Our youth pastor, Pastor Mike, shared a story this past Sunday that really resonated with me. It was one of the most interesting stories I had ever heard. The story was about a man named Cliff from Australia who was 61 years old and a potato farmer and sheep herder. This most unlikely man showed up and won an iron-man type marathon race that he had no chance to win. He was too old, had a plodding running style and the wrong equipment to run.
I was thinking about it this week and wondered why it made such impression on me and then I realized why. I identify with him. I am in my mid-fifties and know that God has transformed my life and given me a second chance at ministry to touch other's lives. I am extremely grateful to God for this opportunity. But some days, I ask myself the question, do I have the energy or am I just too old? After reading this story, every time I am tempted to think that; I say to myself “if Cliff can do it, I can do! You are never too old to be used by God. God loves to take the unqualified and qualify them.
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23)
“And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (I Corinthians 2:1-5)
http://www.learning-disabilities-reading-tutor.com/australian-runner-Cliff-Young.html#story
I was thinking about it this week and wondered why it made such impression on me and then I realized why. I identify with him. I am in my mid-fifties and know that God has transformed my life and given me a second chance at ministry to touch other's lives. I am extremely grateful to God for this opportunity. But some days, I ask myself the question, do I have the energy or am I just too old? After reading this story, every time I am tempted to think that; I say to myself “if Cliff can do it, I can do! You are never too old to be used by God. God loves to take the unqualified and qualify them.
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23)
“And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (I Corinthians 2:1-5)
http://www.learning-disabilities-reading-tutor.com/australian-runner-Cliff-Young.html#story
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