The Unweary Runner

Does God promise that if we "wait upon the LORD" we will have energy like someone hopped up on Red Bull?

One of our Homiletics colleagues -- let's call him Julian -- used to manage a church camp. Each spring involved a lot of work to get the lodge, cabins and grounds ready for the summer program. Once the summer program started, our Julian had a staff to do the counseling, maintenance and cooking, but in the spring, he had to rely on whomever he could hire on an hourly basis.

One spring he ended up with two employees. One was a vigorous young man who had just graduated from high school. The other was a retired farmer with a heart condition.

Guess which one accomplished the most work each day.

Yes, the farmer. The young man was willing enough, but the farmer, even with his heart problem, always got more done. One reason was that he just knew how to do things. He'd had a lot of experience from running his farm, and he didn't need much direction. But he also knew how to husband his energy. He'd have to rest occasionally, but when he was on his feet, he did what needed to be done with a...