it’s a marathon kind of year
About two weeks ago, I was doing a study on the spiritual disciplines, specifically giving. As I was reading and meditating on verses related to giving, I felt extremely convicted. I realized how tight-fisted I was being about my money. I was using the excuse of being a college student to avoid tithing or serving in the church.
So I started praying one of those really dangerous prayers where you ask God to make you uncomfortable. “Provide an opportunity for me to give in a big way that challenges me,” I asked.
As my roommate and I sat in a typical Sunday morning church service, something unexpected happened:
A representative from World Vision got up to speak at the end of service about running the Chicago marathon for Team World Vision—an opportunity for runners to raise money for clean water in underdeveloped communities. He even showed one of those typical heart-wrenching videos where a girl who used to walk 10 miles for water everyday going to school to be a lawyer now that her family has access to clean water in their town.
Do you ever have those moments where you’re suddenly hit with that feeling of “Oh no, I am about do a very stupid thing” ?? Well that’s kinda the feeling I got. All of a sudden I was like “Oh my goodness I am about to run a marathon.”
I turned to my roommate, and she had the exact same look on her face.
“What if we ran a marathon?”
“Yeah, we’re about to run a marathon.”
“This always happens to us, dang it.”
So we’re running a marathon, because God convicted us to.
In the last 2 days, we’ve already been through all the ups and downs of doubt (from ourselves and others), excitement, and extreme fear.
At one point, I told God; “I hate running, and I’ve never so much as jogged a 5k! I have no self-discipline when it comes to exercising, and I have no idea how to train for 26.2 miles even if I did.”
“I can use that,” He replied.
Suffice to say, we bought a book and I have running shoes on the way.
On our first day of training, we went for 2 miles. Only 24.2 more to go!
yousharknotpass
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