I imagine it's a very scary thing for athletes who have to perform in front of a crowd. But ask any one of them and they?ll tell you it's great to play in their home-town. The fans can make the difference between a win and a loss. Nobody wants to disappoint the home-town crowd. Their cheers energize the athletes and help them to give their best. One high school athlete, for instance, quickly gives his home-town fans an assist for the performance that helped send him to the Sydney Olympics. ?It was certainly a big gush of wind at my back,? he said. ?I think I harnessed it.?

As I spoke at a women's retreat recently and had my own personal cheering section, I understood what that ?gush of wind at my back? feels like. It made a big difference to know many in the audience were supportive. There was one elderly lady there, whom I had never met, but almost from the moment I started to speak she leaned forward in her seat. It wasn't long before she was nodding her head and smiling. Her whole demeanor seemed to shout, ?Yes! You go, girl!? My eyes frequently returned to her and I was able to harness her encouragement and speak with confidence.

In the book of Hebrews, the apostle Paul talks about a home town crowd. He has just given the people a long list of heroes of the faith, men and women they were familiar with, who had gone before them, walking in obedience and faithfulness to God. Then he says ? 'therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus?? (Heb.12:1,2)

We all have our own cloud of witnesses like Paul describes - a home-town crowd - those who are heroes of the faith to us. And Jesus is one of them. He's like that elderly lady in my audience, but He's not on the edge of his seat, he's standing up, cheering us on with all His might. Jesus is our number one fan. All we have to do is turn to Him to harness His energy and encouragement.

Paul goes on to say, in Hebrews 13 ? ?God has said, ?Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.? So we say, with confidence, 'the Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid? (Heb.13:5,6).

We will all sin and fail to walk in obedience and faithfulness, but when we stand up again there is a gush of wind at our backs ? the wind of God's Spirit ? to give us the courage to keep going, to ?run with perseverance the race marked out for us.? We just need to keep turning our eyes on Jesus.

Marcia Laycock is a pastor's wife and freelance writer living in Alberta Canada.  Her devotional book, The Spur of the Moment has been endorsed by Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and others.  To order, and to view more of Marcia's writing, see her web site - www.vinemarc.com
Copyright Marcia Lee Laycock, 2000, 2001,2002,2003,2004,2005