My son is going to be participating in a 5-K next Friday. In anticipation of the event, the Salmon Run mascots have been making appearances to get everyone pumped up about running! Whoo Hoo!
Here you can see King Salmon and Pink Salmon.
And here Pink Salmon has his back to us and is chatting with Coho Salmon, while Sockeye Salmon is looking the other direction in the background.
Running a 5-K with the Salmon brings to mind the verse: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize?” – 1 Corinthians 9:24
In real life a salmon run is a very taxing, grueling, and challenging endeavor! In real life a salmon run can be a dangerous thing! My oh my, looks like the Sockeye Salmon is in some real danger!
So too, when it comes to “running the race” of the Christian life, it likewise is a very taxing, grueling, and challenging endeavor!
Salmon cannot be complacent when it comes to their salmon run! If the salmon are complacent, the current flowing downstream will forever push them back, keeping them stuck in the ocean. No! Salmon have to swim against the current. Salmon have to fight. Salmon have to struggle.
A salmon run requires perseverance!
A salmon run requires effort!
A salmon run requires fearlessness!
“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a person running aimlessly.” – 1 Corinthians 9:25
“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.” – Hebrews 12:1
Let’s run this race!
Let’s win the crown!
Let’s do this thing! … one faithful step after the other!
I loved this quote by John Lovell:
“We have right now only this fleeting moment. Our lives are as the Bible says – a breath, a vapor. And one day the world as we know it will roll up like a scroll, trumpets will sound, judgment will issue, and we’ll have all eternity to rest in the joy of the Father. But it’s only right now that you and I have this burning opportunity to tell the world about Jesus Christ. Have you considered that in Heaven there are no more souls to evangelize, there’s no more enemy to fight. Now is our chance – in this life, here and now to lift high the banner of Jesus Christ and advance it down the field. It’s our time now to join the cosmic fight that rages all around us and risk all in the hope of being made useful in this great fight. What lies beyond the veil of this world is the true war behind all wars, and you have a part to play in it. You have a calling. And through you the infinite power of God waits to be unleashed through your loving obedience to Him. Do you realize that the Lord is poised ready to do great things through you? Be useful. Be able and willing to serve anywhere and everywhere the Lord leads you. The King is calling you on this urgent mission – Go, and make disciples.”
