As I sit at my desk in the front room of our home, I look out the window to the street view which is currently quiet, bursting with budding greenery, and the usual elderly couple out for their morning stroll. The quietness broken by the occasional chirping birds. The warmth of the sun streaming in feels therapeutic this morning.
Life is good.
Inside, the house is an almost deafening silence. My usual coffee with soy milk sitting neatly on my desk coaster. Perfect. Ideal conditions to write.
It occurs to me that today is my 49th Good Friday, although I didn’t truly grasp what that meant until recent years. My focus was usually on Easter Sunday. After all, THAT’S the important part, right?
I am turning 50 this year and have been a Christian since sophomore year in high school when I was first introduced to Jesus at Friday night youth group. But would you believe it’s taken me almost thirty years to realize how exactly Good Friday applies to me?
Yesterday’s devotional from Oswald Chambers was titled “Decreasing for His Purpose” based on one of my favorite running verses. I can’t think of a race when this verse has not come to mind; in fact, it’s this verse that has propelled me to the finish line one painful step at a time on many occasions:
“He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30 ESV
How exactly does that verse help one to finish a race? And what does that verse have to do with Good Friday? Well, it’s kind of the partner verse to my other fave:
“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
These verses help me to take the focus off of myself and my own pain. They remind me of the pain Jesus endured on the Cross; and in my own imperfect, limited, human way, I can identify with His suffering. Many, many times during every marathon I’ve ever run, I have repeated these words while picturing my Savior carrying the Cross up that final hill without any thought of quitting or taking the easy way out until IT WAS FINISHED.
God loves me so much that He came up with the perfect object lesson (always the teacher) to teach me about Good Friday – through running marathons.
I tell people the marathon is my favorite race distance because it is the distance during which I reach my very weakest points and the distance in which I absolutely know I won’t finish strong without completely relying on His strength.
I’ve run a few 50K races and have many friends who consistently run 50 and 100 milers (aka the road to crazy town indeed). I also have just as many friends who love the 5K, 10K, and half marathon distance races. THAT is the beauty of God; He knows what YOUR distance is and how to get you to your finish line.
My 35th marathon was last weekend – on Palm Sunday actually. Tomorrow I get to pace a good friend at her very first half marathon. The excitement, nervousness, anticipation. I told her “You’ll always remember your first race!” It is special.
Sandwiched in between the start line and the finish line will be cheering crowds, lukewarm water in tiny paper cups, unpalatable gels (that you wouldn’t even consider touching under any other circumstances), unexpected cramping, chafing, highs, lows, pain, doubt, fear, suffering, and of course, unimaginable delight at the sight of the actual finish arch.
As Jesus has been right there by my side during every moment of every race I’ve ever run, I hope to be that encourager to my friend in her first big race tomorrow. And even more so, I hope that when she looks back at this race, she will know with a deep contentedness how good the pain and suffering was that allowed her to enjoy the finish all the more.
To say Easter is only about Sunday is like saying the race is only about the medal. Knowing what it took to get to that finish line and why it was all necessary…
