Chariots of Fire

Half way through a 5K Saturday morning, I asked myself,

"Why did I think this was going to be fun."
Jessica, John, Georgia, and I dragged ourselves out of bed at the crack of dawn only to run in a tropical rain forest. (Texas drizzle, a wooded trail, and 100% humidity equals a tropical rain forest.) Sweat mixed with precipitation ran down my face. My lungs heaved heavily. And as I put one foot in front of the next

I muttered to myself, "This is not fun."

But then.....

I crossed the finish line. It is a great feeling to finish something you determined to do. I had met my goal time. I didn't give up. I earned my T-shirt. I had finished. Now I was having a little more fun.

Jessica, John Georgia, and I met at the finish line and congratulated each other on a job well done. We then decided to reconsume the 500 calories we just burned with a celebratory trip to I-Hop.

As I drove home, feeling pretty pleased with myself, I had this thought. Paul compared the Christian life to a race. He encouraged us in Hebrew 12:1, "Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." And as I thought back over my morning jog, the race marked for me had some highlights and some downfalls. The race was fun when it started and adrenaline kicked in. The race was fun as I reached the 1/2 way spot and knew my pace felt good. The race was fun when I got close to the line and saw I was going to beat my time. The race was fun as the four of us laughed and

joked about the adventure.

But there were moments it wasn't fun. It wasn't fun to be soaking wet. It wasn't fun to sweat like an animal. It wasn't fun to push past the desire to walk. It wasn't fun to realize I was at the halfway mark and still and halfway to go.

I had to take the good with the bad.

I think this might be a little like the race of life. There are some beautiful, amazing, precious, glorious moments within life, but there are some moments that aren't so fun. There are some moments that leave us exhausted, out of breath, with a cramp- wanting to quit. But I think in the end, when we finish this race called life, we will see the race was fun. Hopefully we will cross with a huge since of accomplishment. We will be crossing with those we love, and seeing we made the most of our time.

The end really is going to make this whole life worth it.

Not to mention, when the race of life is over, I'm going to have a perfect body and won't have to run anymore to burn a few hundred calories.