A few weeks ago my Dad completed the London Marathon. Under 5 1/2 hours. Mighty impressive I think you'll agree!It was a brilliant day - I spent most of the first hour crying!! There's something about hearing people support runners by name, even though they're total strangers!
Anyway.
My job that day was to wait at mile 8 and 21 to give dad and brother-in-law bananas/jelly babies. Which I just about managed!
As the few thousand runners trudged by many looked surprisingly full of energy. Smiling. Not much sweat.
Others though looked half dead! It looked like they wouldn't make 10 more steps before collapsing. But they did. Slowly. But they made it.
10 steps. 10 steps. 10 steps... until they finished. Then they collapsed with a medal round their neck.
You might hear a lot about living the Christian life being a marathon not a sprint. Which is spot on.
- Some people seem to breeze through it. No stress. No sweat. Full of energy.
- Others look like they'll stop running any second. But they don't. 10 steps. 10 steps. 10 steps...until they finish.
Whether you struggle through life or not, if you finish it a Christian you get the prize. You get the gold medal, awarded by the perfect Judge. The King of the Universe who welcomes you over the finish line. (btw the prize is Him!)
You don't need to pretend life is easy. You don't need to wear masks to cover up your sweat and toil.
Just keep running. And running. And running. Because (and here's the kicker) the Lord, who we run to, runs with us and in us. It's His energy we run with. He helps us to run well.
Even if it's 10 steps at a time.
