sprint or ultramarathon?

i was reflecting this morning on the tour de france and running the race that is set before us. i got to thinking about how we go about running our race.

we have grown accustomed to watching others in the race. we've seen how long they've been running and figure that our race will be long as well, so we choose to pace ourselves. how many of us really know how long our race will be?

i ask this because if we believe we are in a marathon, then we will pace ourselves as such, but if we believe we are in a 100 m sprint, we won't even bother to take the time to breathe. The difference between the world's longest race (the 3,100 mile sri chinmoy) and the world's shortest competition race (the 60 m sprint) is the approach. the sri chinmoy takes at least 51 days, the 60 m sprint takes less than 7 seconds. (for a really rediculously short race, check out the shortest race video created by nike)

all of that info is extremely useless except to show the difference in strategy. you wouldn't try to run an ultramarathon without taking a breath just like you wouldn't begin a 100 m sprint with a lazy jog.

my point in this is, we don't have a clue what we're running in, we just have to run. i would rather run at a sprint and find out i was in a marathon than run a marathon and discover that i was in a sprint.

the slower we run, the fewer people we pass by. the fewer people we pass by, the fewer opportunities we have to share the gospel message.

let me put it this way, matthew 5:4-30 recalls the parable of the talents. you know the story, a master gives his servants some money and leaves, then he returns to find out how they did with the money. the money he gave wasn't for personal use or personal benefit, it was so that they could do business for him. in essense, they could be about his business while he was away.

God has given us all a task to accomplish together: the never ending increase of His kingdom, the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory, the finishing of the great commission. regardless of our talents or the amount of different talents we have, we are to be working together- whether actively together as a group, or passively together as individuals, we are to striving for one common goal: the advance of the kingdom.

Jesus tells us to work while there is still daylight because darkness is coming and no one will be able to work. figurative or literal, we have to do what we've been given to do now. not two years from now, not two months from now, not two weeks from now, not two days from now, not even two hours from now. we have to do it now, because we're not guaranteed another breath.

paul wrote in 1 corinthians 9:24, that we need to run in such a way that we win.

we tend to like the idea of running in packs or in teams and having teammates to feed off of, because we like to have the security of knowing that even if we fall, we're on the winning side. well, here's a wake-up call: you're already on the winning side! Jesus secured the victory when he died on the cross and rose from the grave, now go run the race to win! don't settle to be in the middle of the pack.

i don't want to run like it's a marathon to discover all to late that it was a sprint. i wonder if the reason it's seems like an ultramarathon might be because we are looking at it like it is one. who's to say, that if we all sprinted the race wouldn't finish sooner.

the tour de france is built on individual stage racing. on each stage, the pace is determined by the pack leaders. those out front have to set the pace, if they don't someone else will, if no one does, the race takes forever... we are content to sit in the dugout while our team is playing; we are content to ride in the middle of the pack while our team is leading; we are content to be cheerleaders when we should simply be leaders.

we're afraid of losing our breath if we run too fast, but we don't realize that the more we pour out, the more He can pour back into us. i like what dennis said in response to my last post, "When we try to hold on to the 'river' it becomes stagnant like a pond, or a swamp."

"For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." matthew 16:25 (amplified)

there is more to life than just surviving, there is more to do than just observing. it is in our observations that we find the time to assign a religious title to a spiritual action.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...