Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. - Hebrews 12:28-29 (ESV)

I once heard a guy theorize that Disneyland is meant to be a very spiritual place. It wasn’t because it contained characters with fanciful stories or because it had retold tales that shaped children’s experiences. No, it was because it has a bunch of mountains. There is Splash Mountain and Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain and the Matterhorn. His theory was that mountains in the course of human history are spiritual places where profound things happen and are revealed. I’m not sure what profound and revelatory thing is happening on top of Space Mountain, so I take his 'spiritual Disney theory' with a grain of salt.

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. - Hebrews 11:39-40 (ESV)
 
I’m not good at waiting.

When it’s close to Christmas or my birthday, I become a junior Sherlock Holmes trying to figure out all the plans and presents. When I order something, I check regularly to see its shipping progress. Being stuck in traffic is another major test for me. But waiting is a fact of life...and it is also a spiritual reality.

God is our loving Father, unlike anything we have experienced with our earthly father.

What is different about our heavenly Father? How does he father us now and what is the hope of our sonship in the midst of trials and suffering? There is no place in our minds or on this Earth where we are outside the sovereign domain of his care and instruction. And in the time we have left on this earth, God has profound purposes for our life. Centrally, to display his glory in our lives through conforming us more into Christ. Every blessing, good gift, and even every wrestling, temptation, tragedy, pain, turmoil, and physical illness is purposeful, because God is our Father and the sovereign of the universe. He is working in us in ways that are beyond our comprehension. We can rest in his love and sovereign hand and dismiss the notion that we will ever experience any purposeless blessing or discipline. The knowledge of our Father and the hope of sonship is vital for enduring suffering and for living lives of faith in a fallen world.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.  - Hebrews 11:8-10 (ESV)

I grew up reading and collecting comic books. The exploits in those colorful pages drove my imagination. So when those stories finally found their way onto the silver screen in the last decade, they have become a time machine to my childhood. The popularity of those stories tells us something about us and this cultural moment. At least for me, they always bubbled in me the desire to be extra ordinary. I always hoped I would discover my superpower and become the hero. But they also point to our desire to look to and worship these heroes. I think it’s something that is built into us.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. - Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV)
 
Running is a polarizing activity. Some people love it. Other people hate it.
 
It has amazing benefits: It can clear the mind, its good exercise, it can be done alone or with friends and, here in Huntsville at least, its a great source of community for people. Another person described running like this, “It was one of the worst experiences of my life. Legs aching, trying to suck in air while feeling like I had been stabbed in the chest. I’m pretty sure I even got cramp in my big toe. It was awful, and I was only running around my block.” What about you – do you love it or hate it?

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. - Hebrews 11:1-2 (ESV)

The 70's-80's band, Journey, famously admonished us to ‘Don’t Stop Believing’. What they wanted to point us to was the possibility that love was out there somewhere to be found. We are told by others to pursue our dreams and never give up.