Passing the Torch

Passing the torch? Have any of you ever ran a relay race? I remember when I was in high school, I was on the track team and relay was one of the events I trained for. I never had the endurance of a long distance running nor did I have the explosive sprint of a short distance runner, but the relay was something I could do. I ran my leg and passed the baton to the next. I just had to make sure I didn't drop it or trip over. Essentially my goal for the whole race was to maintain my position in the race and possibly overtake a competitor but it wasn't as stressful cause I knew for a fact that one of my teammates is gonna carry the team for the last leg cause he has that explosive ability.

Relay was easy. Life wasn't so much. Sometimes you can train for life but more often than not life trains you. Often times I find myself running a race not knowing where I'm running to. And sometimes I slow to a trot or even a crawl. But more often than not, I'm sprinting ahead cause of fear. What are we running for? What are we even going to pass on to the next generation?

Mankind, He has told you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 HCSB http://bible.com/72/mic.6.8.HCSB

Thinking about it, I think the fog comes from the unknown. When you don't know what you are running for and why you are running, you don't have a reason or the motivation to run. For me, in the past decade, it has come down to this: acting justly, loving faithfulness and walking humbly.

Act justly: What is justice? What does it mean to do right even in the face of injustice? What is it to walk even when it hurts?

Love faithfulness: What does it mean to be faithful? What does it mean to have integrity? What is it to you and me to keep our words?

Walk humbly: How can we go about continually learning? How can we go about knowing that there is something greater than us? How do we go about knowing the world does not rest upon our shoulders?

And it is these traits, these guidestones that I want to pass on to my kids. I want them growing up knowing what it means to be just, what it means to be faithful and how to be humble. I know I am a work in progress. But at least I have the baton and the purpose of running. And it is this baton that I hope to pass on to them one day.

What about you? What are you hoping to pass on to your kids or to the next generation? What are you running for?