Running Until the End
Recently I had the opportunity to run in an inaugural 5K for WCIC (our local Contemporary Christian Radio station). To be honest, I don't even know why the race was being held. Maybe it was for a ministry the station is getting ready to do or it could have been a fundraiser for the station. I really have no idea, but when my friend, Naomi, sent me a text asking if I would run with her during her first 5K I jumped on the opportunity. I have been getting ready to go hike with my husband, Curt, at the end of his Appalachian Trail thru hike and I needed motivation. I signed up and then did zero running in preparation for the upcoming race. Well, that's only partially true. I went and ran a couple miles here and there, but they were halfhearted attempts at best and I really didn't give it my all. My thought process went something like this, "I've been running all summer. I've done strength training. I've been hiking. Whatever I'm able to do, I'll do."
Race day came and I was excited to be doing SOMETHING. I had been in a funk, I still am really, but I was finally out of the house. I had a brief moment of cancelling, but as I pulled into the parking lot I was thankful I hadn't. There's a wave of nervous excitement that overcomes you when you see runners warming up, people milling around the registration table, and the finish line looming in the distance. I pulled into a parking spot next to my friend, Jill, and anxiously awaited Naomi's arrival.
As I stretched my nagging hamstring, Jill and I caught up on the happenings of our loved ones. She was running with her sister-in-law that morning and both are decent runners, so I knew this would be the only time I would be talking with either of them. I'd only see the back of their heads as soon as the race began. Naomi finally appeared so we all made a last minute bathroom stop and went to the starting line for instructions and a group photo.
I won't bore you with the details of the race itself. The course was over an old golf course, full of hills and wet grass, and then onto a bike path with a bridge over one of Peoria's busier streets. I stayed beside Naomi most of the race, giving encouragement whenever I could. If I felt like I was having to push a little to make it through a section I would shout out encouraging words to her. If she stopped to walk, I'd give her a several steps to catch her breath and then encourage her to start running again. When her pace got a little faster, I'd try to slow her down so that she might endure to the finish line. I never even bothered to turn on my GPS or track what I was running. In my mind, I was there to help Naomi finish this race and finish it to the best of her ability.
As we reached the turn around point we began running towards the bridge we had just come over. It may not seem like much as you drive under this bridge, but to run? Well, the little hills on each side seem like mountains. Bike riders were walking their bikes to the top. Another runner looked over with a huge smile and said, "Only three-tenths to go!"
I looked back at Naomi and thought, "No, problem. She's got this."
Except...
The three-tenths never seemed to end. We ran, and ran, and ran, and ran. I could tell Naomi was getting frustrated and discouraged. As she began to walk more and more, I did the only thing I knew to do.
I prayed.
I prayed for God to give her strength to endure. I prayed for God to ease her discouragement. I prayed for the race to come to an end!
And then amazingly, the finish line was FINALLY in sight! At that moment I could hear the Holy Spirit whisper to me, "pray out loud for her."
And so I did.
As we ran up the last hill and towards the finish line I prayed for my friend, Naomi, to be given that which she did not possess completely on her own; the endurance to finish the race.
We came across the finish line to cheers and smiles. As we huddled in our group of four we talked about the race and how it seemed to go on forever and that's when we learned that it was not a 5K we had run, it was a 6K. For those of you that don't want to do any conversion math, we ran 3.75 miles instead of the advertised 3.1 miles a 5K normally is.
I looked over at Naomi, smiled, and teased her about being an overachiever on her first 5K, but I could see the exhaustion in her eyes and I couldn't blame her. When I do actually run, I do it for long distances. I shoot for amount of time on my feet in order to endure my upcoming 114 mile hike. Naomi had not; she trained for a specific, much shorter distance.
In typical Jill fashion, she gave an enormous smile and declared, "You know, this is just like in scripture. We had to run the race to the finish."
Run the race to the finish
Oh, how right she was. I pondered her statement the rest of the way home and then several times through the week that followed. How many times have I trained for a 5K when God has called me to train for endurance? How many times have I looked for an ending to something? Why do I think that missions, ministry, discipling and other aspects of my life as a follower of Jesus equate to that 5K when, in fact, God has never given me any idea of the distance my race will be? I've been training all wrong and it's no wonder when a giant obstacle pops up in my path, I struggle to get up and over it and then when I reach the top I groan in disbelief as I see there are more and more of those obstacles to overcome.
I train for a spiritual 5K, not for endurance.
Sometimes I train for a 10K. I know whatever is going on is going to take a little while longer. There will be more struggles, more battles, a longer distance to run, but I train for it properly and when I get to the end of that 6.2 miles, I'm no more exhausted than had I trained and run a 5K.
But the problem is still the same. I trained for a certain distance. If I had to go longer, could I?
Our faith is more than a 5K. It is eternal. It never stops, but so many of us look for an ending. We train by reading the Bible through in a year and when that is done, we check it off because that 5K is in the books. We sign up for a Bible study class and when the 6 or 8 or, heaven forbid, 12 week class is over, we check it off because that 5K, 10K, or half marathon is done! We don't give any more thought to endurance, only the race that is directly in front of us and then we wonder why we struggle so much in between training events.
So, what if we didn't train for endurance? Are we doomed? Absolutely not. That's why God instructs us to gather together with other believers. We are to encourage one another. We are to keep one another accountable. We are stronger together than we are apart, remember Ecclesiastes? That scripture isn't specifically for marriage! We are meant to run this race together, no matter the distance and no matter the course. Could Naomi have finished the race without me? Absolutely. Was it easier to do with me beside her, encouraging her each step of the way? Yes! (at least I think so, I may have driven her crazy by the end)
And do you know what would have been even better? If I had been with her during the training. If I had supported her, given her accountability, and made sure she had what she needed to do the race. Maybe others were there beside her, but I have a feeling she did it alone and that's a hard place to be. Obviously God sometimes calls us to do it alone, but I believe we are alone more often because others are not obedient in what God expects from each of us. He expects us to be in fellowship with one another, period. You can give examples of people God has called to tasks on their own and to the training they have completed alone, but I will then point you to the hundreds of places in scripture that talks about how we are to encourage one another or pray for one another or be in fellowship with one another.
So, what if we are alone? What if we have no one for support, no one for encouragement, no one for accountability? The answer is obvious.. We are never alone. Sometimes God does put us through training on our own in order for us to draw upon Him. It's when we sit at the bottom of a valley that we look up to the mountain and see God gently guiding us along the path and when we get to the top of that mountain the only thing we can do is praise Him for His goodness, love, mercy, and grace that allowed us to get to the top of that mountain.
The only thing better than getting to the top of that mountain and praising God, is to get to the top of that mountain with someone that trained with you. To look over the valley that had just been traversed and then slowly gaze up to the next mountain and smile at one another, knowing that you have both trained for endurance and the view from the next mountain will be more spectacular than the one you are currently standing, no matter how difficult the climb may be.
I want to encourage you, brother and sister, to train for endurance, together. We don't know the race distance or what obstacles are in our path as we run, but we each have to run the race to the finish. Let's do it together so that we can all look back and be able to quote 2 Timothy 4:7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
Race day came and I was excited to be doing SOMETHING. I had been in a funk, I still am really, but I was finally out of the house. I had a brief moment of cancelling, but as I pulled into the parking lot I was thankful I hadn't. There's a wave of nervous excitement that overcomes you when you see runners warming up, people milling around the registration table, and the finish line looming in the distance. I pulled into a parking spot next to my friend, Jill, and anxiously awaited Naomi's arrival.
As I stretched my nagging hamstring, Jill and I caught up on the happenings of our loved ones. She was running with her sister-in-law that morning and both are decent runners, so I knew this would be the only time I would be talking with either of them. I'd only see the back of their heads as soon as the race began. Naomi finally appeared so we all made a last minute bathroom stop and went to the starting line for instructions and a group photo.
I won't bore you with the details of the race itself. The course was over an old golf course, full of hills and wet grass, and then onto a bike path with a bridge over one of Peoria's busier streets. I stayed beside Naomi most of the race, giving encouragement whenever I could. If I felt like I was having to push a little to make it through a section I would shout out encouraging words to her. If she stopped to walk, I'd give her a several steps to catch her breath and then encourage her to start running again. When her pace got a little faster, I'd try to slow her down so that she might endure to the finish line. I never even bothered to turn on my GPS or track what I was running. In my mind, I was there to help Naomi finish this race and finish it to the best of her ability.
As we reached the turn around point we began running towards the bridge we had just come over. It may not seem like much as you drive under this bridge, but to run? Well, the little hills on each side seem like mountains. Bike riders were walking their bikes to the top. Another runner looked over with a huge smile and said, "Only three-tenths to go!"
I looked back at Naomi and thought, "No, problem. She's got this."
Except...
The three-tenths never seemed to end. We ran, and ran, and ran, and ran. I could tell Naomi was getting frustrated and discouraged. As she began to walk more and more, I did the only thing I knew to do.
I prayed.
I prayed for God to give her strength to endure. I prayed for God to ease her discouragement. I prayed for the race to come to an end!
And then amazingly, the finish line was FINALLY in sight! At that moment I could hear the Holy Spirit whisper to me, "pray out loud for her."
And so I did.
As we ran up the last hill and towards the finish line I prayed for my friend, Naomi, to be given that which she did not possess completely on her own; the endurance to finish the race.
We came across the finish line to cheers and smiles. As we huddled in our group of four we talked about the race and how it seemed to go on forever and that's when we learned that it was not a 5K we had run, it was a 6K. For those of you that don't want to do any conversion math, we ran 3.75 miles instead of the advertised 3.1 miles a 5K normally is.
I looked over at Naomi, smiled, and teased her about being an overachiever on her first 5K, but I could see the exhaustion in her eyes and I couldn't blame her. When I do actually run, I do it for long distances. I shoot for amount of time on my feet in order to endure my upcoming 114 mile hike. Naomi had not; she trained for a specific, much shorter distance.
In typical Jill fashion, she gave an enormous smile and declared, "You know, this is just like in scripture. We had to run the race to the finish."
Run the race to the finish
Oh, how right she was. I pondered her statement the rest of the way home and then several times through the week that followed. How many times have I trained for a 5K when God has called me to train for endurance? How many times have I looked for an ending to something? Why do I think that missions, ministry, discipling and other aspects of my life as a follower of Jesus equate to that 5K when, in fact, God has never given me any idea of the distance my race will be? I've been training all wrong and it's no wonder when a giant obstacle pops up in my path, I struggle to get up and over it and then when I reach the top I groan in disbelief as I see there are more and more of those obstacles to overcome.
I train for a spiritual 5K, not for endurance.
Sometimes I train for a 10K. I know whatever is going on is going to take a little while longer. There will be more struggles, more battles, a longer distance to run, but I train for it properly and when I get to the end of that 6.2 miles, I'm no more exhausted than had I trained and run a 5K.
But the problem is still the same. I trained for a certain distance. If I had to go longer, could I?
Our faith is more than a 5K. It is eternal. It never stops, but so many of us look for an ending. We train by reading the Bible through in a year and when that is done, we check it off because that 5K is in the books. We sign up for a Bible study class and when the 6 or 8 or, heaven forbid, 12 week class is over, we check it off because that 5K, 10K, or half marathon is done! We don't give any more thought to endurance, only the race that is directly in front of us and then we wonder why we struggle so much in between training events.
So, what if we didn't train for endurance? Are we doomed? Absolutely not. That's why God instructs us to gather together with other believers. We are to encourage one another. We are to keep one another accountable. We are stronger together than we are apart, remember Ecclesiastes? That scripture isn't specifically for marriage! We are meant to run this race together, no matter the distance and no matter the course. Could Naomi have finished the race without me? Absolutely. Was it easier to do with me beside her, encouraging her each step of the way? Yes! (at least I think so, I may have driven her crazy by the end)
And do you know what would have been even better? If I had been with her during the training. If I had supported her, given her accountability, and made sure she had what she needed to do the race. Maybe others were there beside her, but I have a feeling she did it alone and that's a hard place to be. Obviously God sometimes calls us to do it alone, but I believe we are alone more often because others are not obedient in what God expects from each of us. He expects us to be in fellowship with one another, period. You can give examples of people God has called to tasks on their own and to the training they have completed alone, but I will then point you to the hundreds of places in scripture that talks about how we are to encourage one another or pray for one another or be in fellowship with one another.
So, what if we are alone? What if we have no one for support, no one for encouragement, no one for accountability? The answer is obvious.. We are never alone. Sometimes God does put us through training on our own in order for us to draw upon Him. It's when we sit at the bottom of a valley that we look up to the mountain and see God gently guiding us along the path and when we get to the top of that mountain the only thing we can do is praise Him for His goodness, love, mercy, and grace that allowed us to get to the top of that mountain.
The only thing better than getting to the top of that mountain and praising God, is to get to the top of that mountain with someone that trained with you. To look over the valley that had just been traversed and then slowly gaze up to the next mountain and smile at one another, knowing that you have both trained for endurance and the view from the next mountain will be more spectacular than the one you are currently standing, no matter how difficult the climb may be.
I want to encourage you, brother and sister, to train for endurance, together. We don't know the race distance or what obstacles are in our path as we run, but we each have to run the race to the finish. Let's do it together so that we can all look back and be able to quote 2 Timothy 4:7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
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