{"id":1732,"date":"2012-09-05T14:24:30","date_gmt":"2012-09-05T18:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/smalltownamerica\/?p=1732"},"modified":"2012-09-03T17:45:44","modified_gmt":"2012-09-03T21:45:44","slug":"prizes-to-be-won","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2012\/09\/prizes-to-be-won.html","title":{"rendered":"Prizes To Be Won"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Another big attraction at the fair\u00a0 is the game strip.\u00a0 There are all kinds of games from Basketball toss to knock over the milk bottles.\u00a0 They also usually have one where you race cars and one where you throw darts at balloons.\u00a0 These games are fun and Rich used to win tons of stuffed animals when he was younger.\u00a0 Every little kid in the family got teddy bear or\u00a0 for Christmas.\u00a0 Now he’s just watching as other throw away their money in an attempt to win a big prize.<\/p>\n

Years ago you won a nice prize for each game.\u00a0 Now they start you out with a tiny little thing and you have to keep playing until you have enough to trade in for a large prize.\u00a0 Most people give up or run out of money before they ever get that big teddy bear they want.<\/p>\n

The Bible talks about striving to win\u00a0 a prize too, but it’s not a stuffed dog or pop bottle bank.\u00a0 In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul tell us, “Brethren, I count myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ.”<\/p>\n

Now that is a worthy prize!\u00a0 Paul said we have to forget the past and pursue the future in order to gain this prize.\u00a0 That is difficult for many because they have such traumatic pasts and hopeless futures.\u00a0 But, with Jesus, all things are possible.\u00a0 He can forgive and heal our pasts and show us our futures.\u00a0 He is faithful to touch our hearts and minds with exactly what we need to enable us to continue the fight.<\/p>\n

In 1 Corinthians 9:24, Paul speaks of us as running a race.\u00a0 We all must run this race called life, but not all will win a crown in the end.\u00a0 We must learn to be temperate in all things and seek that which is incorruptible.\u00a0 We must run with purpose and keep our bodies under subjection to His Spirit.\u00a0 Then when we meet Jesus face to face, we will be given a crown of glory for our prize.<\/p>\n

I love teddy bears and other fuzzy little creatures, but what I really desire is to be granted a crown of glory.\u00a0 You won’t find that at the county fair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another big attraction at the fair\u00a0 is the game strip.\u00a0 There are all kinds of games from Basketball toss to knock over the milk bottles.\u00a0 They also usually have one where you race cars and one where you throw darts at balloons.\u00a0 These games are fun and Rich used to win tons of stuffed animals…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":420,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,36],"tags":[42,91],"class_list":["post-1732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-just-for-fun","tag-choices","tag-county-fair"],"yoast_head":"\nPrizes To Be Won - Small Town America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2012\/09\/prizes-to-be-won.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Prizes To Be Won - Small Town America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Another big attraction at the fair\u00a0 is the game strip.\u00a0 There are all kinds of games from Basketball toss to knock over the milk bottles.\u00a0 They also usually have one where you race cars and one where you throw darts at balloons.\u00a0 These games are fun and Rich used to win tons of stuffed animals…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2012\/09\/prizes-to-be-won.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Small Town America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-05T18:24:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-09-03T21:45:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/smalltownamerica\/files\/2012\/09\/IMG_1165.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"dhanny\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Prizes To Be Won - Small Town America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2012\/09\/prizes-to-be-won.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Prizes To Be Won - Small Town America","og_description":"Another big attraction at the fair\u00a0 is the game strip.\u00a0 There are all kinds of games from Basketball toss to knock over the milk bottles.\u00a0 They also usually have one where you race cars and one where you throw darts at balloons.\u00a0 These games are fun and Rich used to win tons of stuffed animals…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2012\/09\/prizes-to-be-won.html","og_site_name":"Small Town America","article_published_time":"2012-09-05T18:24:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-09-03T21:45:44+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/smalltownamerica\/files\/2012\/09\/IMG_1165.jpg"}],"author":"dhanny","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2012\/09\/prizes-to-be-won.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/smalltownamerica\/2012\/09\/prizes-to-be-won.html","name":"Prizes To Be Won - 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