Just Finish

Cross Country is a tough sport. As someone said of Cross Country, “My sport is your sport’s punishment.” It takes a lot out of a person to run three miles as fast as they can with much of it being in places where spectators cannot see you. Sure there are crowds often gathered at the mile markers to let you know how you are doing or strategically placed throughout the crowd, but much of it is tackling hair pin turns, hills, and uneven ground in a wooded area. It is you and the path.

I had never really been a part of Cross Country until the last couple of years when my girls started running. I’ve grown to love the sport. The atmosphere is different than any other that you will see. It is like a festival when you arrive. Tents set up everywhere with each team. There are food, coffee, and Kona Ice trucks for everyone to go to. People are selling shoes and other running equipment under other tents. The teams interact with each other before and after the race. There are words of encouragement along with some friendly banter of course. But in the end, everyone seems to want everyone to finish the course.

Sure, there are plenty trying to finish first or at least in the top ten, but there are a lot of participants that know they won’t finish at the top. There are some that recognize early on that they will likely finish in the bottom ten. Yet, they run anyway. They run, not to win, but to finish. They don’t run to be the best, they run to be their best. Most people are simply running each week to get their personal record.

Take a look at some of the verses in Scripture talk about our Christian race:

Be Disciplined:

“Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules” (2 Timothy 2:5).

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

Run with Endurance:

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:1-3).

Finish the Course:

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

If we will run this race with discipline, enduring until the end, there is a promise of a crown -- the prize of those who simply finish the course.

Ben