Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, ~ Hebrews 12:1
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this lie; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. ~ 2 Timothy 2:4
Laying Aside Weights
These two pictures represent two things the Lord asked me to give up. The first was my water dog, Spot. Living in the middle of Indianapolis left an animal loving tom-girl longing for some contact with nature. Spot was my connection with the animal world. He was a 10 inch and growing quickly, axional.
One day durring room inspections he did not make a good impression on the director's wife. She said that he had to go. I wrestled with this a lot. I really enjoyed having him. I tried to think of some way that I could keep him. Finally the director's wife said that if I got a fish tank with a water filter for him that I could keep him, but then she added that it seemed like he was becoming like a god to me. Ouch! That did it I knew Spot had to go. My work at the ITC was much more important than a water dog. I ended up letting him go in the river.
The second picture is of a karate black belt. Karate was another thing that got to be way to important in my life. I started taking lessons to learn self defense but I really took a liking to it. I kind of felt like I should quit when I was a brown belt but then I convinced myself that I was to close to being a black belt to quit. After several years, sometimes spending 6 or 8 hours in the dojo teaching, I went off to Indy. By this time I was close to my second degree promotion. I even outranked one of the owners of the dojo.
One day at Indy Mr. Lechenby spoke about being obsessed with basketball. Immediatly the Lord pricked my heart. My entanglement in karate had been slowing me down for the most important race. That night I committed to the Lord that I would not go back to being a teacher or student in a dojo.
