Living An Ultra Life is my motto in life. I want to live life to the full (John 10:10) but most of all I want others to live life to the full also, to dream the impossible dream, to view life as limitless and then have the courage to pursue it. The following are thirty devotionals that will be published in 2018 along with the book Living An Ultra Life that I want to share with you before they get published. If you would like this in PDF form please just hit “Reply” and say “Send mine” along with your email address. My hope is that these bless you as much as they have blessed me writing them.
I didn’t start running until I was past my 46th birthday so I had no idea what was in store when the idea to begin running was planted in my heart but I am ever so grateful that God put that thought there. I didn’t tell many people about the first 5k I ran, mainly because I was embarrassed that I wouldn’t be able to finish. In fact my running became serious when I first set the goal to be able to run around the block without stopping. Once I accomplished that it was to be able to run a mile and then the big decision to run a 5k. After I finished that first 5k in December I thought I would hibernate for the winter and find something new in the spring. The whole month of January I did a couple of runs but pretty much that was it until the day I was praying for the son of friends of ours who had just had his leg amputated after stepping on an IED on patrol with his squadron of fellow Marines in Afghanistan. As I sat in my warm house the thought hit me, “run the Marine Corp Marathon!” And that there is what they call crazy talk. But being the great man of faith that I am I decided to test that thought by seeing if any of my friends was as nutty as me. My first buddy, Kevin, laughed me off the phone and basically Bill told me no way. But I have perseverance so I called Harrison, a young Marine from my church. I mentioned that I was thinking about running the MCM and would he give it some thought and prayer. He immediately, excitedly replied “YEAH! And the rest is history.
And the story would have ended there. I would go on to run the MCM and cross it off my bucket list and move on but along the way God has worked on my heart. The discipline and endurance and pushing past what I thought I was capable of combined with the desire to spend the last 30 days before my first marathon contemplating what God has in store for me on this journey have planted this seed in me. Every one of these verses came to me as I ran and pushed through every adversity the 30 days before the marathon to still my heart and make me aware that every step I take is a step closer to becoming the man who God created me to be. In the six years after my first marathon I continue to use this thirty day prayer guide to still my heart and seek direction not just in the now ultra marathons I now run but every day life. Hopefully as you prepare yourself mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually for your race these little devotionals will help you be awake to what God is doing in your life.