“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” 1 Corinthians 9:24

“UGH! I did it again!” I had made that comment to a friend of mine who has the same problem I do. Clark Kent can walk into a phone booth and emerge as Superman! I have a kind of UN-super power that does the same thing! All ‘I’ have to do is get behind the steering wheel and I change into ‘Psyho’ the Road-Rager! And I know it! But Jesus and I are working on it. Kind-of! Well… Jesus is!

I can appreciate Paul’s ‘head-in-hands’ feeling in Romans 7 where he talks about the thing he does over and over, making him feel ‘wretched.’ In fact, I’ve called Paul a liar and the Bible MOSTLY without error over 1 verse… where Paul calls himself ‘The CHIEFEST of sinners’ (1 Tim. 1:15). I KNOW I have Paul beat in that department! I was watching the KC Chiefs beat the Bengals when it hit me!

The AFC football Championship was tied with only seconds, and a LONG way to go. The KC Quarterback, with an ankle sprain, ran to gain distance and get out of bounds. Once there, a Bengals player hit him HARD, sending them both into sideline personnel. The 15 yard penalty put KC in field goal range and they won. The end showed that player, head in hands, weeping like a baby for losing the game!

I can empathize with that fouling player. Like him, I know better, but still find myself doing, and thinking, things that have NO place being part of me. As a player on Team Jesus, Paul, a fellow occasional fraudulent teammate, tells me to run my race to win. When I don’t, I know it! But feeling bad doesn’t win prizes either. THIS race is a marathon AND a relay! Running WITH Jesus is the goal.

So if you, like me, are prone to a split personality, it’s O.K. to be down after doing something stupid. But it’s NOT O.K. to STAY down. Jesus is still calling me to get up and run! How’s YOUR race going?