"Never stop praying." 1 Thessalonians 5:17
John Liepa, 73, of Iowa, has gone for a run every single day since January 2, 1977. That's 15,042 days of running, as of last Friday, which earns him the recognition of having the 10th-longest running streak in the nation according to the United States Running Streak Association. But it all started with a bit of advice John received in 1974 from Joe Henderson, then an editor at Runner's World Magazine, who had been invited to speak to the runners in the Iowa Prairie Track Club that Liepa had helped organize. Henderson told the group to think of a run as a daily routine as normal as sleeping, eating or breathing. “It’s never a question of if you run, but only how good it’ll be that day,” Henderson told them. Liepa took his advice saying, "You don't question if you are going to eat today. You just do it." He started to run every single day since then and has no intentions of stopping.
You know, Leipa's changed attitude towards running, concluding that it was no longer an option but a necessity, most undoubtedly led to his success as a streaker. And it's that same attitude toward prayer, that it is no longer an option but a necessity, that you and I need to adopt to be successful in our Christian walk. You see, it's this settled way of thinking about it - seeing prayer as a continuous conversation with God, something we do naturally and something that’s as vital to our health as sleeping, eating or breathing - that you and I need to have to obtain and maintain a close and intimate relationship with the Lord.
Pastor Greg Warren says it this way, "You will never grow a close relationship with God by just attending church once a week or even having a daily quiet time. Friendship with God is built by sharing
all your life experiences with him." And sharing
all our life experiences with Him is the very thing you and I do when we "never stop praying."
Heavenly Father, thank You for the Holy Spirit that lives inside each believer. It's amazing that a God as wonderful and awesome as You would care to know every detail of our lives. Thank you for loving us that much! Help us to crave our time with You so much that prayer might become as effortless, necessary and as natural as breathing. It's in your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen
Happy Running!!!
Lifer - Mercy Me
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