Saints Before Me

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ~ Hebrews 12:1-2 (NASB)
"Many a man, yet dazed from his hospital experience, has stepped over the threshold of that home into freedom. Many an alcoholic who entered there came away with an answer. He succumbed to that gay crowd inside, who laughed at their own misfortunes and understood his. Impressed by those who visited him at the hospital, he capitulated entirely when, later, in an upper room of this house, he heard the story of some man whose experience closely tallied with his own. The expression on the faces of the women, that indefinable something in the eyes of the men, the stimulating and electric atmosphere of the place, conspired to let him know that here was haven at last." (Alcoholics Anonymous, page 160)

So great a cloud
of witnesses,
saints preceding,
people of faith,
a crowd of witnesses
through ages and eons —
people who know the rigors of the path,
watching for us to
shed our baggage,
take off and run – or fly —
for the joy set before us,
for the promises,
the hope
pulling those
after us into
the cloud of witnesses.

Thank you, God, for saints
surrounding me with love.