Dare You To Move - running the race to the finish

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This week I decided to base my weekly Wednesday assembly here in school around the video to Switchfoot's uplifting, inspiring classic, "Dare You To Move" and a favourite passage of mine from St. Paul quickly came to mind:

"Not that I have become perfect yet: I have not yet won, but I am still running, trying to capture the prize for which Christ Jesus captured me... All I can say is that I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is still to come; I am racing for the finish, for the prize to which God calls us upward to receive in Christ Jesus." (Ph 3:12-14)


Here's the video (can't embed it):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSyMsT2zzJM

The video to the song reflects this idea very well with a young man running against a tide of people coming the other way. He gets smacked and buffeted, knocked to the ground, yet he continually picks himself back up and carries on running. I think the following idea from the song is also very Pauline:


The tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be

St. Paul was all to aware of his own faults and failings and of how he would sometimes fail to live up to the calling that he was given. But like St. Peter, St. Paul trusts totally in Jesus and comes to realise that being chosen by God to fulfil a mission is not dependent on being perfect people who never get things wrong. It IS dependent on being people who have their hearts in the right place, on being people who love God and love others with all their hearts, on being people who recognise their constant need for healing and conversion, on being people who are prepared to put God's will before their own. If you are such a person, your weaknesses are no longer a source of perpetual shame and embarrassment. Instead, the joy and peace that comes from trusting in and doing God's will transcends those weaknesses and give encouragement, helping you to focus on what is ahead, to strive onwards for the reward that is awaiting.

"I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is still to come; I am racing for the finish, for the prize to which God calls us upward to receive in Christ Jesus." 


With a day to go till I set off on my 8 day, 850 mile sponsored cycle to Berlin these words resonate within me very deeply. I thank God for the ability to accomplish such cycles for the good of others (I am being sponsored for our 11 schools in Haiti, 5 of which were totally destroyed by the recent earthquake).

Here are the complete lyrics to the Switchfoot song, one that I will carry with me on my ride to the finish:


Switchfoot - Dare You To Move

Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone's here
Everyone's here
Everybody's watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next?
What happens next?

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before

Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
The tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened

Maybe redemption has stories to tell
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened before

Comments

Anonymous said…
You've inspired me. And reminded me about forgiving ourselves. Such a tough task at times, but that is Grace. And you've shown me how accessable He's made it. Once again, I am humbled. By His grace and His love. And those that He has given on this journey of life. Thank you for sharing your journey.
7:16 pm
Bro. Jim Hayes said…
Yes, you've got that dead right about his Grace. God bless you. Thank you.
8:56 am
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