run the race

Man I am really diggin this brutalness in Hebrews. Today the verse of the day was from Hebrews 12:1 "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." First of all picture us being surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. This means to me that the witnesses are everywhere. Then they take it much deeper. "let us throw off everything that hinders AND the sin that so easily entangles". Dude, get rid of your sin! Stop doing those things that causes you to get entangled and fall. Stop doing those things that hinders you. Wow. That is a deep statement. If you literally follow this then you would have to even quit your job if that is what is hindering you. Then, "and let us run with perserverance the race marked our for us". The first thing that strikes me here is that the race is not what we have decided, it is marked out for us. Someone has made this course up for us. He knows the beginning and the end. And He knows who is going to win. We need to perservere. When ever I hear this word, perservere, I know things aren't going to be easy. I worked for a man one summer who had me doing ton's of yard work. His statement to me was "perserverance always wins the race". The look in this mans eyes when I had gotten a pretty hard task done was worth it all to me. I can see God in this passage saying the same thing. Dude, this isn't going to be easy, not at all, but if you perservere you will win the race.
We men try to show off. "Hey mom look no hands." Or, "Watch me do this dive!" We are surrounded by people watching our every moves. I know I am, and they are not afraid to say it. These people witness my every move. And let me tell you... those moves have been crummy lately. I am not winning this race. But I am going to run like I am now.