Marine Corps Marathon Reflections

Made it through training without significant injury. Have shin splints in left leg and maybe the beginning of stress fracture. But I can still run.

I am at this point because of a community of people who have made it possible to train and run the race. I want to list as many as I can think of here.

Hailey Collins patiently endured the ups and downs of battling rhabdomyosarcoma - beating it once and never stopping the hope for healing. Even when she finished breathing on June 5, all who love her claimed the victory of her belonging to the risen savior. Death has lost its power and sting through Him who keeps us all close to his heart until we rise from the dead like Him in his New Creation. This training and race is to remember Hailey and the resurrection hope with which she lived, died and yet lives in God's New Creation.

My wife Carolyn without whom would not have had the luxury of training. Her support and that of my daughter Julia cannot be measured. What a gift!

Jim and Craig for encouraging me to swim in the lake on Sunday afternoons and hooking me up with Hammer products for recovery. I may never beat you out of the water but I'm faster and stronger for the opportunity to chase you.

Coach Beth with tri team vortex at the YMCA who helped me navigate more than one critical point during training when I may otherwise have lost heart or gotten injured.

Mark for inviting me to suffer through some awesome P90X style workouts with devotions at the YMCA.

Lauren for writing up a great strength training program to keep me going where Mark left off.

Matt for selling me that "cheap" bike, allowing me to do my first triathlon without extreme embarrassment riding my schwinn cruiser.

Paul who agreed to sign up for this thing back in February and run his first marathon with me. We made it through the hard part, now we get to run 26.2 with 30,000 other people through our nation's capitol having raised $2,000 for a great cause. 

In our culture the ordinary is overlooked and long term commitments are undervalued. If we aren't being entertained then we are bored. But some of the most valuable and meaningful things in life could be considered mundane and require strength and commitment to endure. Giving care to someone with with long term illness, staying married through difficult losses, you name it. There are times when we wonder if we are capable of sustaining a life of faithfulness for the long haul. And the truth I've learned in 15 years of ministry and training for endurance events is that no one can do this alone. God clearly loves us personally, but He never intended us to live privately. The truth is that even when you think you are running alone there is a community who has made your running possible and a community who is strengthened by your participation in it. It's a beautiful thing. A glimpse of how God made us.

As Paul and I run this race on sunday, I will be hundreds of miles from the community where I live and worship. Hailey isn't around for us to touch and hug anymore either. But because of the way God made us for community, no matter where I am, I share a connection that transcends physical presence. Thanks be to God for this gift.

This is the only race worth running. I've run hard right to the finish, believed all the way. (2 Timothy 4:7 MSG)