Sunday.....Christianity.....On The Pains Of Marathon

Pittsburgh hosted its marathon today with 13,000 participants. I used to run and my favorite place to do so was the track. Lap after lap, thinking all the time on life, its challenges and opportunities, all too often forgetting what lap I was on. I ran my first and only marathon back in 1982 (?) and was totally unprepared for a 26 mile run which itself was complicated by soaking the motel bed with sweat the night before. I could take no water after the eight mile mark, for I would swallow it and it would come right back up. At the half-way turn, I knew it was over. The last 13 miles were arduous. At one point an EMT ran up to me to see if I needed some assistance. At another, a mounted policemen barked at me to hurry up so they can open the streets. It was a flat course but the last 13 miles were uphill. I can't remember my exact time but it was well over 5 hours. I finished second to last. I think that a young Michael Moore was the last runner carrying a camera as he attempted to produce his first film Death In The Marathon. An elderly couple waddled across the finish line before me to the cheers of a small crowd. I felt a sudden burst of exhilaration and could have passed them and finished fourth from the last but the crowd might have pummeled me. For some unknown reason I ordered a picture of me from a photographer identifying the runners by their numbers. Dixie cups were strewn all around without a runner in sight and my head was down with the bill of my Pitt cap covering most of my face. The Apostle Paul likens the Christian life to a race in Hebrews 12: 1-3 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  My marathon has some similarities with my Christian walk. I came out running, certain that I was prepared for battle but I have since stumbled at times and even been reduced to a crawl. There were times that I could take no nourishment and the pictures are memories meant to elicit praise for mercies given and not to weigh one down. There is indeed a crowd of witnesses who I hope are sparse as my marathon when I cross that finish line. In retrospect, I have  fond memories of that marathon because I finished. I have a great hope that I will finish this race for it is not in my hands. If it were I would not only never finish but never embark upon it to begin with. My particular prayer is simply never to stop.  Even a crawl is progress. Thomas Jonathon Stonewall Jackson may have been America's most effective general. He was a Christian who could not even take a drink of water without giving thanks to his benefactor.The seeming oxymoron in the term foot cavalry implied that his infantry was constantly on the move no matter how beat, tired and even famished they were. His constant command was press on!  God indeed gives pleasant meadows for rest but even this is not stopping for the praise and joy experienced in full measure is a weapon used against His enemies.