years. So that would be healed. Went through 17 different surgeries. I love to tell you that after a certain point, it, it was healed and he's staying here today. But what actually happened was after 17 surgeries. After many times, I got better, he passed away. I remember struggling with God saying God, I prayed for healing and you didn't answer me. And after months of me praying that you know what God gave me a little nudge back at some point. You know what he finally said to me? Where do you think Seth is right now? Like, oh, I didn't see the healing I wanted on this side of eternity. But Seth is standing face to face cancer free with God in heaven. Probably taking Peter down in some mad monopoly games. Still top of his class. The Bible is filled with stories of healing. It can happen. Don't give up, keep praying. But if even Jesus himself has suffered, what he's saying is that saying, I will give you myself and there will be one day where there will be no more pain, there will be no more death, there will be no more mourning. And so in your successes, understand that God is enough in your hurts and in your pains, understand that God is still enough and that one day you will be free that you do not have to be defined by the betrayal in that relationship. You do not have to be defined by the financial ruin or Brokenness. When someone took something from you, you don't have to be defined by the trauma that someone did to you or that even that you did to somebody else rather, we can run with endurance because we have a God who loves us and who endured all things and says I'm in the fire with you. My pain is not a prison that I will live in, but a pathway to a deeper relationship with him. Last thing we need here as spiritual runners is that every spiritual runner needs a focus on eternity. See these go together, you need grit and fortitude for today, but you need a focus for tomorrow says fix your eyes on Jesus who endured all things for us. This will help you fight against comparison. You have not been called to run somebody else's race. Are you faithful to run the race set before you? We do this in church world all the time, right? We go to pastors conferences. Hey, nice to meet you. What's your name? What do you do? How many people in the church? Right? And if it's not that in whatever industry you're in, there's some type of marker that defines whatever industry you're in, right? And it's really hard to play that comparison game. But God has not called you to run somebody else's race. You don't get graded based on how somebody else answers their test. Our court systems don't work that way. Can you imagine if they did you, you're up for some something you're standing before the judge and you say, OK, here's the charges, here's the evidence, here's what you've done. How do you plea? Hey, have you seen this guy though? Am I right? Am I right? I mean, way better than this guy. Look, if you want to play that comparison game, you will always find someone with more or always find someone with less. But when you fix your eyes on Jesus, what you do is you find someone who has it all, Peter. When he walked on water, he walked on water, when his eyes were locked on Jesus, when his eyes turned to the storms to the waves, like he wasn't out there on the water looking at other people. Oh, if I just walked there a little bit faster and like his eyes were locked on Jesus, he could handle anything. When's the last time he locked eyes with Jesus freed yourself from entanglement, entanglement. But all the situation, all the pain, all the issues to him and say here, if you do that changes things, Paul writes this in Philippians 16, I'm sure of this, that he who began a good work and you will bring it to completion the day of Jesus Christ. Look, if you're not dead, God's not done, God's still working. He's still working in your marriage. He's still working in your relationship with your kids. He's still working in your job. You're still figuring out the career path you don't have to have it all together because you have a God who already has everything Paul in prison. Same letter writes this in chapter three. He says, brothers, I do not consider that I have made it on my own. But one thing I do forgetting what lies behind, straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God. And Jesus Christ, Jesus is worth it. God is worth it. Faith is worth it. The end of this chapter chapter 12 verses 2029 read. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And thus let us offer to God acceptable worship in reverent and in awe for our God is a consuming fire. Everything in this world can be shaken but God can't. Pastor David David Jeremiah puts it this way. He says, when we consider Jesus, we realize that our challenge is pale in comparison that He has seen it all experienced it all triumphed over it all through his strength. We can be victorious as well. We just need to keep our eyes completely fixed on him as we run. I don't know what brought you here today. I don't know if you feel like you're too early or you're too late. I don't know if you're wrapped in up in an entanglement of your own or situation in life. Something that someone did to you, something that you did for someone else. I don't know what brought you here. But what I know is that if we're gonna spiritually run, we need fans for encouragement to fight against isolation. We need freedom from entanglement. The fight against the urges for stuff and battles against sin. We need fortitude for endurance to fight against the storms and suffering in this life. And lastly, we need focus on eternity. Fight against comparison. You can only run your race because the best time to spiritually run is now God is with you. Got us greater. God loves you. He's here to tell you today. Don't quit, don't give up. Keep fighting, keep going. Invest in that relationship, invest in your family, go to that meeting. Understand that whatever challenge God has placed before you that we can spiritually run, that we have a cloud of witnesses in heaven in scripture and around us saying, come on, let's go. I want you tomorrow to picture entering the workplace to standing ovation saying you've got this, let's go. The battle is won. Jesus is here. Salvation is possible. Let's run that race. I'm gonna pray for you and we're gonna sing. But I want you to know it's not too early, it's not too late to put your faith in Jesus right now. Dear Jesus. Thank you for all you've done that, help us to run the race that we've set before us, help us to love others the way you've loved us. God those that are balancing, help us to lay that down our own addictions and things there too. God just to put on those spiritual shoes and say I got something greater. God, those walking through the hardships of life. God, I pray that you would encourage them. God. We do pray for healing. We do pray for healing because you are a God who heals. We see story after story after story. So God, we pray for healing. But God, we know that we will one day receive healing in heaven. And so regardless of what happens, we put our faith and our trust in you. And we remember that pain is not a prison, but a pathway to deeper connection. And so God, we want that connection today, help us keep our eyes fixed on you and run the race, not that others are called to run, but that we've been called to run. We run freely and with endurance, we give our race up to you. And he says that we pray amen.