You gonna Run?

     Pues, Buenos dias! Estoy muy emocianado a escribir este
blog! DO you know that I work with two Chileans at my job? We talk in Spanish all
the time so I get my Spanish fix (and don’t have to bug my family by speaking
in an unknown tongue to them). If I ever answer the phone with an hola, it
means that I haven’t gotten my fix yet. Be prepared. So in case you were
wondering, God is still my savior, and life still has insane things in it for
me. And they are bloggable things too! God has sent me back to Job Corps, which
is full of people with the most curiosity as to why a white, blond haired kid
in sandals would want to visit them? Also, I am amazed at the Vergennes High School
students who share their faith in school and on Church Street. That is insane!

     Well the whole Carter family is back home for the first time
in a while. We take all challengers on the basketball court. Bring your dogs,
chickens, and mice, it’ll be a fight.

     Well, I wrote this blog a couple of weeks ago and meant to
post it. I forgot my journal at Mrs. Marshall’s house-that’s my excuse. Anyway,
I sat down and reread it this morning and felt very strongly that it needed to
be posted. Disfrutalos! Enjoy!

 

     5,400 legs-most trim. 2,700 hearts beat with anticipation.
The governor blares on the loudspeakers, sealing the deal-this is a legit,
anti-mamby-pamby 5k race. One foot in front, everyone leans forward: flashes of
grueling workouts like an electric current light up the mesh of minds, which
are ready to be shocked.

     The air horn sounds waaaaah! and everyone goes as
fast as their hopes will drive them.

     And that’s just it! I got a unique perspective on racing the
other day. Of course, my dad charged to the top 30 jerseys, head set forward,
testing, sifting thoughts-can I run with these guys? Bear as much pain as
him? And I yell all the tricks of the trade I can muster. Then something
weird happens at mile one. My dad goes by in a group of thirty, pushing the envelope-and
then, not thirty more, but 2,670 more, mostly with just as much focus and
drive, just as worthy of my cheer, run by.

     Each man woman and child is on their own unique mission.
There are only a couple of races I have competed in where I wasn’t dead set on
getting first. Yet there are people I’ve heard say that they are dead set on
not getting last. And we both might go through the same amount of pain with
very different results.

 

     A peak performer is someone who performs at
their very best. A pastor at my school once said that in order to be a peak
performer you have to be full of hope and highly optimistic. This is a
beautiful crown on the forehead, lovely to look at. Right? It becomes sure when
tested, set in stone, deeper through endurance. The bible promises Christians
they will undergo many trials (could be depression, rape, joblessness, etc.).

     Think of the classic example of Paul in his personal letter
to the Corinthians: 2Corinthians 1:8-10 “We do not want you to be uninformed,
brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia.
We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we
despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But
this happened so that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who
raises the dead…on him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver
us…” Hope in what? Huh what? Romans 5:1-6 is great. Here’s verse 6: “you
see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the
ungodly.”

     When Jesus Christ finished the race the results were in
Romans 5:18 “Consequently, just as the results of one trespass was condemnation
for all men (Adam and Eve in the garden), so also the results of one act of
righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.”

     Am I bragging on Jesus Christ’s victory? It is another key
part of peak performers: they make a big deal out of their savior, of
that person or thing that is a solution to all the world’s problems.

There’s only one winner. In the track world everyone knows
Jim Ryun, the first high schooler to break 4 minutes in the mile. But there was a guy
just behind him. You know the line-you’re only famous if you win, who the heck
cares about second place? They are the first loser. Let me tell you that Jesus
already won the race. The rest of us don’t need to make a name for ourselves-as
long as we put our heads down, run full of hope, and celebrate Jesus’ victory,
we’ll get to the finish a peak performer. Jesus will stand there,
waiting, tears streaming, giving us the most important ovation of our lives. Find
the mission, have hope and optimism, and boast on your savior.

Well, I pray that God helps you to perform at your very
best, for his glory alone.

Love, Joe Carter.