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Just Keep Running



            When 61-year-old potato farmer, Cliff Young, arrived at the starting line wearing overalls and work boots, people wondered if he was lost.  After all, he was standing among a group of elite, young athletes who were about to run the 875 kilometers (544 miles) from Sydney to Melbourne, Australia.  Young was not lost, though.  In fact, he was about to do something incredible.
            Almost as soon as the gun sounded, Young was behind.  He ran with a very slow, loping pace that made observers think that he could not last for more than an hour.  Mile after mile, though, he just kept running.  Near the end of the first day, when the other competitors stopped for the night, Young kept running. The next day, he found himself with the leaders again and, by the end of day two, after running most of the night again, he was in the lead.
In the end, only 6 runners completed the entire distance, with Young ahead of them all.  Incredibly, his time of five days, fifteen hours and four minutes beat the previous best time by almost two full days!
            After the race, Young told reporters that he often rounded up his sheep by chasing them around the field.  In fact, he claimed that he would sometimes run for two or three days straight before he got them all where he wanted them.  He did not have to “train” for the run, because running was “part of his nature”.
            When I read that story, I immediately thought of Hebrews 12 which says, “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. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith… so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (verses 1-3).
Jesus’ death on the cross took care of our sin.  He paid the debt that we simply could not pay (see Titus 3:3-8). 
            Our job is to accept that gift and then “run with perseverance”.  We need to confess our sins and “throw them off”, so that we are not slowed down and hindered.  We need to keep our eyes on Jesus and on our goal of heaven so that we do not “grow weary and lose heart”.
            As Cliff Young showed, you do not have to be the youngest, the best or even the quickest.  Sometimes victory comes to those who get in the race and simply keep running.
            “Run in such a way as to get the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:23).

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