“Cut them off,” our coach growled. “Cut them off, and intimidate them.” Intensity flashed in his eyes as he told Tommy and I what we needed to do right after the starter’s gun fired at our cross-country race just a few minutes away. “Make sure that you guys line up on each side of them, so you can jump out and form a great big wall in front of them.” Tommy and I were each 6-foot, 4-inches tall. “They” were two brothers who were the best runners on their team, and topped out in the low 5-foot range, putting Tommy and I about a full foot taller. And for several years, us tall guys had developed a fierce rivalry with these short guys, also known as The Midgets.
“Make them go around you. Catch them off guard. Break their stride. Don’t let them establish their pace right off the line.” Then the coach’s voice dropped for emphasis, and he slowly repeated, “Cut. Them. Off. And. Intimidate. Them.” Because most of our races with the Midgets over the years had been close, I originally thought that a few steps coming off the starting line of a 3-mile race might make a difference, but I came to understand our coach was really speaking of psychological intimidation. If we could throw the Midgets off mentally, we would gain a much more valuable advantage.
When the starter's gun fired, Tommy and I bolted off the line and quickly sidestepped in front of The Midgets, slamming together like barn doors. The audible gasps and grunts from behind us indicated their frustration.
Just when you seem ready to step out for God or move in a positive direction in your faith, don’t the stumbling blocks fly out in front of you from every direction? Suddenly, somebody makes a snide comment, the boss expects you to work late, a family crisis erupts, your car breaks down, or it rains. And that’s when the doubt jumps up, cuts us off and intimidates us, and from that point on, it’s a lot harder to get mentally motivated.
But God equipped us to handle any obstruction, distraction or intimidation so that we should not be mental midgets, “for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7, NKJV). With God, there’s no reason to panic. Just stay focused, and keep going.
If you’re having any doubts, well, “who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?” (Galatians 5:7, NIV)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Unconfined topics relating your world to His Word
Subscribe via email
Subscribe Now: Feed Icon
Search the entire Free Range
Labels
Copyright
Thanks for checking out Free Range Devotions!
Feel free to print a post in a non-commercial publication (like a church newsletter), link to this site or a specific post, or extract up to 100 words from a post on to another site, as long as you provide a link back to the original post and include the following notice: “©, Sean Connolly. All rights reserved. Originally published at http://freerangedevo.blogspot.com/.”
However, you must have written permission to repost or publish an entire post from my site anywhere on the internet, use a post for commercial purposes including selling or licensing printed or electronic versions of my content, or alter, transform or build upon the content of any post.
Feel free to print a post in a non-commercial publication (like a church newsletter), link to this site or a specific post, or extract up to 100 words from a post on to another site, as long as you provide a link back to the original post and include the following notice: “©, Sean Connolly. All rights reserved. Originally published at http://freerangedevo.blogspot.com/.”
However, you must have written permission to repost or publish an entire post from my site anywhere on the internet, use a post for commercial purposes including selling or licensing printed or electronic versions of my content, or alter, transform or build upon the content of any post.
