For it was today that I learned that when people are trapped in a burning building with no way of escape that it’s not the fire that kills them first it’s the smoke it’s the smoke that burns their eyes it’s the smoke that burns their noses it’s the smoke that goes into their body that disrupts the repertory system leaving them DEAD it’s not the fire that kills them in fact it’s the smoke it doesn’t take the devil himself to kill you it just takes some smoke it just take insecurities of the world some fear some loneliness to create this blinding black haze that leads us to death don’t let the world around you fill with smoke there is a way out there is a breath of fresh air even when you are laying there with your face to the ground inhaling the last bit of oxygen there is a way out you see because ever since the beginning God has wanted to get a little closer first he would only speak to men but that wasn’t enough he wanted to come even closer so then he instructed to build a tabernacle but even then that wasn’t enough he decide to come down from the heavens and dwell among us still even then it wasn’t enough so god left us with the holy spirit to live IN us …it doesn’t matter what your smoke is because in the end as God comes closer the smoke dissipates as God enters us the smoke disappears don’t let the smoke of fear rule your life allow the fresh air to enter your life … when people are trapped in a burning building it’s not the fire that fist kills them it’s the smoke…
Well today I started my first day at Harding University, and my thoughts were running wild as I took it all in, trying to get my first impression. Starting off with people that are so happy, I'm talking the most happy people in the entire world, it was to a point were I couldn’t decide if I wanted to slap these people or just accept the fact that someone can be so cheerful. I got hit with a test right off the bat. Given that the test was only to see where I stand in reading comprehension it was tough not like any high school test I have taken before. Moving in was a fun experience, if you know me you know either I have VERY good luck or I have VERY BAD luck there is no in between in that retrospect. When I found out that I was on the 3rd floor of my dorm room I expected it to be one of those BAD luck times but I got up to my room and met my new roommate and my expectations changed dramatically here is one of the coolest guys I could have ever lucked out in rooming with, plays football for the school has a good attitude I couldn’t have asked for any better so far I must say I love my experience here.
There is something else I would like to reflect on for just a moment. As I was taking the 8 hour drive down here, I found myself switching over from music to talk shows on the radio. As I often get tired of listening to music and I love to listen to talk shows for the simple fact that I get to hear others opinions on any subject matter. And out of 8 hours of music and talk shows there is only a 5 min segment that I remember from that whole trip (pretty sad that only 1 thing stuck with me out of that whole time)
It felt like this man was speaking directly to me when he said this, he said there are those athletes out there that train hard all year long for 1 race, 1 fight, 1 gold medal, runners are a good example here weather you are running for the Olympics or you are running for a local race there is always only 1 winner that winner is the first person to run though the finish line tape first the is no arguing who wins only rule is run the best you can to cross that tape first and this is how I always have seen it the only person that matters in that race is who can cross that finish line first he is the only person that is recognized the only person congratulated publicly the only person to get the medal or the prize but what is often overlooked by many is not the fact that a very healthy person who has the ability to win that race wins that’s expected! but what’s overlooked is the fact that there is some people in that same race that have actually tried harder accomplished more of their own goals and are more happy with their performance than the gold medal even though they don’t get the praise that they won first place or even top ten it doesn’t matter to them they did the best they could. I can remember a time when I was running cross country when I ran with a kid from another school who was handicapped I mean her could barley run at all but he wanted nothing more than to be ruining anyway even though he always came in last place he still showed up every race and ran anyway he didn’t care that people were going to make fun of him talk smack about him the only thing he cared about was beating his previous time from the race before this inspired me and I got to thinking that maybe it’s not about winning the gold and getting all the glory with it maybe it’s just the fact that we try we put our best foot forward and TRIED weather we win or not does not matter we still gave it our best and I think that’s all god asks for.
You've all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You're after one that's gold eternally.
Please watch this video as it remindes me of this story i heard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L0AwASILbo
