Our school was small, so small the graduating class the year I was a cheerleader was only thirty-five kids. During the late sixties boys at small country high schools were not cheerleaders. They played basketball or baseball. So there I was, a cheerleader having been pushed into it on a dare by a pretty girl. Every time I ran onto the court with the girls there was laugher and heckling. After the away games there was usually a fight. It was tough but I was tougher and never let the hecklers get to me.

Paul writes about running a race. He says there are many runners but only one winner. The only way to win is to run and to ignore the hecklers and other things that might distract you. The runner has to discipline himself and train if there is a chance to win.

All Christians are running a race. Our race is not against others but ourselves. The prize before us our home in Heaven. It is a difficult race because everyday we deal with those who would cause us to quit. They laugh at us and tell us we are the fools for believing. They lay obstacles in our paths - money, sex, promotions, relationships, drugs and a host of other things to trip us up. We are forced to decide if the race is worth running and if the prize is enough compensation.

The only way to run the race is to block out the hecklers. Jump the temptations and hear the voices of encouragement from the sidelines. Our Christian brothers and sisters wave us on, they give us a drink of cold water and they pray for us. They know the race is difficult but they also know our Lord equips us for victory.

Don’t quit and don’t listen to the hecklers. You can do this! And, the reward is worth it!

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

God’s Wisdom: I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Phillipians 4:13

Worldly Wisdom: Failure is the path of least persistence.

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