Win or Lose, It's How You Run the Race

Faith@Work is a Navigators sponsored monthly luncheon for business women in Albuquerque, NM.  Its mission is helping business and professional women live out their faith more intentionally in their workplaces.  We do this through several different means:

•    Presenting challenging messages each month from local practitioners who are learning how to live on purpose for God.  
•    Promoting, developing and implementing Bible Studies in the workplace for women across the city.
•    Recruiting, training and utilizing volunteers in a variety of ways to reach out and connect with other business women each month at the luncheons.


Faith@Work Message, January 24th, 2010;  "Win or Lose, It's How You Run the Race" Albuquerque, New Mexico
Speaker: Antoinette Baca

When Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians, he must have been remembering the great biannual athletic games hosted in Corinth.  Maybe he even attended the games and watched the superior athletes as they strained to surpass one another in their quest for victory.  Years later, those memories represented a spiritual truth to Paul, and prompted him to say to the believers to whom he wrote, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.”

Isn’t it amazing that almost 2000 years later, on a cold day in January, we can sit in a banquet room at a hotel in Albuquerque, NM and relive Paul’s memories in a fresh way!  A young woman tells a story of her own faith journey and his words come alive again through her experience. 
 

Antoinette Baca is a charming, young single mom who works as a Contract Administrator for Lockheed Martin out at Sandia Labs.  She was fitting nicely into her comfort zone there, doing well at her job and feeling confident in herself.  Then God shook up her world.  She was approached by friends to run for State Representative, a role she was unfamiliar with and not at all comfortable about.  At first, she even laughed at the thought (remember 90 year old Sarah laughing at the thought of having a child?).  But then, she felt God prompting her to “pray about it”, so she did.

There were lots of reasons to say no.  Antoinette told us she was inexperienced, afraid of public speaking, uncomfortable with fundraising and not as highly educated as her opponent.   But, she realized that when God calls us, “He never promises that His calling will be an easy road.  We must view our weaknesses as opportunities to depend more on God.”

Antoinette obeyed God’s call.  She ran the race well, even through some challenging bumps in the road.  During the course of the campaign she was investigated at work (and cleared completely), had her character attacked, made personal and family sacrifices and ultimately lost the race for office.  Her opponent, an incumbent, won by only 226 votes!  But Antoinette learned some valuable lessons: