Wednesday, August 7, 2002
Wednesday, August 7, 2002
Looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the
joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat
at the right hand of the throne of God.
Sometimes we give up too easily. If things don't go our way, we pout, we accuse, and then
finally we take our ball and go home. No one promised us that we would always have good
health. Nowhere is it written that our marriages will always progress smoothly. Sometimes even
the most careful of business people lose everything. Life sometimes rains on our parade, but
Christians do not pack it in and go home! That is a word that many of us need to hear. Hang in
there. How? "Looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith...."
(Hebrews 12.2
NRSV)
Bob W. Ireland crossed the finish line on Thursday, November 6, 1986, as the New York City
marathon's 19,413th and final finisher--the first person to run a marathon with his arms instead
of his legs. Think of it! Bob is a forty-year-old Californian whose legs were blown off in
Vietnam seventeen years ago. He recorded the slowest time in the marathon's history: 4
days, 2 hours, 48 minutes, 17 seconds. When asked why he ran the race, he gave these
three reasons: to show he was a born-again Christian, to test his conditioning, and to promote
physical fitness for others. He said, "Success is not based on where you start, it's where you
finish, and I finished."
Dear God, may Jesus empower me always, especially when I really want to give up. Amen.
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