In Jules Verne's novel, "The Mysterious Island", he tells of five men who escape a Civil War prison camp by hijacking a hot-air balloon. As they rise into the air, they realize the wind is carrying them over the ocean. Watching their homeland disappear on the horizon, they wonder how much longer the balloon can stay aloft.

As the hours pass and the surface of the ocean draws close, the men decide they must cast overboard some of the weight, because they had no way to heat the air in the balloon. Shoes, overcoats and weapons are reluctantly discarded, and the aviators feel the balloon rise. But only temporarily. Soon the find themselves dangerously close to the waves again, so they toss their food overboard. Their logic? It's better to be hungry and in the balloon than to drown on a full stomach.

Unfortunately, this too is only a temporary solution and the craft begins to get closer to the sea. One man has an idea: cut away the basket that's holding them and use the ropes that hold the basket as seats. They decide to do this. The basket is cut away and drops to the ocean. The balloon begins to rise. And not too long afterward, they spot land and stand on terra firma again. The thing that they thought they couldn't live without was the very thing that was weighing them down.

The writer of Hebrews encourages us to, "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (Heb. 12:2).

May God give us the wisdom to know those things that are weighing us down. And may we have the courage to get rid of them - even if it's something we think we need.

Running the race,

Pastor Tim