It Takes Courage to Encourage
Just a few weeks after I went into remission a great organization in Fayetteville where I reside, “Always Endure” hosted a 5K to raise money for my medical expenses. The race would be in April 2019. I decided early on after the announcement that I was going to do my dead level best to “run” that race. I knew if I started it then I’d have to finish (thanks Coach Fowler). So the training started prior to my remission status. I returned to work in January with a half day of classes and then a 2-3 hour transfusion 5 days a week in Huntsville. Somewhere in there I would train. Typically walking, jogging and sprinting around the football field at RCA during the car rider line. I’m sure those folks thought I was crazy because at different points I thought I was crazy. Maybe it encouraged them as well. One of my goals in the race was to finish in less than 30 minutes but more importantly to push my boundaries.
As race day approached my colleagues and students presented me with a t-shirt that said “I’m the Coach” as they all revealed their own shirts that said “I’m Running for Coach”. It was a tremendous boost of encouragement but also a challenge. Now I had to give it my all and finish as strongly as possible. When the race began I found one of our better RCA athletes and kept pace with him for most of the race. I’m certain he was not really viewing this as a competition and I tried to keep it that way as I had a plan to pass him before the finish line. Unfortunately I didn’t calculate the timing of my move to pass him up correctly. I revealed my plot and passed too early and he turned it on and crossed the finish line a good distance ahead of me. I did however finish in a time frame that would’ve placed me in the top 3 of my age bracket.
Don’t miss the word “would’ve” in the previous sentence. Once I finished the race I wanted to return the loving encouragement that I had received. Unfortunately in my eagerness I kept going back and forth over the finish line to encourage the runners to keep going. The times were recorded via a chip placed in the race bib that I had failed to remove. So that confused the times and I didn’t place. As disappointing as that is, I wouldn’t trade any of that day for a medal. It’s a day that not only helped me stay medicated with the life saving medicine but also kept me alive with encouragement.
In my opinion, most folks don’t enjoy running. I can chase a basketball, football or baseball all day long. I’m a sprinter but I don’t enjoy long distance runs. Yes, there were some who showed up to run the Always Endure 5K who show up every year because they love to long distance run. There were more than a handful who showed up and ran that 5K just because they love me and wanted to encourage me. There might have even been a few who absolutely hate to run but did so because they wanted to support me. They accepted the challenge and even a little misery on my behalf so mission accomplished. Thank you!
The first weekend of December, Team Ben and Travis will be running varying distances in an effort to raise money for St. Jude Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. I’m sad to report that I haven’t trained nearly as hard for this race although I have logged over 100 miles this year. It just gets more difficult when your lungs are on fire the whole time. The training can be misery but if it helps one kid get closer to healthy, then sign me up. Our goal as a team is to raise $10,000 and we are very close but even if we don’t get there it’s been worth it. We’ve grown closer as a team. The benefits outweigh the misery plus “misery loves company”.
The point of all this is to be like Jesus. Jesus left the place we all want to be, came to earth and at times was miserable so we would be encouraged to finish the race. The Hebrew writer’s powerful message to begin chapter 12 (vs. 1-5) holds so much encouragement for those who have made the choice to run. Jesus is the ultimate coach! The Holy Spirit is the ultimate trainer! They’ve written the guidebook. We have to be coachable. That is easier said or written than done. As a coach one of the greatest/elusive traits in your players is their ability to accept coaching. Being coachable involves the humility to continue learning, willing to put the info into practice and look for ways to example to others. Those are all goals that we can accept daily and they are more than enough to keep us busy for 24 hours.
Travis