My encouragement for you today is to consider the claims of Jesus Christ and declare Him Savior and Lord of your life.

but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.Isaiah 40:31

I am a sucker for movies with happy endings which is why I love movies like Rocky, movies about people coming back from the brink of health crisis, and of course, Chariots of Fire.

The last one is about a British runner named Eric Liddell who happened to be a strong believer in Jesus Christ, a man who was a gifted runner and who ran the greatest race in the Olympic games for Britain. Eric's dedication to his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, was so strong that he could not run a race on a Sunday because it was a time for him to honor God. There was another British runner, who was Jewish. These two forge a strong friendship with each other that resulted in them swapping running assignments. Eric Liddell won his running assignment when it was his turn and was able to keep his commitment to honor God on the Sabbath.

In this powerful scene, Eric quotes Isaiah 40:31 with a  scene  of runners, some successful, some not so successful.

I have learned that in the course of life, the game changer becomes what God can do in a person's life. 

It did for me when as a high school senior I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord in my life 

I made the decision to claim the faith of my parents into my own life's roadmap. 

To say that following my calling to honor Jesus Christ was easy is a gross understatement. Hard things happened to me that, at times, I would question God's wisdom.  Through it all I kept placing one foot in front of the other, just as the runners did in this movie, and honoring God with my presence in Church. No matter how I felt on an emotional level I went.  

 God honored my commitment because, invariably, there would always be someone that would encourage me before or after that service. Be it a friend or the holy spirit planted word by the Pastor didn't matter. God used it all to build my faith up to where I had a strong foundation, set on stone, not slippery sand.

The loss of my daughter back in 2007 was, perhaps, one of the greatest challenges I ever had to face as a Christian.  There were many times I wanted to simply give up, but once again there were stronger Christian friends who rallied to my side to encourage me on just as the crowd encouraged the runners in Chariots of Fire.

If God can pick me up and breath life back into me after that tragedy just think what God can do with those who read this blog.   My challenge to those who are reading this blog is that you give God 60 days to see what he can do in your life.  My encouragement to you is that you read the first 4 gospels of the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Begin with John because that is the most understandable and straight forward of the Gospels.  It was, without a doubt, the one that changed my life in that spring of 1974 when I made the decision to claim Jesus Christ as my life's roadmap.

Lastly, if you want to watch a feel-good movie I highly recommend Chariots of Fire. Do be sure you have a box of Kleenex nearby because you will most definitely need those for the powerful scenes you will watch.

Life is like running a race. God wants to be part of the plan for your life to finish it.