My Journey to 26.2

A guest post from my husband Joe regarding his recent marathon:

"This is not really a story about running as much as it is what I have learned over these last 4 months of training.  It has been amazing to see the parallels between running long distances and my relationship with Christ.  I want to write this down not only so I can remember this incredible journey that I went on, but more importantly so I can look back and remember this point in my life.  Just like in the Old Testament, an Ebeneezer stone was an example of a symbolic event that would help Israel recall to mind the faithfulness and power of God.  That is what this marathon was for me and I want to remember it as such.

I have been on a roller coaster over this last year in regards to my walk with Christ.  I am a born again Christian, and have been since I was 5 years old.  I believe that Christ died on the cross for my sins and rose again on the third day, and without this precious gift I would spend an eternity apart from Christ.  Having said that, over the last year and a half I have just felt "blah" in regards to my walk with Christ.  I was not very passionate about anything in regards to Christ.  I was going to church, but deep inside I was just there.  I didn't want to feel that way, but I didn't know how to change that.  I could see it in the way I handled things.  I was not very patient with my kids, quick to judge others, not eager and quick to help those in need,  and quick to think to myself, "why am I putting so much effort into going to church and does it even really matter?"  I know the answer to that question....yes it does matter and it is important to be involved in a gospel teaching church, to help others, to love as Christ loves, and to be patient,  but I couldn't figure out out how to change my attitude in regards to things like that (amongst other things).

Here are the things I learned during this training process:

• As a follower of Christ, nothing that happens in your life is an accident
•  18 weeks ago I began training for a marathon.  At first it was all about running.  I am a pretty disciplined person (for the most part) and when I put my mind to something I am typically "all in".  I ran 4 times a week and cross trained once.  It was a lot initially, but once I settled into my training program it was just something I did.   It became very apparent to me about 6 weeks ago that for me this was more than just training for a marathon. As I ran I began to just "listen" to God's voice.  I wasn't quite sure what I was listening for, but it is amazing what happened when I stopped trying to figure out what to do and just "listened".  What started out as just "training for a marathon" turned into a life changing experience with Christ.  God knew I needed this way before I did, and it was no accident at this point in my life that God lead me to do this even though I didn't realize it was his leading.
• God loves me more than I will ever imagine
• I had a goal in mind and that was to run 26.2 miles.  I had a training program that I followed and it didn't matter how cold, windy, rainy, snowy it was I had to find a way to get my miles in.  People thought I was crazy when I told them I was going to run 8 miles when it was 10 degrees outside, but I knew that is what it was going to take to reach my goal of not only finishing the marathon but doing the best I could.  I pursued those 26.2 miles with all my might.  About 6 weeks out from my race it hit me that just like I am chasing 26.2 miles God is constantly chasing and pursuing me in that same aggressive fashion.  No matter how far I stray, what crazy thoughts I think, how far away from him I feel like I am, he loves me no less.  As much as I wanted nice weather for my race, the weather that day was horrible: rainy and cold. I think it pounded home the fact that no matter what I have in front of me God is going to chase after me, just like I continued on in my race even though the conditions were less than ideal.  God will filter through all the junk in our lives if we just let him. I don't think I will ever grasp that concept of how much God loves me. 
• Living for Christ is not easy
• There was nothing easy about finishing my race.  The beginning was easy, I even ran a faster split for the first half of my race than the half marathon I ran last year in Bentonville, and this time I had another 13.1 miles to run.  But as I continued on it got harder and harder to keep going.  At mile 19 I had to stop for a few seconds and stretch my hamstrings because they were tightening up.  I hit my wall at mile 22.  I stopped again to fill my bottles up with water (I told myself i couldn't fill up my bottles while I was running, but I knew that I just needed to walk for a few seconds).  I stopped again around mile 24 and walked for a few more seconds before I had to climb a big hill.  Once I hit that wall it was all I could do to keep my feet moving.  But all that didn't matter; what mattered was that I finished the race.  When I got to mile 26.1 I saw my family (Michelle, my kids, Jeff, James, Brianna, Courtney, Aunt Kris).  Once I saw them it was all the extra push I needed to finish the race strong.  It is the same in my walk with Christ.  Even when I hit a wall in my spiritual life, all I have to do is keep my eyes on Him.  There are going to be ups and downs, times when I feel like I am being a great ambassador for Christ, and times when I feel like I am not worthy to even be called a Christian.  But God doesn't care about all that, he just wants me to finish the race.  He knows I am not perfect.  If I were perfect he wouldn't have had to send his son to die on the cross for me.  He wants me to chase after him and do my best.

I write these things down so that I can be encouraged the next time I hit a low point in my christian walk.  To remember what God has done for me, where he has brought me from and how much he loves me.  Also, maybe someone who is reading this can relate to the feelings that I was having and can know that it's ok.  Regardless of how we feel, God still loves us more than we can ever comprehend and will continue to chase after us and at some point he will catch us.  All I know is that I had a strong urging in my spirit to put this into writing and share it with as many people as would read it."