A few years ago I trained for and ran in my first and last foot race. It was an 8k run called the Schlotzkys Bun Run, and I still remember that the theme was “Run your buns off!”. And, that I did. I trained throughout the grueling summer before the race and actually got into the best running shape of my life. The only problem was that I didn’t know that there was more to running than just speed…there’s an important element called pace.
Well, when the gun sounded, I remember taking off like a jackrabbit and keeping up with the front of the pack for the first couple of miles. I seemed to just breeze past many tortoises in the field of runners and was feeling like I was born for this! But, soon it became clear that I was, in fact, not born for this.
After the first couple of miles, my chest started to hurt and my legs started to ache, and about half way through the course I started to feel like my lungs were going to combust and my legs petrify. And, I realized that I was no longer running as much as skipping with intermittent periods of walking. As I was painfully plodding along the road, I noticed that many of the tortoises I passed up early on were now passing me by en masse, and I remember feeling especially bad about myself when some elderly ladies blew by me.
Well, I did eventually finish the race in very unspectacular fashion, but I was glad actually that I just survived it. I got the t-shirt but lost my pride. All that to say that I learned some important things as I reflected on that race afterward. Though it was likely my last undignified foray into the world of running, I am glad that I made the effort anyway. First, because of what it taught me about pride, but second because of what it taught me about the nature of the Christian life.
There is a man in the church that I pastor who runs 100 mile endurance races several times during the year. That’s right, 100 mile races! I had never heard of anything like this until he approached me after a Sunday sermon when I had compared the Christian life to a foot race citing Paul’s illustration about the runner competing for the prize. Now, I had heard of marathons and triathlons but had never conceived that it was humanly possible to run 100 miles!
Well, as he told me about his exploits running these long foot races in all kinds of terrain, he recounted how during each race he would at times stumble and even fall, how he would get sick or develop blisters on his feet, how he would get dehydrated and lightheaded, and how he would at times walk for long periods to catch his breath. What I heard was that even though he always finished the race that there were many peaks and valleys, ebbs and flows as well as breathers and breaks along the way. Rarely if ever had he completed a race in one smooth and steady trajectory. No, there were bumps and bruises as well as setbacks and slowdowns that defined the journey every time.
As I listened to his experiences and thought on them, I realized that his exploits on the open road were not unlike the experience of the Christian life. And, more than that, I figured out that my perception of the course of Christian living up until that point had been mistaken. You see, I sort of always thought that the nature of the Christian life was that it was a course of wise and righteous living that despite occasional bumps and drops was on a positive trajectory at all times. In other words, although I had always considered the speed of the race, I had not considered the pace.
And, maintaining the pace means that there are times that you walk or even stop to catch your breath or get some perspective, that there are times when you fall and need some extra help and attention, and that there are painful bruises and cuts that make portions of the journey difficult and frustrating. The nature of the Christian life is truly like an endurance race, and it is called a race of “endurance” for a reason. Enduring means surviving and completing the journey, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the journey is smooth or even direct for any of us.
The truth is that the journey of the Christian life is not static but dynamic, and that means that there are ebbs and flows in the process for each one of us. And, although the course itself is in many ways the same for all of us, the obstacles and effects of each part of the journey for each person is different.
What this means to me is that we have to give ourselves the grace to walk or even stop when we’re spiritually winded to get some rest or at least some perspective. And, if this means taking on less commitments or taking a break altogether for a time to get refreshed or healed, then that’s ok. This also means that we must expect that there will be bumps and bruises that will make life hard at times, and those setbacks will force us to confront our doubts and frustrations, which is all a healthy part of the process of spiritual development. As well, this means that we will stumble and fall at times and sometimes in very painful ways, and when that happens we will need some extra help and encouragement from others to help us get back on our feet.
Whatever occurs in our Christian life, it helps to know that what matters most is that we finish and survive the race. The only really disappointing outcome for any of us is if we never get to the finish line at all. Although, we tend to judge ourselves and others by how we are doing right now, we need to remember that we will be judged by God not on how we’re faring right now but by how we fare for the duration! What I mean is that God reviews our lives in their entirety and knows that there will be dynamic ebbs and flows in our lives so He chooses to wait for us at the finish line rather than along the course.
So, I guess it all comes down to this…we have to learn to look at our life the way that God does, in its entirety. And, when we do that, we can stop being so hard on ourselves and others about how well we happen to be running at the moment because what matters most is not that we ran the race smoothly but that we ran with endurance!
