REFLECTIONS ON THE MARATHON, PT. 1

Today, as I continued to recover from yesterday's first marathon I thought of those last two tenths of a mile, the most precious two tenths of running I've ever done. One guy in the crowd yelled out, "Hey number 12, you're a marathoner!!!" All the emotion that was bubbling just beneath the surface started to explode into choked back sobs. The gal who had stayed with me the whole race, chatting with me, giving me advice, staying silent, listening to me quote Scripture, pointed to me and yelled out to the crowd that I was a first time marathoner. The crowd erupted into renewed cheers as I came into the finish. Two friends from our running club who had driven up just to cheer us on hugged me and took care of me as I struggled to get some water down and recover.

Thinking about this now I can't help but recall Hebrews 12 and the cloud of witnesses. What an amazing picture of how it will be when we finish our spiritual race in heaven. No thought about the time it took you to finish. You finished and everyone witnessing your race is cheering you on and encouraging you. Wow. I never realized how accurate the Bible was when it used the race analogy for the journey of faith. Doing a marathon really brings that home.

"Therefore, since we have so great a could of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith..."