Run Baby Run!!! …How to run the race of life

The American’s have swept the Men’s 400m hurdle final!  Now that the spotlight has shifted from the pool to the “Bird’s Nest” and the Track and Field competition, I thought it might be appropriate to change our focus and spend a little time reflecting on our ability, desire, and passion for running the race of life.  To that end, I have attached the following excerpt from my book, Soul Storm (www.soulstormsite.com).  Lace ‘em up, and enjoy the read!

This ain’t no sprint!  Building for the long-term

“This ain’t no sprint, this is a marathon!”  I have heard these words a thousand times since Katrina has come and gone.  In coffee shops, at dinner, in the papers and on television, people are recognizing more and more every day that the effort to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region will not happen quickly.  “Rome was not built in a day, and New Orleans will not be rebuilt in a day”, I heard recently.  City officials, state officials, and the Feds are trumpeting the same message.  It’s going to be a long road back.

No doubt, we are in for a long, hard run in this rebuilding effort.  This is going to take a great deal of time and huge dose of endurance.  I cannot help but think, however, how much of this grief we could have avoided here in New Orleans had the construction crews, engineers, and leadership prepared our levees for the long run.  What seems sure now, and as I have stated earlier, the evidence now shows that the extensive flooding that overcame New Orleans was a result of poor levee construction.  The levees, it seems, were constructed with materials that, over time, broke down leaving weak spots in critical places.  Those weak spots gave way in the worst of times and the results were devastating. 

What if New Orleans’ levees had been constructed with materials known to have the ability to maintain their integrity for a much longer period of time?  What if the levees were built to withstand a category five hurricane rather than just a category three storm?  Standing amidst the rubble now, the answers to those questions are clear and frustrating.  As is the case with this physical destruction, so it is with our lives.  When we prepare, construct and build a life for the long-term we win.  When we construct our lives and build our decisions upon the short term, the momentary, we fail and destruction ensues.  Further, when our decisions or life’s circumstances have led to our need to rebuild, we must at that point make a conscious decision to design the rebuilding effort for the long haul. 

My goal in the next few pages is to offer a model for building or rebuilding a life, a community, a city, a country for the long-term.  The marathon runner offers us some helpful insights into this endurance challenge.  As any accomplished marathoner is aware, a successful race requires much more than the unbridled enthusiasm and inspiration you feel while at the starting line.  If the long distance runner is going to make it to the end and attain his goal certain abilities have to be nurtured.  I believe the lessons here will be helpful to anyone looking to gain a fresh start.  Though the goal may seem like it is a long way off, with proper training, conditioning, and care, you can make it to the finish line.  Not only that, you can run the race and finish well.  With proper training, nutrition, and care the race can be a rewarding one.  Let’s take a look at our strategy to stay in the race and enjoy the competition.  Here are the key ingredients needed to make it through this marathon we call life.

1. Learn to adapt to any race day conditions.

Strong marathoners prepare themselves to run in any temperature.  Even in overwhelming heat, the good marathoner will be able to adapt and indeed thrive in the race.  As people searching to find our way in the disasters of life, we need to find the resolve that enabled Shadrac and his friends to remain in the furnace waiting for God to show up.  The heat will be turned up at times in our lives.  If we choose to bail out and give up each time a major challenge comes our way, we give up on the call of God to make us what He is calling us to be.  Jeremiah was the “weeping prophet”, but he endured and was God’s great spokesman.  Do not forsake the race of faith when all around you appears to be caving in.  Endure the heat, adapt, and run for your life.  When the wind and waves have made conditions around you less than favorable, take courage, look up, and keep running.  There is a reward at the end.

2. Beat muscle soreness.

The race will take its toll at times.  You can feel beat up.  But as any athlete knows, muscle soreness is a sign you are doing things right and growth is taking place.  Don’t quit when the soreness sets in.  Work through it and allow God to bring about the growth He intends.  It’s part of the process.  There is no better feeling than to know you just gave it your all, played your guts out, left it on the field, and you stand exhausted but exhilarated because of your effort.  Run through the tough spots, keep your stride.  It hurts at times, but remember, joy comes in the morning.  The only way to get rid of the soreness is to keep on keeping on.  Keep building.

3. Learn to train when you hurt.

Press through the workouts even when you feel some hurts.  All great runners and indeed all great athletes “play hurt” from time to time.  Who can forget those nights when Michael Jordan came to the court totally depleted, dehydrated, weak, and yet played his heart out and scored 50 points to lead his team to a big win?  Those kinds of moments inspire those looking on.  You don’t forget them.  When you are pressing hard for the goal there will be moments that hurt—stay with it, keep running, and never, never, never give up.  When you are rebuilding and giving every ounce of energy you have, sometimes you can lose focus and drive that hammer right into your thumb.  The explicatives come and the pain throbs.  But keep hammering away.  A few more nails and you may just have yourself a house. 

4. Massage therapy

All marathon runners have many massages during their training period.  Without this kind of professional care and attention their muscles would not last for the next day of training.  Massage, attention to muscle soreness, is critical for muscle repair and functioning.  None of us, no matter how “spiritual”, can go it alone all the time.  We all need some help occasionally.  At times, even leaders, need to get in front of someone who can offer counseling and help for issues we wrestle with.  There are no Christian Supermen.  Rather than pretend you are something you are not, get help when you need it.  It’s o.k.  God intends for us to minister to one another.  Left unattended, some of our issues, hurts, pains, will scar us for life and will kill the life of God in us.  In the wake of hurricane Katrina everyone in her reach was affected.  Rich, poor, middleclass and everyone of every color, shape, size and age felt Katrina’s wrath.  Too many, however, try to hide behind money, position, accomplishment, a spiritual façade to mask the fear and uncertainty.  None of us can go it alone all the way and all of us need someone else to give us an ear occasionally.  We were created for community and we die when we do not have it.  That’s why few runners run alone.  There is strength in numbers.  Get some care when you need it.  When your arms are heavy from lifting too many rafters, call for some support.

5. Injury recovery strategies

It is not true that “time heals all wounds”.  Some wounds, left alone, only get worse.  Scar tissue can hinder proper function in the body.  Runners pay special attention to hip, back and knee issues.  If a runner leaves an injury to one of these areas alone too long it can indeed take him out of the race.  These are big ones for runners.  A marathoner cannot endure 24 miles with a major problem in one of these critical areas.  As builders we must address the “big” issues in our lives.  Those besetting sins which we hide from others can ultimately sideline us.  Take care of the nasty wounds and get a bandage on them as quickly as you can.  Properly cared for they can heal and gain new strength.  Neglected, they can put you on the disabled list.  And if you are on the disabled list, you cannot be a difference maker, you cannot run.  Bitterness is not the proper response to the events in life you consider unfair.  Surrender to the forces that are battering you is not the way to victory either.  Allow God to bind up your wounds and get you running again. 

6. Proper nutrition

Eating the proper diet is absolutely critical for the long distance runner.  The right mix of fat, carbohydrates and protein are essential to performance.  If a runner eats too much fat or too few carbs leading into race day he will not perform as he should.  Likewise, as people attempting to rebuild, if we do not feed on the Word daily we will falter, wear out, loose momentum.   Sunday is not enough.  We must place ourselves at God’s training table on a daily basis.  Remember, the chief end of man is to know God and enjoy Him forever.  We cannot know Him if we are not spending time learning of Him on a regular basis.  If we do not know Him then we cannot enjoy Him.  If we are not enjoying Him we cannot have the emotional capacity to stay in the race when the challenges of the course come.  Dieting on drive thru philosophy, the fads of the day, will, like sugar, bring a quick high, but ultimately, a huge crash.  Jesus said He was The way, The truth, and The life.  He suggested that no one comes to God apart from Him.  He is the fuel our race was meant to run on.  When tempted to give up on the rebuilding effort, when you find yourself too tired to get up another day, open His word and get the nutrition you need to keep at it.

7. Keep a training log

Runners will often times keep a very accurate journal of performance.  Seconds shaved can make a difference.  Adjustments in technique can save a long distance runner minutes in a race.  Accomplishments and goals pursued and recorded offer ongoing incentive to the runner to keep on track with the training process.  As long-term builders we find great hope when we can look back on what God has done in our lives, the lessons we have learned along the way, how we navigated challenges in the past.  These records of performance give us passion to remain in the race and pursue the finish line.  This is not a sprint.  Keeping that in mind, we must recognize that our memory tends to fade over the long haul.  Keep track of those key moments when you know that God gave you the extra spark you needed to stay in the race.  In the future, when fatigue and discouragement set in, you may need these reminders of God’s care and providence. 

We must pursue rebuilding and life like the finish line is worth pursuing.  Remember, our reward is eternal and the joy set before us is our inspiration.  Run to show the life of God in you.  Pursue the finish with the same enthusiasm with which you started.  In fact, make it your prayer that God would enable you to sprint through the finish line!  Be faithful, finish well, and build it better than before.

Run!

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

This entry was posted on 19. August 2008 at 07:01 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.