when you hear the cheers from the finish line but you have three more miles

12 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2, NKJV

            I love running.

            Sometimes.

            I love running with my brother, or one of my dogs, on a wide, flat trail with mile markers. I love running with my running group, and being challenged to do more than I think I can. I don’t love trying to navigate a new route only to run out of sidewalk, or when it is too cloudy for my app to tell me how fast I’m running. Last Sunday I ran a race. I did not love being close enough to a finish line to hear cheering and music but orange cones telling me that I need to do a loop around a Mopac access road before finishing the course. But I finished, exhausted but smiling because my parents and family were waiting for me at the finish line.

            We are all running a race. We don’t know when we will finish. We can’t always select our route. But we can choose to train. To feed ourselves God’s word. To let go of what hinders us. To stop making excuses for our sin and see it as shackles around our feet. To not compare ourselves to others, as we are not trying to beat anyone, but to look towards Jesus. He waits for us at our finish line, a proud father.

                                                          Beth Kropf