Life is like a marathon race, running all the way to the finish line. On the third Monday of April Massachusetts observes Patriots’ Day, commemorating the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the beginning of the Revolutionary War. The famous Boston Marathon also takes place on this day. There were 28,604 entrants in the 2022 Boston Marathon, with representatives from all 50 states and 120 countries. Evans Chebet of Kenya finished first in the men’s division with a time of 2:06:51. In the women’s division, the reigning Olympic gold medalist Peres Jepchirchir won in an incredible finish, just four seconds ahead of the runner-up.
Later that week, I took a few young athletes from our church in Cambridge to the finish line of the Boston Marathon. These young men are challenged to walk the 100 Miles for Hope campaign with me. Now I have walked 2,000 miles - a major milestone in my goal to walk 3,000 miles, which is about the distance from Boston to Seattle. I began the 100 Miles for Hope challenge back in the summer of 2020, during the COVID pandemic. Now it has become my lifestyle to walk 4-5 miles every day except Sunday (the Lord’s Day). It is important to rest on Sunday, just as the Bible tells of how God created the universe and then rested: “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation” (Genesis 2:3).
I enjoy the daily discipline of walking. One day my 12-year-old grandson read a book written by former Navy SEAL Jocko Willink. He was excited to learn from the book that “discipline equals freedom.” My grandson implemented the concept to have more physical and mental discipline. Without discipline, we cannot persist to achieve our goals. Whether running the Boston Marathon or running the race of life, we need discipline to endure to the end. In the Bible we read: “let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus” (Hebrews 12:1-2). We also read: “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). What are you pressing on for? What kind of prize do you await? Let’s run the race of life, looking to Jesus, and finish well.