EXILES: HERE COMES RUSTY 1 Peter 1:13-21
"Here comes RUSTY!" I was at a dog race with my college
roommates, a number of years ago. Every time they started a new race,
they would announce, "Here comes Rusty!" Around the track would
be this stuffed bunny that all the dogs chased. If the bunny would have
run onto I-25 into oncoming traffic, the dogs would have all followed it.
I think we could all agree, if it were a cat race we would have wanted that
to happen. Just kidding!! They followed this bunny. Right
around the track, the dogs are chasing it! I started to think about that
this week, because I don't know that we're all that different. All of us
have a "Rusty." We all have something that we follow. I
think from the time our feet hit the ground in the morning.....we could just
lie in our bed and whatever you do before you actually have your feet hit the
ground, I think you could whisper in your mind, "Here comes Rusty!"
And you're off and running for the day chasing your Rusty. Not only
do you have something that you're chasing---something that determines the
course, the shape, the direction of your life---but for every single person in
this room, our Rusty's the same. For every single person. The thing
that we follow---the thing that determines the course of our life, the
direction of our life, the action of our life, the behaviors of our life---it's
the thoughts that we have rattling around in our head and the things that we
believe in our heart. Those are the things that shape the direction and
the course of our life. What you THINK and what you BELIEVE determines
how you live. It's your "Rusty."
