Sunday, June 21, 2009

run the race


this morning i was standing on the side of the wicklow waiting to see my friend brent sprinting down the street. at 8:16 he shouted 'pineapple' and handed me the bracelet that was around his ankle. that is when i started to run.
along the way i saw a few familiar faces. there was john on the side of the road cheering us on...sheri-lee was running over the overpass...my kids and gorgeous wife sitting at the halfway point giving me high fives.
it was pretty hot...i could feel my muscles in my legs getting tight. but i kept running. the soundtrack blaring in my ears helping me keep pace.
i ran 7.6 kms.
no great feat.
but it felt good.
it felt good to run.
it felt good to do good and run.
sometimes i feel like my faith is a bit like the relay i ran in. i do great for 7 kms but the race is so much longer. others ran 26 miles today.
too often we live life in short spurts. when the real heroes are the ones who go the distance...the ones who finish the race. in the words of the author of the hebrews...
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. let us fix our eyes on jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of god. consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
let us run the race...throw off everything that hinders...fix our eyes on jesus and run the race.
peace to you,
scott