"If you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed" (1 Peter 3:14)
All the masterpieces of painting contain both light and shadow. By them the artist highlights certain features of his subject, and they provide contrast and harmony to reveal beauty or charater.
A happy life is not one filled only w/ sunshine, but one that uses both light and shadow to produce beauty. Suffering or persecution can become a blessing because they can form a dark backdrop for the radiance of the Christian life. The greatest musicians as a rule are those who know how to bring song out of sadness. Fanny Crosby, her spirit aglow w/ faith in Christ, saw more w/ her sightless eyes than most of us do w/ normal vision. She gave us some of the great gospel songs that cheer our hearts and lives.
Paul and Silas sang a song of praise at midnight in a rat-invested jail in Philippi, their feet in stocks, their backs raw from the jailer's whip. But their patience in suffering and persecution led to the conversion of the heathen prison warden and his family.
Don't despise the shadows God brings into your life. He can use them to produce a masterpiece.
I feel a little bit under the weather right today. Saturday, I ran a 4 mile race in the rain w/ temperatures in the mid. 50's w/ a 10 mile wind factor. It was a good race experience despite the weather conditions. I came in 65th over all w/ a time of 27 min. I was shooting for top 3 in my age bracket (25-29) but came in 7th place. I did exceed my goal of a 7 min. pace so I was happy about that and I got to race w/ Old school.
Thank You, Michael & Julia for coming out and supporting me =)
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