A Running Connection

Running has clearly set into my life. As I was running today I got to thinking about one of the assigned lectionary texts for this Sunday, Romans 5:1-5. As I was running I got to thinking that it's much like running a marathon.

Here's what I'm thinking... In preparation for a marathon you intentionally face suffering, particularly with the weekly long run. By facing this suffering head on you develop endurance, an endurance that gives you the character to face the journey of 26.2 miles ahead. Having witnessed this character in oneself you have the hope of finishing the marathon. The marathon got its set distance after a messenger ran that far with good news and then dropped dead. It seems that each time I've run a marathon I've had the feeling at some point I was going to die. In my first marathon I ran things were falling apart, I thought I was going to die for sure, but then somehow I lived...and finished.

In our lives when we face suffering, which I would most often count as a loss of relationship, such as a divorce or the death of a loved one we are best off facing it head on. Unfortunately we have a tendency to push it under the rug or try to ignore the suffering. When we face it head on we build endurance, character, and have hope that we will live through this suffering and suffering that may lie ahead. It all begins with faith, a faith that comes from God.