Courage For Today

finish line

Let Each of Us Run Our Race With Endurance

Strength

This summer, I had the pleasure of watching Atlanta’s Peachtree Road Race. The race is an annual tradition in Atlanta with over 50,000 runners running through the streets of Atlanta over a 5K distance.  How these runners managed to run that distance through the heat and humidity is beyond me.  Each race begins with wheelchair racers who are followed by world-class runners and then the masses of amateur runners.  In prior years, I had never witnessed the wheelchair racers so I wanted to make a point to see them this year and I can tell you that I was not disappointed.

It was truly amazing and inspirational as I watched the wheelchair racers speed down Peachtree Street.  I watched as athlete after athlete, all with physical disabilities refuse to allow their adversities to hold them back. There were athletes of all ages and 3-wheel racing wheelchairs of all colors and sizes.  The more I watched these inspiring athletes, the more I was reminded of my own Christian faith.

It would have been so easy for these wheelchair racers to not even enter the race at all. They could have stayed home and not gone through the tremendous preparation necessary to even run in the race, but they didn’t.  They entered the race.  They took the necessary steps to be prepared.  How many times in my Christian life have I failed simply because I didn’t enter the race?

The racers were visibly excited despite all of their handicaps and setbacks.  Neither their disabilities; the heat; their pain; nor any other obstacle seemed to discourage them.  They pushed through all that life and the race through at them and they still managed not to look discouraged. What a lesson we call learn about carrying on when everything around us points to discouragement.

One thing I noticed about each of the wheelchairs themselves was how sleek and efficient they were.  They appeared to be made out of extremely light material and had the bare minimum equipment necessary for the rider.  The racers themselves were wearing wind resistant clothing and had no unnecessary equipment or baggage.  There was nothing any racer had in their possession that would bog them down.  As we pursue our race in life, I’ve learned over the years to make sure that I don’t burden myself with unnecessary baggage or have unnecessary obstacles in my life that would disrupt my path or goals.

As the dozens of wheelchair racers streamed past me, it struck me how focused they were on the task at hand.  Hundreds and hundreds of spectators were waiving at them and cheering them on, yet their eyes were laser focused on the goal ahead and the finish line.  As I think back on my failures as a Christian, most were due to lack of focus.  I allowed circumstances or other people to distract me from my overall God-given purpose.

Running our race in life with endurance is not an easy task.  As you do so, remember the lessons I learned watching those great wheelchair racers that hot summer day in Atlanta: make sure you at least enter the race; don’t get discouraged; eliminate obstacles and barriers; and stay focused on the goal and the finish line.

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Our Lives Are Not a Sprint

Strength

I have to admit sometimes that I’m not the most patient person in the world.  My friends tell me that I am more patient than most, but sometimes I don’t feel that way myself.  I am always pressed to do something, whether it is meet some deadline at work, or an appointment to do at home.  When you think about it, Society in general is that way now.  Busy, busy, busy.  Everyone’s always in a hurry to do this or that.  It truly is the world of the “microwave.”  Everything has to be done instantly and if we can’t finish something quickly, we just quit and move on to something else.

Sadly sometimes, we lead our lives in the same manner.  If we can’t lose weight this week, we give up.  If we can’t get that job we need by next week, we lose faith.  If we don’t see our health improve immediately, we lose hope.  It’s human nature to some degree to be this way, although I think we would all agree that we could all be more successful in what we do if we would see things through to the end and not give up quite as easily as we do sometimes.

Last week, I was looking through some old magazine articles that I collect about Sports.  I found an article about a long-distance Marathon Runner from Africa who entered the Marathon in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.  If you are familiar with the Marathon, the distance is well over 20 miles and travels through the Olympic City streets and then finishes the last lap or two back in the Olympic Stadium.  How anyone can run that far is beyond me, but that’s a story for another day.

On this particular Day of the Marathon in Mexico City, the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medalists had already been crowned and the race was long over, or so everyone thought.  In fact, other Track and Field Events were being held in the infield of the Olympic Stadium.  During one of the other events, the reporters on duty noticed the crowd slowly beginning to cheer.  At first, they couldn’t figure out why?  Gradually, the crowd got louder and louder and eventually everyone in the stadium rose to their feet to cheer.  The reporter finally noticed that a lone Marathon runner had entered the stadium, hours after the Medal winners had finished, to begin his final journey around the Olympic track to complete the race.

The runner was limping into the stadium and even stumbled a couple of times.  The crowd cheered even more loudly, all for a lone Marathon runner that had no chance of winning.  After what seemed like an eternity, the lone runner finally crossed the finish line and collapsed from exhaustion.

What struck me most about this event was the conversation after the race between a Reporter and the Marathon runner.  The reporter asked, “why did you go through all the agony and pain to cross the finish line in a race that you had absolutely no chance to win?”  The runner answered, “my Country did not send me all of these thousands of miles to ENTER the race; they sent me here to FINISH the race.”

How appropriate is this analogy for our own lives?  I know there have been times when I have been ready to give up.  There have been times that I wanted a quick fix and wasn’t patient in waiting for God’s timing.  I would suspect most of us have been in this same situation, or maybe you are now?

As Christians, we are charged with the responsibility to fight the good fight.  You may not be the best at what you do.  You may not be the fastest at what you do.  You may not have the best education.  You may not have the best abilities.  However, in God’s eyes you are a unique and special creation.  To quote the Marathon runner, God did not put us on this Earth simply to enter the race.  HE placed us here to finish our race. If you are in a place in your own life where you face discouragement, I encourage you to carry on with God’s strength; don’t give up; and finish the race.

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Our Journey to Freedom

Faith

It was always an exciting time to get to spend some time with my Dad.  Like most families, we were all busy. He worked long hours so that my Mom didn’t have to work.  Whenever we had something planned together, I knew it was going to be something special.

This particular day, we were going to hike together down a country road which began at my grandmothers house and ended a couple of miles away at a Country Store that my Great Uncle owned and operated at the time.  If we could make the entire trip, my reward was to be able to get a Coke and Ice Cream at my Great Uncle’s store.  It couldn’t get any better than that.

I can remember the seemingly long journey down the road.  Along the way, we talked about all the different people that lived in the houses we passed and what my Dad may have known about them. I can remember that we passed an old, run-down house that was about to fall from decay.  It flashed through my mind who may have lived there and what had happened for the house to be in such poor shape. We passed an old logging company and admired all the logs that were cut and trimmed and the massive trucks that delivered them.  We chased off a few stray dogs that didn’t appreciate us approaching their territory.  We even relived my Dad’s story as a young boy when he mentioned he was playing at this logging company and almost got struck by lightening.

It was a long hike to my Uncle’s store, and I was beginning to get tired, but there was something special about the journey itself. Knowing that I had this great reward at the end of the journey made the journey seem more bearable.  I knew that I had a nice, cold Nutty Buddy or Fudge-Sickle awaiting me at the end, so any adversity I faced along the hike with sore feet or shortness of breath was going to be all worth it when I reached the finish line.

Boy, was I right.  Nothing tasted so good as that cold ice cream.  I’m sure it probably melted all over me, but I didn’t care.  I was hot and tired from the long journey and I was enjoying my reward. What we had discussed on the journey or the pain I had felt just didn’t matter anymore.  I had reached my goal and received my reward.

It often helps me during life’s “journey” to realize that I have a heavenly reward awaiting me at the end, whenever that end might be.  Life is tough.  Let’s not kid anyone.  Sometimes our hike through life is a struggle, whether it be health issues, financial issues, relationship issues or whatever life “throws” at us.  More often than not, we become defeated and even depressed and convince ourselves that we’re not going to make it.

It’s at these times that I make a point to remember to fall in love with the Journey itself and that as down as I may be; as defeated as I sometimes may feel; when I do finally reach the finish line, my heavenly reward will make life’s journey seem all worth it.  After I have fought the good fight, the rewards will be more than I could even imagine. There’s something liberating about knowing that you may lose a few battles along the way, but you’ve already won the war.  Keeping my eye on the finish line, just as I did that hot summer day hiking to my Uncle’s Store makes the journey seem more bearable.

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