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Running the Race You’re In
Did you see the news story about Georgene Johnson? She had just turned forty-two years of age and was trying to have a good attitude about it. So, she started running and exercising to keep in shape. She said, “I’m not going to look like I am forty-two, or at least I am going to look like a good forty-two.” She did well in her running. She was running farther every day. She thought she would try a little competition and entered a 10K race – about six miles. Nervous about her first race, she got up early, arrived at the start of the race. To her surprise there were a lot of people milling around, stretching, and getting ready. All of a sudden a voice on the microphone, said, “Move to the starting line.” This is it. A gun sounded and they were off, like a huge wave, hundreds of runners, sweeping her up. She was in the race.
After about four miles it occurred to her that they ought to be turning around and heading back to the finish line. She wondered why they didn’t turn around. She asked a fellow runner, “How come the course isn’t turning around?” He said, “Lady, we’re running the Cleveland Marathon.” Twenty-six miles! Her event, the 10K, was to start a half-hour after the start of the marathon. Now, some of us would have stopped right then and there and said, “That’s it. I’m going home.” However, to Georgene’s credit, she kept right on going and finished the race. She reasoned in her mind: “This is not the race I trained for. This is not the race I entered. But, for better or worse, this is the race that I am in.”
That’s the way it happens sometimes. Life has a way of picking us up and putting us into situations that we didn’t train for, didn’t volunteer for, and do not want. But this is the situation in which we find ourselves. Divorce – we never dreamed of divorce when we got married. Sickness…Caring for aging parents…Raising grandchildren… We thought life would be different. This isn’t the race that we entered.
Some people feel that when they experience a time of difficulty it is a sign that the Lord has abandoned them. However, many of us have discovered that in life’s hardships our Lord shows up, sustains us, and enables us to endure… even when the race is one we didn’t choose to enter!
I look forward to seeing you Sunday as we kick-off the fall together!
Bill |
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