I loved watching Seth run in the
schools cross country last Saturday. There were several races, yr6 down to yr 3
boys and girls races, and Seth was in yr 4 boys race. In the past he has come
12th, and 14th. He came 14th in the last one because his trainer fell off and he went back to get it,
then caught up loads…didn’t fulfil his potential because 1. He wasn’t properly
kitted out. 2. He went back. 3. He ran the last bit in one shoe….make some
spiritual lessons from that lot.
However, this weekend he was running
again, properly kitted out…(trainers with laces not Velcro), properly rested
and fed, and at the venue in good time. He was running with about 40 or so
others squashed along the start line, 3 others from his school. He was squashed
towards one end, and I could see that he was going to get either bunched in, or
have to run through or round the parents on the edge, so I gave him some
advice, to get in front of the others, to run at a slight angle away from the
edge etc…Next thing I know they’re under starters orders, and while I’m looking
at the starter as he shouts go…Seth has gone, raced away, and at the first
corner he is in second. I then lose track of his progress, as they go down a
slope and up the other side, but at the far end of the course I see he’s in 3rd,
quite a bit behind the first two, but a reasonably long way from the 4th person (all the others were from one school- the Lance Armstrong school
perhaps?...just joking), as I’m watching, I notice something very clever that
Seth has done quite naturally. To compensate for being tireder, he has
lengthened his stride pattern and so has kept his pace up during the middle
section, then as he goes around the last corner his stride pattern shortens
again as he sprints for the line (unlike a friend of his, and part of the
church who stopped 20 metres short with his eyes closed and one finger in the
air in celebration- but who soon got going to the end as me and his dad shout
that he ought to finish before celebrating – he won his race by the way-), and
goes right to the end to finish his highest ever, 3rd, we are very
pleased…why am I telling you this?
Well, it seems in the Faith, both
individually and corporately we can start with a great sprint and not finish..
beware of those who burn bright and fade away, the New Testament is full of
encouragements to persevere and keep going. What we need to do is to recognise
that after our first burst of enthusiasm, energy, thrust, there will need to be
a time of adjustment in order to keep the momentum going, just as Seth during
the race made adjustments instinctively, so we, as we listen to the Holy
Spirit, ought also to be listening about how and when we put in the extra
prayer and fasting, the needed retreat, and accountability, the new time to
seek God in worship and the word.
May be when life is easier we coast,
but that may be the time to put in the extra strides to gather the momentum for
when the going gets tougher….
