Our Christian Walk is Really a Marathon
by Joan Vetter
Perhaps that's where I first went wrong - believing walking with the Lord was just that - only a walk. Lately it seems like the speed has increased and I have to run to keep up. There have been a few times I've "hit the wall" too. So I searched out what it means to run a marathon.
First you need to train. Not just any way you want to, but listening to experts and following a schedule. Then you need to eat the correct foods, drink appropriately and learn to pace yourself.
But the most important thing is realizing you will "hit the wall" sometime during your race and that doesn't mean it's over. It means if you keep on going you will make it. Others go through this and still finish the race.
Legend has it that marathons got their beginning when a Greek messenger was sent from the town of Marathon to Athens announcing that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon. He ran the entire distance without stopping, and then burst into the assembly exclaiming, "We have won" before collapsing and dying.
We too have a message - that we have won - and to proclaim it fully we have to die to only focusing on ourselves.
One of the walls we hit in our Christian race is discouragement. There are times when we feel nothing is changing, and our prayers are not being answered. Perhaps friends and family seem to be unsupportive or downright antagonistic. Perhaps an affliction increases its grip with a fury that cries unfair.
Another wall is believing the lie that we really can't make it. I listened carefully to the interview with Captain Sullenberger as he described what he felt when he realized his plane was about to crash land in the Hudson River. His initial reaction was that he couldn't believe this was happening to him. However, on the heels of that thought he also proclaimed, "I was sure I could do it." He was a man confident of his training and his experience. Because he was at the helm, 155 people survived that day. Incidentally, he also gave credit to the crew and to the passengers by sharing his belief that the miraculous outcome was a team effort.
We may think our race is just our own - for our own glory, but the Christian race is also a team effort. We've got to take a drink from that brother or sister on the sidelines. We've got to cheer and encourage others in their race and be able to accept words of encouragement from others along the road. One of the interesting aspects of participating in a marathon is that few people enter expecting to win. Their goal is to finish.
Another stumbling stone is fear, perhaps the fear of making a mistake. I remember the time I knelt at the altar at our church to receive communion. I was aware of how crippling and self-centered my fear of making a mistake had become. So I was asking God to deliver me from it. At that particular church we took the wafer and then dipped it into the grape juice when the next minister brought the chalice. I was so busy concentrating on asking the Lord to remove this fear that I popped the wafer into my mouth. When the next minister came he had to go retrieve another wafer for me. In my heart I was laughing at the freedom I experienced - not a shred of self condemnation did I feel.
A friend shared a quote with me: "A person who never makes any mistakes seldom makes anything else." I believe a person who is afraid of making another mistake won't make any significant steps further in his race. That's why we are told in scripture to forget the past.
Sometimes during our struggles we forget the message of Hebrews 12:2-4 "Keep your eyes on Jesus who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed - that exhilarating finish in and with God - he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!" (Message Bible)
Race on!
