Running the Christian Race: Part 1

Running the Christian Race:
How Running a Half Marathon Relates to Being a Christian 

Part 1 of 13
(See what I did there? A half marathon is 13.1 miles)

The year my mother was diagnosed with ALS, I was running a 5K every month. I had run eleven 5Ks when we got the news, and my running abruptly stopped. Traveling across the county to be with her, grieving over the impending loss, and actually losing her less than a year later, kept my energy low and my spirits even lower.

As I began to feel my heart healing, about two years later, I posted on Facebook that I wanted to start running again. It was something I wanted to do in my mom’s honor. I felt guilty taking my own health for granted after seeing how a progressive neurodegenerative disease can destroy the body.

Almost immediately after posting my plan to run again on Facebook, a friend from five hours away invited me to run a half marathon with her in Paducah, Kentucky. In the little reply box underneath her comment, I typed, “Sure! I’d love to!!” Famous last words!

Over the next several months, as I prepared, and especially on the day of the race, God’s Word came to mind often reminding me how much running a half marathon is like running the Christian race that Paul speaks of in 2 Timothy 4:7 when he says he fought the good fight and finished the race. I pray that these analogies help you press forward as you run for your eternal crown.

I was excited about my upcoming race and told a lot of people about it. Most of them thought I was crazy, but even the ones that were happy for me clearly did not want to join me in my endeavor. I almost always got the same response: “Good for you, but I’d never want to do that!”

It’s not that my other friends weren’t capable of running a half marathon. Aside from any physical setbacks, most people’s bodies are suitable for running. Almost two million people ran half marathons in the United States in 2016. Sixty percent were women. I would tell people, “I know it sounds hard, but you could do it, too!”

Have you ever heard “Good for you, but that’s not for me,” when you tell someone you are a Christian? I have heard it many times. Anyone can become a child of God, but so many people out there think it isn’t for them. Matthew 7:13-14 tells us to enter through the narrow gate. Only a few find the narrow gate that leads to life.

The day of the race, there were a lot of onlookers. People made encouraging and funny signs like, “Great Job, Total Stranger” and “Worst Parade Ever!” There were volunteers at water stations cheering us on every few miles. Some people put signs up in their yards and balloons for us. Others sat in lawn chairs and waved as we passed by. One sweet gentleman put up all kinds of signs in his yard for his wife. “Best oncology nurse ever. I love you.” It was heart melting. He sat and waited for her to pass by and cheer her on, but he never intended to get out of his comfy chair and join us. It meant a lot that were people there to watch, and many of them were good people, they just weren’t ever going to join in.

Let’s be sure we not only choose the road less traveled, lets also encourage others to come along with us as we run toward heaven.

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