Straining forward to what lies ahead | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Straining forward to what lies ahead | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jeff Lewis
07/31/08
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Sweat dripped down his face as the morning sun beat down on him. He is soon starting to question his belief that the sport of running is is more a matter of mind instead of body. Running used to be so effortless for him. Three mile runs were formerly his light workout, but now he is struggling to resist the urge to walk. When he tried to push himself harder he could feel his legs burning. "Mind over matter," he told himself as he strained ahead. The shortness of breath served as a remainder of when he first started running and had no endurance. "Mind over matter," he repeated inside his head. In prior runs he would rehearse scripture in his head or sing old hymns, but this run took so much out of him that all his internal dialog could muster is "Mind over matter."

"Had it really been that long since his last run," he thought to himself. He never felt more free than when he went for a run. His day job was living in a cubicle being slave to a computer that would continually give him more work then he knew what to do with. Funny how he always believed that computers would create less work and not more. He never pictured himself as a runner until he met Sally. She challenged him to work harder and push himself in ways that he never had before. It was her idea for them to run a 10k together. The proceeds of the race would benefit cancer research. The irony of it was that Sally had brain cancer and they did not find out until it was too late.

Sally vowed that with her doctor's permission she would run the race with him. She kept that vow and after the race they were wed. Instead of registering for traditional wedding gifts they had friends and family donate money for brain cancer research. When they returned from their honeymoon she took a turn for the worse. After she passed away he decided to keep on running in her memory. In his first run after her death he got carried away and ran further then planned and sprained his ankle.

Before he reached mile two the pain would come and go. After mile two the pain was constant. He believed if he concentrated hard enough he could rise above the soreness and exhaustion he was feeling. His initial plan was to sprint the last half mile like he used to, but once he reached the point where he was planning on sprinting he knew that wouldn't happen. The opposite ended up happening. His pride wanted him to sprint to the finish, but his body knew that no matter how much he said, "Mind over matter," if he didn't walk he'd have another injury that would sideline him for months.

As he began to walk the last half mile of his route the words of the apostle Paul came to him, "But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead." Meditating on truth from God's word comforted him in his weakness. It was ok to remember the strength that God had given him in the past, but not to base the present and future on prior experience. God was faithful in the past to help him and he would continue to be faithful as long he strained forward to what God had called him to. Each run may be different, but God will always be the same. He knew he would never forget Sally, but the only way he could keep on going if he remembered what lies ahead, seeing her again in Heaven when they will worship their heavenly Father together.

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