"the amazing race"

Tonight was my first time at youth group this summer and it was definitely different than sofefo but it was still fun. They've been on "the amazing race" theme so we were in teams and went through all these obstacles, like being blindfolded and listening to your leader direct you as you went over and under bridges and stuff like that. Afterwards the youth pastor gave his little sermon and of course it was about running the good race and Hebrews 12. It's one of those thngs where you've heard it a million times and you think there's nothing applicable to your life but then God surprises you and makes something stick out.

What Rob, the youth pastor, said was that there are 4 kinds of people who run a race. There is one who runs but becomes distracted easily and often becomes sidetracked. There is one who runs but doesn't know why he is running; he hasn't figured out his purpose. Then there is one who doesn't run, but walks, just kinda takes they're time and isn't too concerned with the race. Then there is the fourth kind of runner who gives it all he has; he knows why he is running and he sees the purpose. A runner in a race should have a goal in mind.

When someone asks a woman why she married her husband, she's not going to dumbly reply, "well...uh...because he's funny...i dunno." Instead she will most likely have some deeper reasoning (if not then she probably got married for the wrong reasons) Likewise, as a Christian, when someone asks why you became a Christian you should have some good reasons about why you made that life-changing decision other than "well...uh...because of some salvation thing."

Another good illustration he had was this: If someone offered you $100 to work for 8 hours to build a wall with absolutely no water or break in 96 degree heat with a heat index making it 114 degrees and a guarantee that you would pass out at least twice, the $100 probably isn't worth all that. However, if the offer was good for $10,000, suddenly passing out twice and not drinking for a day doesn't seem so bad. This is what Paul realized in running the race of the Christian faith. The reward of going to Heaven and the other rewards that will be distributed are far worth some pain and much hardship endured on earth. If the prize was a $100 it might not seem worth it to you, but having the satisfaction of knowing God is proud of you and wants to give your life purpose, makes up for all the hardship you endured.

If you don't yet have a purpose, or are confused as to what your purpose is, then maybe searching for purpose can be your new goal.