Running into the sun (SON)

I have begun this new exercise class, which takes place at 6:00 am. When the weather is nice we run outside - since I have just started and it has been cold, our first day to run outside was last week.  As we headed out the door and I followed my group they began to run around the buildings in what I would call a backwards manner.  As a former track runner, when running in a circle, I am accustomed to running in a counter-clockwise fashion.   But being new to the class, I decided to follow the crowd.  When I mentioned to our slave master (aka trainer) that they were running backwards - he said yes - the morning group always runs this way and the afternoon group always runs the other direction.  He said it’s just natural - "They always run into the sun."

Wow - What a profound statement.  On my next lap around I told him he had just given me my next blog title and I began to think about what it looks like to run into the "SON".

Using my trusty Bible Gateway I came up with these two passages -

1 Cor 1:8-9

He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. 

Col 1:12-14

12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 

Breaking it down:

1.    I am called into fellowship with Christ.  (Webster's defines fellowship as a group of people that meet together with a shared interest and to pursue a shared aim.)

2.    God is faithful to keep me strong in this fellowship and pursuit. 

3.    God has brought us INTO the KINGDOM of the SON he loves - in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins!  It just does not get any better than that!

As I write this I have to stop and reread and think and reread what this means to me.

1.    I am called into fellowship –

2.    God has rescued me –

3.    God has made a way through His son - to share in the inheritance.

4.    He has brought me out of darkness and into the light.

That's why we run into the sun (Son) because we are striving so hard to get out of the dark.  Unlike my early morning workout - that is quite a beating - God through Jesus has made the way easy – no, not easy, SIMPLE - He desires for us to turn and run.  

Just as we see in the story of the prodigal son - he is standing there with open arms - Just run into the SON.