The Surge

You may be tired of the running analogies, but I am not. Running is a cerebral sport that has as much to do with will as it does ability, strategy as much as strength. Imagine this...

We have been running for 14 minutes. This is not a jog. This is not comfortable. We have run up the terraces twice, our strides breaking simultaneously as we neared the top. My torso shifts forward as we come down the incline, yours stays stiff and straight. I begin to surge ahead, sensing that this is my only chance.


There are less than two minutes and six hundred meters remaining. I can see the finish line around the corner and you out of the corner of my eye. My peripheral vision never loses sight of you. I am gasping for air, reeling in the static finish. There is no room left for error and then I feel it. It's your hand on my shoulder.


Why are you touching me, why are you trying to slow me down? You are trying to pull me to the ground so you can stand and laugh. All this time, since I saw the starter pistol's smoke, I have been pursuing the prize and you have been pursuing me. I am running to outrun you, to overcome you.


Now I see how close I am, the spectators urging me on and I can barely believe that you are still here. Old man, pack it up and go home. But you don't, you are a virus that attacks at the most inopportune times-when I am succeeding, when I am bleeding, when I am fragile. You are the doctor who insists on amputating when I am suffering from the common cold. Your response to everything is death and despair. You are hopelessness.

But I am better than that. I am better than you. I am clothed in Him. Each step of this race has been with purpose. I strive and gasp painfully as I cross the line. I look behind and up, you are gone and the Timex reads "Eternity."

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Keys Verses:

I Corinthians 9:25-27
II Timothy 4:7
Galations 5:7
II Corinthians 5:21
I Peter 5:8
Psalm 37:25