Never ran track

 

I never ran track. I never broke through any kind of wall where the running became a joy. It was always a challenge and never fun.

I’m old enough to remember the Kennedy fitness tests we did every spring. The sit-ups, push-ups, softball throw (ugh), 50-yard-dash (do-able), and the 660. That was the worst.

So I’m reading 1 Corinthians this morning about running the race. I’m thinking of track meet events where you see athletes stretching and sprinting in place, bending and twisting and warming up so their bodies are really ready to perform to their maximum ability when that whistle blow or starter gun fires.

How am I doing that spiritually?

I wonder where I am in this spiritual track meet. We all have life events that challenge and stretch us, and I suppose I feel like I’ve been on the sidelines warming up for a long time, stretching to new challenges and often sprinting in place. Or even collapsing or sitting down, not feeling up to the race that stretches in front of me.

Now that my situation is changing, hopefully in a few weeks everything will be completed and I will be in a new season. I want to be intentional in my next event. I want to run with my eye firmly on the prize of seeing Jesus face to face. I don’t want to be distracted by the detritus on the track, the distractions from a possibly hostile crowd, the cramp from not having adequately prepared for what is required of me.

‘Search me, o God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.’ Psalm 139