We Made It!
It is almost hard to believe but the Colfax Charity 5K took place today and it is over! A BIG THANK YOU to all those who supported me and helped support the cause of freedom from addiction through a donation to Teen Challenge of the Rocky Mountains. I just checked my Colorado Gives account and $2,225.01 has been donated helping me exceed my $2,000 goal!! With some donations sent directly to Teen Challenge it should be at a total of $2,500 or maybe more!
Thanks to my wife Debbie and Ted Cluett for helping along the course. With their help I pushed through the two mile maker and then my daughter-in-law Bridget caught up with us after finishing the race as a runner. (picture above our group at Teen Challenge tent in Charity Village) She pushed me running the final mile which helped me finish in 48:24. I did power myself the final 100 yards across the finish line. It was a delight then to find my aunt and uncle Paula and Jim Baer waiting to congratulate me!
We enjoyed out time at Teen Challenge 180 Ministries our program for men. A great lunch and opportunity to meet and hear from some of the guys in the program and the difference that is being made in their life. Pastor Daniel and the staff are doing a great job and I am thankful and was encouraged to see the lives that are being changed!
I used my four wheel walker for most of the last few days and my racing wheelchair. I am not sure I did that well, but I made it and the leg exercise of pushing from the walker seat was good for me. For now, it is good to be back home!
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY….”Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” 1 Corinthians 9:24
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” Hebrews 12:1
These two verses are familiar ones that communicate spiritual truth through a “running” or “race” analogy.
Sometimes in a race the competition is other runners, at others times the competition is with yourself. “Can I improve, can I do better?” Bridget told me she shaved off two minutes from her 5K time from last year. Whether running the race against the other runners or just yourself a key to that is determination and focus. A casual approach won’t do! I believe that is what Paul is trying to communicate to the Corinthians. He is saying, “be disciplined, but focused, understand what is at stake.”
The familiar verse in Hebrews 12:1 has four distinct aspects: (1) the environment of the race – surrounded by a great cloud of witness. These are not just spectators, these are champions of the faith who have gone before. Those who have endured to the end and kept the faith. They are cheering from a position of experience and identification with those who are coming behind. It is as if they are saying, “we have finished the race, we have succeeded and so can you!”
(2) the hindrances to the runner- the call is the “throw off” (that is a decisive action) anything that hinders and sin (it easily entangles) I recall days when I would go for a run and the weather was cold; I began bundled up, but as my body temperature rose, I was trying to peal off layers. The writer of Hebrews was addressing the importance of the race and the fact that you won’t make to the finish line with excess baggage.
(3) the call to perseverance – I can’t remember any race I ran short or long were there wasn’t a battle in my mind that was saying, “maybe you should walk, maybe your should stop or why are you doing this!” Perseverance is overcoming the obstacles in our mind as well as those related to the course. Perseverance means that one bad mile doesn’t determine the outcome of the whole race.
(4) the design of the race – “race marked out for us..” The runners don’t design the race course. I have noticed over the years how some race courses are the same each year and how some are different. You have to be ready for whatever terrain or conditions the course may have. It is important to realize that one race may be different from another. You can’t run another person’s race. One last thing I recall from a mentor of mine in running. He said, always get a view of last 500 yards that lead to the finish line. You need to know what it looks like so you can be strong and make the best effort you can at the end of the race. We need to have a good view of our finish line in God’s presence for eternity. When we keep that in focus it makes all the difference in what transpires from the start of the race to that finish line.