Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do,

everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God!”

– Proverbs 3:5-6 (The Message)

I love running! Some people love golf, hunting or fishing, and that’s great,but I love to run.It hasn’t always been that way, I used to think of running as work. As a high school athlete, I associated running with conditioning or punishment. That perception didn’t change much during my military basic training.We ran everywhere; to meals, to the rifle range, heck, we even ran to the track so we could run some more. Somewhere in the process of all this running, I began to change. Running became a habit, I looked forward to it. It didn’t hurt that I lost thirty pounds and began to feel much better about myself. In my mind, running changed from work to pleasure. It became something I not only enjoyed, but needed. During my daily runs, the world slowed down a little, there were no interruptions and I had the chance to clear the cobwebs from my overloaded brain.As I got older, the joy of running continued to evolve. The opportunity for some “me time” began to change to an opportunity for some “we time”. I discovered that my runs were the perfect opportunity to spend some quality time with God.I could memorize scripture, reflect on my life, or better yet, just talk with God. God has been and continues to be the best running partner I’ve ever had.

Too often as runners and in our everyday lives, we try to do it alone. We create our own training schedules and decide that we know what is best for us. This is a big mistake! We need to find ways to slow things down and get away from the distractions. We need to allow God to come along side us and trust Him not only for our salvation, but for direction in our lives. The hard, cold truth is that we aren’t capable of guiding ourselves.Trying to do anything without God’s help is a recipe for disaster.A solo runner can get lost on an unfamiliar trail, encounter aggressive animals or be left hurt and alone with an injury. Smart runners don’t run by themselves and smart people don’t run without God. He knows us, He loves us and He knows what is best for us. Keep running!

Heavenly Father, thank You for always being available to me. Take away my desire to run alone and teach me to lean on You for direction in my life. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.