Finishing The Race

"I have finished the race." 2 Timothy 4:7

When I read Ezekiel 18 and hear God say, "When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it" (Ezekiel 18:26), it makes me think of how important it is to finish the race set out before us.  In races from 5Ks to marathons people quit in the middle.  I do not want to quit in the middle.  I want to continue to run for Jesus Christ.  I want to FINISH.

For those of us who understand how hard a marathon can be we also understand how hard living for Jesus can be, and that different decades, like different mile markers, bring different challenges.  The challenges of my teenage years are different than the challenges of parenting teenagers and I will face new and unknown challenges that those older than me have faced.

In our culture youth is over-emphasized to the point of being told I look old is a putdown (in other cultures this is not a putdown).  In a marathon, the last part, although the hardest, is often the most important and the most memorable.

Here is the idea:  Look at your life as a marathon so that you can plot your age and know what mile marker you are at.  If you take 26.2 times 4 you get 104.8.  Most people do not live that long, and yet some live longer.  For those who do not live that long, they either hit the wall or they were taken up in a chariot of fire.  For those who live longer, the race director thought it best to make the marathon a little longer than 26.2.

At 38, I am at mile 9.5.  Wow!  I am just getting started and a lot of running is left.  I must continue to stay focused and learn new things along the way.  I may feel good now, but a day may come when I do not feel this way.  10 miles down the road (40 years) I may be tired.  Will I finish the race?

18 years old                                      4.5 miles
21 years old                                      5.222 miles
30 years old                                      7.5 miles
40 years old                                      10 miles
50 years old                                       12.5miles
52 years 4 months 24 days                13.1 miles
60 years old                                       15 miles
70 years old                                       17.5 miles
80 years old                                       20 miles
90 years old                                       22.5 miles
100 years old                                     25 miles
104 years 9 months 18 days              26.2 miles  (If you are still alive keep going!!!!!)