The Finish Line

For the last 2 1/2 months I have been training for a marathon. My first. Yesterday I crossed the finish line. From the beginning, my training partner and I determined God would be in this or we weren't going to do it. Even though it was my first experience with a marathon, I know that single decision made all the difference.

Tiffany, my training partner, prayed on that first training run that God would be glorified in what we were doing. I wanted that too, but at the time, I wasn't really sure how that would manifest itself.

In hind sight I see a lot. This whole experience has been a metaphor for the Christian walk through this life. It started with a decision to make God the center of it. In coming to Christ for salvation we start our Christian "training" the same way.

Marathon training seemed so overwhelming in the beginning. 20 miles! I'm going to run 20 miles??!! Well, yes. But not right away. You're going to build up to it. But how? Well, you go to the trusted experts, you hear what they have to say and you just do it, believing that they know more than you do.

The same is true for our walk with the Lord. Only our expert is the Lord Himself and His training guide is His written Holy Word. He knows more than I do about this life. Am I going to trust what He says and do it, believing He knows more than me?

Marathon training requires a lot of discipline. Nutrition, rest and training is vital. You have to keep choosing the good way when what you really want to do is hit the snooze button. Sure I fell off the nutrition wagon a time or two, but I knew that ultimately I needed the right fuel to finish that training run, so I chose it.

In our daily walk we have to choose well too. What do we choose to fill our heads and hearts with? Junk food (gossip magazines, soap operas, R-rated flicks) or real fuel (the Scriptures, worship, and the counsel of godly friends)?

And then there was my training partner, Tiffany. What would I have done without her? She's the one that "led" me to this marathon experience in the first place. And she was beside me every step of the way. We compared menus, hydration habits, and training run fuel ideas. We encouraged one another through injuries, rainy days and the last hard miles of the long training runs. And we prayed for and with one another before during and after each training run. No need to elaborate on the similarities to discipleship with this one. Praise God for the body of Christ!

And then Marathon Day came - the final test of everything that had happened leading up to it. Would we "pass the test" by crossing that finish line? Did we do the work (John 9:4), run the race with endurance (Heb 12:1), fight the good fight (1 Tim 1:18) and win the prize (Phil 3:14)?


We did! But here, like all metaphors with the Christian life, it breaks down somewhat. See, through the experience I learned a lot about myself as it relates to marathon training. There are some things I'll do differently next time. In marathon training, you get a "do over" if you want it. No such thing when you cross that finish line of this life.

So I "press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Phil 3:14)