Tonight I will run a 5k in the moonlight.

Running is not something I’ve grown to love, but I keep trying. I love the atmosphere, the camaraderie. The bands that play. The ribbons they hand out afterwards.

Seasoned runners keep saying to stick with it. “You’ll fall in love with it when you least expect it,” they say.

That’s why you’ll see me with my running shoes and 5K number tacked to my shirt running in the moonlight tonight.

I’m determined to keep doing this until it becomes second nature.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes loving people feels the same way. We know it’s good for us. We know it’s good as a whole. We realize that with practice it will come easier, but . . .

We’ve also fallen flat on our faces. Or given up halfway because it’s just too hard.

I’m never going to be a perfect runner. They guy from Kenya who runs with bare feet may have already claimed that title.

But I’ll be a perserverant runner.

As we’ve explored living like Jesus this week, I hope that you’ve discovered that living like Jesus is vastly different than being Jesus.

One is impossible. The other, with God’s help, is not only possible but life transforming.

It’s not about being perfect, but placing your trust in the one who is.

It’s not about what you do so much, as it’s who you know as you grow in this thing called faith.

To live free: Live like Jesus by loving Jesus

Scripture: This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:9-10 (NIV)

Just you and God: He loves you. Show your love for him by receiving that gift so freely given to you.