Dealing with Disappointment

Dealing with Disappointment!

How do we deal with one of life's guarantees? Having to experience disappointment is the one thing that we will all go through in life.  It is not easy, but we will all need to embrace it at some point in our lives. 

This last weekend, my son and I got to experience this firsthand. We had just disembarked from the train, when we heard that the Cape Town Marathon had been cancelled. Initially all of the runners thought it was some kind of hoax, but as we walked towards the start line, we realised it was true. We could not believe it. The disappointment in the air was palpable, and very soon the adrenaline seeped out of our bodies. The race was done, even before we started.

So, how do we all deal with disappointment? Eliza Tabor once wrote:

“Disappointment to a noble soul is what cold water is to burning metal; it strengthens, tempers, intensifies, but never destroys it.”

Well, I trust that this will be true in some way. However, the Bible writers add something else to the mix.

Romans 5:4 - "And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love."

1 Samuel 15:11 - Samuel was angry when he heard this. He prayed his anger and disappointment all through the night. (The Message)

I like this attitude - praying our disappointment. If anyone knows the impact of disappointment it is God. We can take all of our 'deferred hopes' to him and trust that he will revive our spirits.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Chasing the rainbow

I saw a beautiful rainbow this morning while out on a run. We had just had a little drizzle and the sun was trying its best to peek out from behind the dark clouds. Suddenly I was blessed with the sight of a giant rainbow right in front of me. As I ran down the hill it looked as if I was chasing the rainbow - sadly, I didn't find a pot of gold at the end of it though. 

"The rainbow of God's promise
Is always shining bright,
And when the storm is over
We'll see its blessed light.
And if we'll only trust him
As little children do,
He'll take us gently by the hand
And see us safely through." - Betsey Kline

Genesis 9:16 - "When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth."

Thought: Rainbows are seldom seen when the sky is clear - they shine best when there are dark clouds around. When we face storms this year, let us remember that God is always with us.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

P.S. Please feel free to forward these posts to anyone who may need some encouragement. Asking them to sign up to the blog is a great way for us to grow this ministry - thank you for your help in this. Grace. 

Pushing through the blah days

                                          

We all have them don't we? Those days where everything just feels blah! It is like a blue Monday that carries on until Tuesday or even Wednesday. I am sure you can all relate to these kind of days?

So, what do you do when this happens?

Well, the one thing that running has taught me is just to keep going? If runners had to wait for the "perfect feelings" to kick in before we put on our trainers, we would probably only run once a week! However, we have to learn to push through the 'blah' feelings and get onto the road.

I know it is a huge clique, but often putting one foot in front of the next is the simpliest solution to getting your training run done. And I feel this lesson is vital for us in our spiritual and emotional lives too. We may not feel up to the challenges of work or studies or retirement at the moment, but we need to ask God to help us push through the 'blah' barrier. We do this with a great degree of hope that tomorrow will be better and often it is.

God guides us through the dips in our lives, so that when we reach the mountain tops we can see how far God has carried us.

James 1:12 - "Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him."

Living in Grace

D3LM3

P.S. My post today is not meant to ignore the fact that some of us struggle with depression and so we should be encouraged to seek the right treatment for this. I must make it clear that there is a huge gulf between having a 'blue Monday' to struggling with depression. If you are having mental health struggles at this time please seek appropiate help. God bless.

Another reminder

 

One of the gifts of running is that you get to enjoy the beautiful outdoors and if you run early enough, then you have a lot of the scenery to yourself. Jogging along the False Bay coastline this morning was one of those special treats and looking at the majestic sunrise I was reminded of these words from Psalm 19.Sunri

"The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
⁵     It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
    like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
⁶ It rises at one end of the heavens
    and makes its circuit to the other;
    nothing is deprived of its warmth." - Psalm 19 (NIV)

As you look to the heavens at night or marvel at the exquisite sunsets around you, may these unique gifts remind us of the Glory of God.

Living in Grace
D3LM3

Wind at your back

"May the wind be always at your back."
I never fully understood the impact of these words from the old Irish Blessing, until I began to run around Fish Hoek. Some days I can find myself really straining against the wind whilst on a jog, but then I turn down a side street and suddenly the wind is blowing on my back. Wow, it makes a world of difference. It almost feels as if the wind carries you along the road and the journey feels much more pleasant.

So, in light of this, I pray that we would all experience the wind upon our backs and that God would carry you along your journey. I realise that their will be times of strain and struggle ahead, but may most of our days we 'running with the wind.'

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Living in Grace
D3LM3

I have

In the month of "to-do" lists and New Year's resolutions, it would be brilliant to know that we have accomplished our goals. In sharing in the Memorial service for my friend, Tony Doidge, I was reminded of these words:

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." - 2 Timothy 4:7

Let these be worthy ideals to LIVE for, so that one day we too can say....

I have fought the good fight
I have finished the race
I have kept the faith.

Living in Grace
D3LM3

Getting up again is so vital

All this Olympic hype is making me want to get my old spikes out and to run around the track again - although I am not sure I would make it around the track in one piece at this stage :)

Of course there have been so many great achievements over the course of the Games, but the one I want to mention is Mo Farah winning the gold in the 10 000 meter final. What makes his victory even more remarkable is that he was tripped in the early stages of the race and he had to make up a lot of ground. One would have understood if he had given up, but that thought never crossed his mind - all he thought of was getting back onto the track and catching the other guys. In the end, his tenacity and perseverance won him another gold medal.

So, the next time you believe your race is "done" or you feel that you have been "tripped" up, please realise that the race is not over yet. We need to keep on running. God is with you every step of the way.

If Jesus had given up at the first hurdle then where would that have left us?

Hang in there and let God help you finish the race.

Revelatio 3:10 -  “Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world.

Living in Grace
D3LM3

Walk before you can run!

You have heard the saying before, “You need to learn to WALK first, before you can learn to RUN.” 

It applies to whole lot of areas in our lives and it especially speaks into the frustration of our “instant” generation. I found myself using these words to Declan this last week, as he has just begun his rehabilitation after his fractured patella. He is eager to get going again, but he hasn’t been able to run on this leg for nearly 10 weeks, so I keep telling him, “slow down – you need to learn to walk again, before you can run!”

However, as someone who is equally impatient and who has had a fair share of broken bones in my life, I fully understand his frustration. We want to get back on track immediately. We get impatient with re-learning how to do a simple task of ‘walking’, but the saying stands TRUE in this case. If he rushes back into trying to run, he will run with a limp. Although his progress may seem faster this way, in the end it will actually slow him down. He will then have to undo all the work in order to rectify the limp.

I am not sure if this makes sense, but I want to urge us to slow down. Perhaps there are a few of us feeling frustrated at the lack of progress in some area of our lives. Ask yourself this question: “Will this slow start actually help me in the long run, especially if I do it probably?”

Don’t great frustrated at your lack of Spiritual progress at times. We need to learn to do the basics of faith first, before we can actually do the rest.

1 Samuel 14:36 - "Saul said, “Let’s go after the Philistines tonight! We can spend the night looting and plundering. We won’t leave a single live Philistine!” “Sounds good to us,” said the troops. “Let’s do it!” But the priest slowed them down: “Let’s find out what God thinks about this.”

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Respect to all Comrades runners

Every year I am inspired by the thousands of crazy people who run the Comrades marathon. I think it is amazing and I "take my hat off" to anyone who attempts this race.

• I love the fact that the race was first run (1921) to honour the men/women who had fallen in the First World War.
• I love the fact that the spirit of the race is incredible and that people from all walks of life come together to conqueror the race.
• I love the fact that people of all ages, creeds and colours attempt the same challenge and can find "common ground" in tackling the 90 Km's of pain.

I believe that our world needs more events like the Comrades, so that we can all be inspired to overcome our fears and the massive issues in our Nation. Well done to all of you who have run it - you have inspired us all. (I may just have to attempt the race one day :)

1 Corinthians 9:24 - "Don’t you know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one wins the prize? So then, run to win!"

“It’s not the will to win that matters—everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.” – Paul “Bear” Bryant

Living in Grace
D3LM3

Running with Spiderman

I decided to start my morning with a little jog around our suburb. I asked if any of the kids wanted to join me, but only Joshua (5) decided he was keen. So myself and Josh headed out for our jog/walk for about 10 minutes - he was dressed in his full Spiderman suit and I was in my running gear (and no, mine is not a Spiderman outfit!)

It was such a fun way to start the day. He was full of stories while we eased our way past sleeping neighbours. He commented on how 'naughty' people were to leave litter on the roads - as it made the 'whole world dirty' and he was also looking out for new trees to build his double storey tree-house in (his single storey tree house needs an upgrade me thinks!)

But what was the best, was how a few people commented on 'spiderman' running in the neighbourhood. Others who were walking or hurrying to work, stop and asked him, "How is Spiderman today?" It made me smile and it kind of made me reflect on how cool it was being on the road with Spiderman. I felt safe:)

Wouldn't it be good to remember that life is like going on a run - we encounter many things and people on the road of life, but we have a close companion .... Jesus. Running the race of Life with Jesus is so much better than running with any superhero - no matter how cool Spiderman is!

Living in Grace
D3LM3

Don't run in vain

"I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain." - Galatians 2:2

My heart always goes out to those Comrades runners who are close to the finish line, but fail to make the cut off. It seems like a cruel twist of fate. They spend so many hours training and the whole day on the road, but in the end they are just short. (I suppose they have some consolation in competing and actually crossing the line albeit with no medal)

When it comes to the race of life and faith, we need to make sure that we don't run in vain. What good is it for us to get to the end of our lives and to have failed to 'make it?' For me, choosing Jesus is the first step in any race of faith. He is our starting point and he becomes our goal and reward.

As you run the race of life, have you made your choice?
Let's not run in vain.

Living in Grace
D3LM3