THE BREAD BASKET

Around the world, there are various "strongman" competitions that are staged yearly. In the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Norway and Denmark, for example, contestants compete in a multitude of events for top time, top weight, or top distance. At the end of the competition, judges total the individual feat scores and then announce a winner.

The Scandinavians are ingenious in their competitions. Some of the strength tests include holding sledgehammers away from your body for as long as your arms will endure, or lifting a certain number of "manufactured stones" over a six foot wall for a set period of time.

But probably the most interesting strength and endurance event involves getting inside a harness and pulling a pallet through sand--a pallet loaded down with certain weights. The contestant pulls his load from one station to the next, where an assistant adds the next required weight-usually in 100 pound increments. The winner is the one who can go the farthest with all the added weights. However, no one can ever make it to the finish line!

In many ways, life is a parallel to this strongman competition, except that the goal is not how far you can go with your weights, but rather how many weights you can be free of so that you may be assured of finishing your course and reaching Heaven safely. We are admonished by the writer of Hebrews, who says: "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us" (Hebrews 12:1/KJV).

As a Christian, are there extra weights of sin, of shame, or of guilt that you are carrying with youweights that keep you from being your best or doing your best? The Apostle Paul declares, "it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1/NIV).

Undoubtedly, life is a constant struggle against sin and the wiles of the devil, but the goal is to rid
ourselves of as many "weights" as possible. So ... as you pull your pallet through the sand of life, what are the weights you'll get rid of today?