So man - these past 2 days I've been thinking a lot about the Boston Marathon, and my heart really goes out to all those who were affected by the bombs that went off there.
I ran that race myself, and it was the toughest race I've ever done cause it was super wet, windy, and icy, and right towards the end (probably really close to where the bombs were detonated) I got an excruciating cramp in my right leg in the final stretch (see bottom left picture).
It's just so terrible to think about what happened now 6 years later - and for me, to consider the mentality of a runner as he or she would be approaching that finish line (with so much pain as it is, yet with so much hope for finishing), and then to be thrown down to the ground from one second to the next and have your whole life changed forever...
...I saw the picture above as I was researching the bombings, and it really caught my eye, because I remembered an instance in high school where one of my best friends (Luke, our basketball team point guard) slipped and went crashing down to the road.
It was a dirt road actually, and it happened on the last corner of the final stretch that we were sprinting on to see who would finish first. No one else was close to us, but he and I were right on each other's tails, and right as we were making that last turn towards the end, Luke's legs got away from him and he just bit it man. Like big time.
His leg got all cut up and he was full of dirt, and in the exhilaration of the moment I stopped and looked at him and screamed GET UP! GET UP!!! COME ON MAN, GET UP! THERE'S NO WAY YOU'RE GOING TO LET ME WIN LIKE THIS! GET UP! and I bent down and pulled him up and we both jogged shoulder to shoulder to the finish.
...This last summer I told everybody about this story the day after Luke's wedding, and his dad was there, and I just remember how after I finished that story and it was kind of quiet - Mr. Bartel (Luke's dad) in his calm and dignified voice said something along the lines of how that's exactly what we're supposed to do as Christians, when one of us falls in real life.
It was a powerful statement to hear from him, because that's precisely what Luke's mom and dad have dedicated their whole lives in doing... they've dedicated their lives towards helping kids that are born or raised in really tough conditions, by pulling them up from where they are, and giving them another chance so they can get on their feet and start running again.
I think that's awesome, and for anyone of my friends that may be reading this... if there's any way in which you know you've fallen, please just get up. Don't let Satan get the best of you.
For those affected by the Boston bombs - let's help them get back up with our prayers.
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| Pictures from the 111th Boston Marathon (2007) |
Hebrews 12:1-3:
Therefore,
since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay
aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us
run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God.
For
consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that
you will not grow weary and lose heart.
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