How to Structure a Home Run Life

HomeRUN

Keith Craft
August 16, 2026

God didn’t create you just to get through life.

He created you to run your race—and run to win.

In the opening message of the new Home Run series at Elevate Life Church, Pastor Keith Craft introduces a principle that can change the way we approach our spiritual lives, relationships, families, businesses, and futures:

If you want to fulfill the vision God has given you, you need the right structure.

You may have a dream. You may know where you want to go. You may even believe God has called you there.

But vision alone isn’t enough.

To build a Home Run Life, you need to become the kind of person who can build the structure necessary to win.

God Has Given You a Race to Run

In Philippians 3, Paul describes his determination to keep moving toward everything God has called him to become.

He refuses to allow his accomplishments to define him. He acknowledges that he hasn’t reached perfection. Instead, he chooses to forget what is behind, look toward what is ahead, and press toward the goal.

That’s an important mindset for anyone who wants to live a Home Run Life.

Your past doesn’t have to determine your future.

Your failures don’t disqualify you.

Your disappointments don’t mean your race is over.

There is still something ahead of you.

God has given you a race to run—and He wants you to run it to win.

Your Vision Needs Structure

We often spend time thinking about vision.

What’s the vision for your life?

Your marriage?

Your family?

Your business?

Your health?

Your relationship with God?

Those questions matter, but there’s another question we often overlook:

What structure have you built to support that vision?

Structure determines function.

The way you function personally is connected to the structures you’ve built around your life.

If you want a great marriage, you need structures that strengthen your marriage.

If you want a healthy family, you need structures that support the family you’re trying to build.

If you have a vision for your business, you need a structure capable of carrying that vision.

And if you want to become everything God created you to become, your life needs to be structured around that purpose.

Stop Measuring Your Future by Your Past

Paul had plenty he could have used to define himself.

He had pedigree.

He had accomplishments.

He had knowledge.

He had religious credentials.

But after encountering Christ, he recognized that knowing Jesus was infinitely more valuable than everything he had accomplished on his own.

That’s a powerful lesson for us.

A Home Run Life isn’t built by continually looking backward.

Maybe you’ve experienced failure.

Maybe you’ve experienced rejection.

Maybe you’ve experienced disappointment.

Maybe you’re carrying wounds nobody else can see.

God can still work through your story.

Instead of allowing your past to become the ceiling for your future, keep pressing forward toward the person God is calling you to become.

God Can Make You Bigger Than the Giants You Face

Pastor Keith shared several moments from his own story when life didn’t unfold the way he expected.

He experienced rejection, disappointment, unfulfilled dreams, physical challenges, and circumstances that could have caused him to quit.

But one of the most powerful lessons from his story is this:

God can grow you bigger than the giants He’s called you to defeat.

The difficult season you’re walking through may be developing something inside you.

You can grow stronger through opposition.

You can develop greater faith through uncertainty.

And what looks like an obstacle today can become part of the structure God uses to prepare you for tomorrow.

Don’t just ask God to remove every difficult thing.

Ask Him who He’s helping you become through it.

Get With the Right People in the Right Place at the Right Time

Ecclesiastes 9:11 tells us that the fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle, and intelligence or education alone doesn’t guarantee success.

Keith uses this passage to emphasize the importance of opportunity—and of positioning yourself with the right people, in the right place, at the right time.

Who you surround yourself with matters.

The rooms you enter matter.

The voices you allow to speak into your life matter.

The community you build around yourself matters.

That’s one reason being planted in God’s house is so important.

Church isn’t simply a place to be fed.

It’s a place to be equipped.

It’s an opportunity to develop relationships, receive wisdom, serve others, grow spiritually, and become the person God created you to be.

Build Structure Around What’s Wounded

Near the end of the message, Pastor Keith shares a story about being injured in an off-road accident.

After experiencing ongoing knee pain, he began strengthening the muscles and physical structure surrounding the injured area. As that structure became stronger, the pain eventually disappeared.

That experience became a picture of a larger spiritual principle:

Build structure around what’s wounded.

Maybe an area of your life has been hurt.

Your marriage.

Your confidence.

Your finances.

Your family.

Your leadership.

Your spiritual life.

Don’t simply focus on the wound.

Ask what healthy structure you can begin building around it.

The right structure can support healing, growth, strength, and forward momentum.

And the structure you build today can help carry the future God has for you tomorrow.

It’s Time to Run

Some people are crawling through their race.

Others are limping.

Some are walking.

And others have become comfortable jogging.

But God didn’t call you simply to move.

He called you to run to win.

A Home Run Life doesn’t happen accidentally.

It’s built intentionally.

It’s built by developing your relationship with God, becoming the person He’s called you to become, surrounding yourself with the right people, and creating structures capable of supporting the vision He’s placed inside you.

So wherever you find yourself today, don’t stay there.

Get up.

Move forward.

Build the structure.

And run the race God has given you to win.

Other Messages in this Series