;)
Solid Footing while Running
Friday, January 1, 2021 at 10:10AM 
“He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm” (Psalm 40:2)
I don’t like ice. You just never know when you’re going to fall. We call it “black ice” because you cannot see it. Black ice is treacherous on the roadways – for driving; walking; and especially, running. Every step taken is tentative and unsure.
Eleven years ago – 2009 - was the only year I ran Brasstown Bald to conclude the annual Run and See Series. December 20th was the day. However, a winter storm moved through the night before and left a thin sheet of ice covering the trees and roadway to the top of the mountain. Warming up on the road leading to the top was tricky – I remember starting back down from the first curve, and suddenly sliding down, down, down, out of control, on my rear-end!
Gary Jenkins made the decision to shorten race and re-route runners about a mile out on an old, logging trail, and then back again. Which was ALSO treacherous – two-way traffic on a trail that narrowed to “one-at-a-time” passage in some places. Some of you may have been there. Blue sweatshirts that year for finishers.
Sin is a lot like running on ice. It lurks in disguise—what “seems” innocent, actually brings destruction. When ice and sleet hit the area, runners must decide: is the run worth the risk? It’s deserves sober reflection – one inadvertent slip can easily result in a broken hip, leg, or arm, or back injury, thereby “icing” your running future for, who knows how long? Maybe as much as a year, depending on your rehab. The risk, when realized, carries a price.
Likewise, sin always carries a penalty. It promises what it cannot deliver – that’s the nature of temptation. Someone once observed, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
True that.
No one is perfect. But thankfully, when a Christian “falls,” he or she can turn to the Lord and find mercy in our Savior, Jesus Christ. Listen to the way King David said it: “He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm”
(Psalm 40:2).
The next time we have ice in the area, remember to thank God for sending His Son Jesus to save us for eternity! “He sets my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.” FIRM footsteps. And that’s nice!