Our first commitment

"Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and the man became a living person." Genesis 2:7

Just days before the Salinas Valley Half Marathon was set to take place this month it was canceled. The race, scheduled for August 6, was to be held about 40 miles from the flames that engulfed more than 45,000 acres north of Big Sur, California. Because the smoke from that fire was so heavily seeping into the Salinas Valley, the air quality was determined to be unhealthy and race officials made the decision to nix the event saying, "Our first commitment is always to the health and safety of our runners and volunteers." It wasn't a total loss though, officials say that all the water, food and other race supplies will be donated to the firefighters battling the blaze. 

While giving thought to the potential dangers of breathing in polluted air, have you ever given thought to the reason you can breathe air at all? In Genesis 2:7, the Bible tells us that, "God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and the man became a living person." Wow. There is really nothing fancy or special then about our bodies if we were formed from dirt is there? In fact, you and I were nothing but dust, lifeless and worthless... until God breathed life into us. So you see, it's God's Spirit that gives you and me worth, not what we look like, our abilities or what we have accomplished. 

Simply said, we are nothing without the Lord. Good air or bad air... any air would not be ours to breathe had God not chosen to give us that very first "breath of life". Knowing that, shouldn't we be spending our lives honoring, praising and thanking him for what he has done? Shouldn't that be our first commitment?

Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us the breath of life. Help us to remember that we are absolutely nothing without you. We were formed from the dust and to the dust we will soon return. What we do while we have air in our lungs is what matters. May we love, honor, worship and praise you with every breath. It's in your precious name we pray, Jesus. Amen. 

Happy Running!!!

www.team413.org

Chris Tomlin/Lecrae - Awake my soul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWpvknKuYrg

http://www.runnersworld.com/general-interest/monterey-fire-forces-cancellation-of-salinas-valley-half-marathon