I was in “grade 6″ at Indian Creek Road Public School in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. It was late May and I was a participant in the annual “track&field day.” I was a pretty superior child athlete (I peaked way to early), but wasn’t much of a runner. However on that beautiful May day, things were different. I found myself in the finals of the 100 meter dash, and you better believe I ran as hard as I could and as fast as I could and I…finished 5th. That was both the beginning and the end of my Sprinting career…until now.
In the New Testament, Paul describes the Christian life as a race, and I often hear from Christian Leaders that this race is a Marathon; go at a slow and steady pace so you don’t burn out (a la the Tortoise and the Hare). In that classic story, the turtle wins but it wasn’t because the Rabbit was burnt out…it was because the Rabbit took his eyes off the prize, he got cocky, and fell victim to distraction.
I am learning to lean into the Hare’s style of running minus his lack of focus and pride problems. I actually think this Christian life is more like a series of sprints with some time to rest in between. At Northway, we are in a season of Sprinting. From Easter, to multi-site stuff, adding services, restructuring and so on, there is no time to run slow. There is a new sense of urgency that is so compelling and convicting that if I were to go slow I’m afraid I would miss IT. There is too much at stake to run slow.
Paul goes on to say that we should run in a way that will allow us to WIN…you have got to know your rythmns…there are times we need to REST…but when you are in a season of Running…Run Hard…Sprint.
I am running as fast and as hard as I can after God’s calling on my life, and next week, I will rest as hard as I can on the beautiful beaches of SoCal that he created for me to rest on…so that I can get filled back up to start Sprinting again…and this time I plan on doing better then a fifth place finish.
Do you align yourself with the Tortoise or the Hare way of thinking? Why?
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April 14, 2009 at 3:57 pm
davecross
About time you blogged again! I def agree with you on this comparison. I think we should be sprinting as long as we can, just do it without pride and distractions. Keeping our focus always on Him. Great thoughts man!
April 27, 2009 at 2:11 pm
John
I often think about this and being an being an “all or nothing” kind of person, makes me tend to be one or another at any given moment. I am learning balance. I think we should run hard when being told to, as long as we don’t miss the signs that say “stop” or “turn here” or “wait”. It’s important to not just know, but listen and do. While we run alone, we also run together. We must be careful that we don’t run over one another for the sake of our own personal vertical quest. Running hard can be just as dangerous to yourself and those around you as not running at all. The danger is either becoming a bullet train or a concrete wall. A time and season for everything. I pray that we all endeavor to be judicial, purposful, and meaningful with all our resources. To be equally sensitive to being told to run as we are to stop.