I Run For Life

I was e-mailing the other day with a blog buddy of mine about running and the movie Chariots of Fire. The metaphor of running a race really stunned me ~ it's been a long time since I have really thought about the parallels with running and faith. Eric Liddell speach in the movie is brilliant ~

Eric Liddell: You came to see a race today. To see someone win. It happened to be me. But I want you to do more than just watch a race. I want you to take part in it. I want to compare faith to running in a race. It's hard. It requires concentration of will, energy of soul. You experience elation when the winner breaks the tape - especially if you've got a bet on it. But how long does that last? You go home. Maybe you're dinner's burnt. Maybe you haven't got a job. So who am I to say, "Believe, have faith," in the face of life's realities? I would like to give you something more permanent, but I can only point the way. I have no formula for winning the race. Everyone runs in her own way, or his own way. And where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within. Jesus said, "Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. If with all your hearts, you truly seek me, you shall ever surely find me." If you commit yourself to the love of Christ, then that is how you run a straight race.

For me ~ the only way I know how to get through the race ~ through the obstacles ~ through the pain ~ is to keep running ~ even if it's at a snails pace. Keep moving forward ~ head raised ~ keeping my eyes on the horizon. Sometimes the people running beside me and around me are friend, family and sometimes kind souls who I haven't met yet. Al I know is that even if it seems that I am running alone ~ I know that in Christ we are never alone.