Sunday, December 4, 2011, it is pouring down rain and 42 degrees. The wind is blowing and not to mention this is all at 6:30 in the morning. I begin to ask myself questions like, “What am I doing here? Can I really do this? What have I gotten myself into?” These things keep rushing into my thoughts and starting to set the tone for my day. I have signed up to run the White Rock Half Marathon in Dallas, TX. Yes, 13.1 miles. Why? Because I want that sticker for my truck window. You know, this one…
13.1 Sticker
So, I lined up in Corral D-3 (way back in the back) and waited from almost an hour before I could start the race. It was raining, it was cold, it was nasty! But I signed up to do this and even more convincing than that, I paid! The gun went off and the line of 25,000 people began to move. Twenty-six minutes later, I reached the starting line. My race had begun…now hold that thought…
About 3 hours earlier that morning, I was reading my daily devotion before I left the house. I want you to know that God is a timely God. He always has a way of speaking to you the things you need to hear at the exact moment you need to hear them. I just didn’t know that I would need to hear this at mile 3 running down McKinney Avenue. Check this out, this is how God is tuned in to what I needed this day…
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:1-2
How awesome is that? Timely! I began to quote this passage outloud during my race. I know there were some runners who thought I was talking to them…I wasn’t…I was meditating on Scripture. I was praying as I was running. Then I had this thought…
What if every person who was running this race was a Christian? I am basically running a race with Lakewood Church and Joel Osteen is nowhere to be found on this day…not the best day to wear a suit outside anyway. Back to the thought…Everyone running the White Rock race was headed in the same direction…the finish line. Everyone in the race had clarity of the goal…the medal, the time, the accomplishment, you name it. Every runner was running at their pace. People were passing me on my left and right, I was, believe it or not, passing people, dodging people and really feeling good. But I couldn’t get past the fact that we were all running toward the same goal. There were people lined up all along the route cheering us on (the great cloud of witnesses).
What if we viewed our brothers and sisters in Christ through the eyes of a marathon? We are all heading in the same direction…Heaven…some people’s pace is slower than others and then you have some that are like the elite runners and run at incredible paces. They are fast! They get more noteriety than us pluggers. Regardless of that, we wind up in the same place.
I used to get discouraged when it took others a longer time to “make progress” in their relationship with Christ. Well, that was my own misguided expectations. I saw people in the race actually have coaches that were pacing them along the way. What a picture of discipleship that is…what if we, the Church, did that for others?
How is your pace?
Are you still running?
Who are you helping along the course?
We have a great cloud of witnesses ready to roar when we finally cross the finish line…that is…Heaven!
oneguyseyes 