Run Like a Superhero

I love living with a 3-year-old… and not just any 3-year-old, but a 3-year-old little boy.  See, I’ve done the 3-year-old thing before with my daughter, but my son has brought a whole new dimension to the preschool years!  The messes, the accidents, the humor, and the sheer, raw energy have all gone to new levels!

For example, as we were getting our morning started today, I gave him a wrapper to throw away, and he sped off like a bolt of lightning (well, as close to lightning as his little legs could move him) across the room to the trash can.

I laughed inside and thought, “He runs like a superhero everywhere he goes.”

And you know, why shouldn’t he?  It’s fun, it’s invigorating, it’s exciting, and above all else… No one has ever told him he couldn’t.  No one has ever told him he can’t be a superhero, and I, for one, have no intentions of doing so.

So of course, I got to thinking…

How are we running this race called life?  Are we running like a superhero, or have we slowed down because somewhere along the way, someone told us we couldn’t do that?

We just celebrated Easter this past weekend, and it’s striking how Jesus was/is the only real-life superhero to ever live… He walked through His sphere of influence helping all who were in need who would receive His help.  The sick were healed, the dead were raised, the shamed were given grace, the pious were exposed… He conducted the greatest rescue mission of all time, ultimately finishing the work that would impact all of humanity, past, present, and future.  Wow!  What a superhero!

So back to my question… How are you running? Are you running like Jesus did, full of passion and purpose, totally committed to the mission assigned to Him? Are you running carefree, face in the wind, ALL-IN?  Or have your steps been hampered, either from disappointment, from being worn down by the routine, or maybe even from words spoken against you somewhere along the way?

Voices are powerful, and the voice we listen to determines where we will go in this thing called life.  Just look at Adam in the Garden of Eden.  When God came looking for him after he and Eve had sinned, Adam told God, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”  I love God’s response: “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”  (Genesis 3:10-11).  Sure, they were naked.  They were naked every other time they had walked with God, too.  But this time was different.  Their nakedness wasn’t the point.  The point was that they had listened to a different voice, a conflicting voice, instead of the voice of their Creator.  Their nakedness was not shameful until they stopped listening to the voice of God and started listening to the deception of the serpent.  The problem wasn’t their nakedness.  The problem was they had listened to the wrong voice.

So let me ask you… 

     Who told you that you can’t change the world?

     Who told you that you won’t ever be anything above average?

     Who told you that you’ll never rise above your current circumstances?

     Who told you that you’re bound by your family history and will never break the mold?

     Who told you that you can’t be a superhero?

Whether you’re battling words spoken to you from others or words spoken to you from within, I challenge you to cast those words off, like a prisoner casting off his broken chains, and rise, and RUN.

Your Creator's words to you are life, hope, and purpose.  He’s always speaking; if you’re not hearing Him, make sure you’re tuned in to the right channel.  Hear the voice of the One who made you, the One who died for you, the One who loves you unconditionally.

Then rise, and dare to run.  Run like Jesus did.  Run like a superhero.  And change your world.

 

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, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

 

Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV)

  

_________________________

Amy

 

 

A Lesson from the Little Black Remote

A few days ago, I came home from work and wanted to watch some TV and relax.  As I sat down on the couch, I was informed by my wife that little black remote that controls the volume to the sound bar had gone missing.

A little back story... Earlier that day, my kids had been playing and apparently, they thought it would be good to play with the little black remote.  I’m not really sure why, but my three-year-old son decided he would hide the remote.  When my wife (and daughter) asked him where the little black remote was, he would just shrug his shoulders and say, “I can’t know where it is.”  At one point in the grilling of my son about the whereabouts of the remote, he added, “I put it in a tricky place.”  J  I know, real cute. 

Back to my part of the story…  As I was informed of the missing little black remote, my wife said we could just watch TV anyway, that it’d be a little loud but not horrible.  I went on a little hunt myself (with the help of my daughter), looking in what I thought would be a tricky place for a three-year-old to hide a remote.  No luck.  We watched our show despite the volume being slightly elevated.  We went to bed that night still not having found the little black remote. 

I woke up the next morning on a mission, determined to find it.  I looked again in all the places I had looked the night before: in the toy box, behind the TV, in the pantry, and in the laundry baskets, but I found nothing.  I was getting ready to leave my house to run a couple of errands and just happened to look in the baby’s bouncy seat, and behold, there was the little black remote under the baby’s jacket.  It was not in a tricky place at all, but actually it was in a place we easily overlooked.  I realized that day that my son’s definition of “tricky” is not a reliable clue!  "Tricky" meant we should have looked in the routine, obvious places!

I was remembering the whole scenario later, and it got me to thinking... We as Christ-Followers oftentimes think that God has put the things He designed for us in “tricky” places.  We want to experience the promises of God for our lives, but they just seem to be hiding in the tricky places in life, out of sight and out of reach.  

What I learned that day is that what is hidden is not necessarily hidden in the tricky but in the routine.  Maybe you need direction in your life, but you need to move that distraction in your life in order to see that your direction is right there.  Or maybe you are asking God to bless your life financially, but the answer might not be that you win the lottery; maybe instead, your answer will be in your getting into a routine of putting Him first in the tithe.  

My takeaway for you and me is that we can oftentimes find what we are looking for in the routine of life if we don’t overlook it just because it’s routine.  Perhaps the direction you need is found in the routine of reading the Bible every day.  Perhaps the words of God to you are found in the routine of going to church regularly. 

Matthew 7.7-8 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 

I am still learning to not overlook the routine in order to find my little black remote in life.  This was just a little reminder for me from God.   

What little black remote can you find in the routine of your life?