Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“No, dear brothers, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us.”
Philippians 3: 13-14 (TLB)“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12: 1-2 (NIV)“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43: 18-19 (RSV)“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Galatians 2: 20 (ESV)“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
II Corinthians 5: 17 (NLT)
During the first thirteen to fourteen years of our marriage, Lynda and I made new friends of other married couples in addition to those friends we had before, and those friends we made in different areas and the careers of our lives.
After we were together with another couple (or anyone new) for the first time, I would always remind Lynda afterward, to never tell them anything about me, or my childhood. Really.
Embarrassment. Too many memories of hurt, abandonment, loss, emptiness, fear they may ask about. It was a period in my life I did my best to move past, but too often it reared its painful head seeking to control the present.
Living with my maternal grandparents in Riverhead, Long Island as a child, I attended Catholic School and Catholic church. Then later with my father and stepmother attended Episcopal churches, and still later after Lynda and I were married—did I mention “leap of faith” on Lynda’s part—Methodist churches.
But, through no fault of any of those Christian settings, I never had that moment of coming “Home” to Christ in any of those, or anywhere else.
Until that moment, only God could have orchestrated, on July 16, 1982, at 2:30 AM in the mountains of North Carolina, when I finally ran “Home” to Christ, with my Bride, Lynda, there by my side with tears in her eyes, as her heart and hands applauded that God-ordained moment of decision for my life. (The full story for another day).
A new person, a new life with Christ now in me. Forgetting the past, along with healing from, and forgiveness of the past, now looking forward to what was ahead, with God doing a new thing in me, as my eyes were fixed on Jesus, now my Savior and Lord, as I had now arrived “Home” finally, and forever.
In their song “Running Home,” Cochren and Co. describe the moment well, as they share—
“It’s been a long time running down a dead-end road,
Lookin’ for that something that could fill my soul.
Never found what I was searching for.
It’s been a long time running from a messed-up past,
But you can’t go forward when you’re lookin’ back.
But I ain’t looking back anymore, ooh-oh…
He called my name (He called my name)
And He stole my shame (He stole my shame)
Everything changed when I came running home…
Out of the dark (Out of the dark), Into His arms (Into His arms)
No more running away, I’m running home…”
Did life become easier, the mountains vanish, or the valleys get shorter?
Did I then have it all together, and saw everything always work out as I hoped?
You know the answer. The world was still there for me to face and walk through.
There were still problems to deal with, and shortfalls to rise above.
But I knew, and began to feel, realize and believe more every day, beginning on that day when I ran “Home” to Christ, that I would never again face anything alone.
Christ was now always there—going with me and guiding me.
I was “Home.” Great place to be, my friends.
In His Name–Scott
Sit back, enjoy and be blessed by the video, and performance by Cochren and Co. of their song “Running Home.”
