Keep on Keeping On – Endurance

My hubby running Boston 1987

I’ve heard it said that life is not a dress rehearsal, and it’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon. To me, that means, we need endurance, to run the race that’s in front of us. The apostle Paul talked about that, when he was close to finishing his race – his life’s race.

That’s my precious hubby, Kirby, running the Boston. I picked this picture because it was a crowning achievement, a dream fulfilled – 27 years ago. He still runs races when he can. I was so proud of him that day. We weren’t married yet, but we were secretly engaged in April of 1987. Kirby trained for months and months to run the 1987 Boston Marathon. He had to qualify by running an earlier marathon, which he did in the fall of 1986 – the Harrisburg (PA) Marathon. A marathon is 26.2 miles.

It makes my head swim to think about it. The farthest I’ve ever walked was about 5 miles at a time – and that was 20 years ago. Now I walk about two miles a day.

With the world as it is, we could shrink back in fear all the time. But I choose to not live in fear of terrorists, ebola, or hackers. I have a healthy concern about them, but I’ve already lived much of my life in fear. I don’t want to limit myself by taking on more fear. But this life is about making our life count for something. One way we do that is to endure the race (our life, it’s events, its’ trials, it’s sorrows, it’s joys) that is set before us.

But for those who think this life is not a dress rehearsal, let me refer you to Jesus’ parable of the talents. Jesus used mainly stories in teaching the people of His day. Unless you’re an atheist, you will realize that there is a God, and that means there is an afterlife. Which means, what we do here on this earth, determines what we’ll do in the afterlife – and whom we choose to serve in this life, will determine where we spend the afterlife. It is sort of a rehearsal for then, but we should live as though each day to the fullest.

In Jesus’ parable of the talents, a rich man or master, gives three servants different sums of money to invest, in accordance to what he knew their abilities to be. To one, he gave five, to another, three, and to the last, one. He went away for a long time. When he returned, he called his servants into account. Two of the three had multiplied what they’d been given. They were rewarded. The last one, however, lived in fear of judgment from the master, so he dug a hole, and hid his sum in the ground. You can imagine how angry the master was. “You wicked, lazy servant!” Doesn’t that make you cringe? It does me. The servant was cast out of the estate (or kingdom) and his sum given to the one who’d multiplied the most. Eeek. Do you feel sorry for that servant? Or are you enraged like the master – whose sum was left to rot.

The point for today is: we must be faithful to use what we’ve been given. Our life here must count for something. We’ll be called into account by our master, whoever he is, someday. But someday, could be a very long time. We need endurance. I want to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your reward.”

What’s your life like? Where are you enduring? Leave a comment and let me know.