I sat tonight and watched a recording of the preacher man I grew up listening to who is now the president of Moody Bible Institute and I felt twelve again on my couch.  I learned to sit still to that man's voice.  I learned to find the right page in my Bible, to sit up straight, to "hold it" until the end of the service.  Sunday mornings meant the whole family sitting together in a row of blue chairs on the right side of the balcony.  Sunday mornings meant mom's Bible bag with highlighters and tissues and dad's cinnamon red gum.  Sunday mornings were filled with large words, with other languages, with the slow and steady dissection of a few verses at a time.  We were months in Romans, maybe years.  We were for sure years in Paul's other letters and my Kid's Adventure Bible was filled with big words scribbled in the margins.

Tonight he urged me to run the race and to finish.  He told me that God did not save me so that I could start the race, He saved me to finish it and then he cheered Go, go, go, go, go, go, go!  Remember the heroes before you.  Throw off the weights you are carrying, fix your eyes on Jesus and go.  

So now I'm laying here in bed, finishing up my Kings chapter and I'm wondering over the weights I'm carrying.  Trying to identify the tiny ones I don't even know are in my hands.  I'm just done with Kings so I have Elisha's faith in my head (hero), I'm chewing on those weights (pride, anxiety, selfishness) and I'm promising to fix my eyes.  I know myself.  I'm going to have to keep turning my eyes back, keep turning my thoughts, keep turning my heart because I am careless.  I forget.  I am repeating these two words over and over, I am making them my prayer tonight, tomorrow, the next day: on Jesus, on Jesus, on Jesus.  And I am thanking Him for the voice that preacher man had in my life years ago and again tonight.

Dr. Paul Nyquist, Moody Founder's Week 2015