The Morning Run

By Joel Bates

Sweaty forms huff and puff, doubled over gasping for breath as perspiration drips from furrowed brows.  Succumbing to fatigue, some simply flop down in the dust of the camp entrance.  Most moan, groan and beg for water.  No, this is not a zombie, apocalypse or a reenactment of a P.O.W. camp.  It’s the scene twice a week following the camp instructors’ training run.  And one things for sure, even if we aren’t all in top physical shape at least we’re unified in our collective suffering.  I like to think of it as training for perseverance sake, but to most of our first-year interns, they are reconsidering their decision to come to DM!  They will usually ask me the inevitable question that people going through hardships ask “Why are we doing this?” 

That’s a good question, one I try to answer by pointing out lots of great reasons such as:  this will build your stamina, and you may need to run for help when you are leading an expedition, or running will build character.  These are good reasons, but to be honest, to keep running the race, to keep applying the discipline required to get up early and go for a jog, one needs more than an externally focused reason.  To push through when the going gets tough we need a reason that hits deep.  We need something to take hold of—a prize.

One of the reasons I love the writings of the apostle Paul is that he uses many analogies to which I can relate…like running.  He mentions running and racing quite a few times in scripture. In Philippians 3:12-14, he bids us “Press on, to take hold of the prize.”  As a long-time distance runner, I find this passage has become one of my favorites, and what Paul is saying resonates in me with deep encouragement. 

Here Paul is admitting that he’s not arrived at the finish line yet.  He’s still in the race, but he’s figured out how to endure.  First, he says to let go of the past and look toward the future.  I’m reminded of another reference to running in scripture. Hebrews 12:1-2 instructs us “…to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us and run the race with perseverance, fixing our eyes on Jesus….”  That’s letting go of the past and looking toward the future—a future with Jesus. 

I’m encouraged because I can easily become haunted by a past riddled with mistakes, failures, and regrets.  Without the liberty I have through Jesus, I would find myself existing only in the errors, never learning and growing from them.  The Lord is such an optimist when it comes to our redemption and sanctification.  He wants to draw our attention to the blessings of the future, the finish line. 

The importance of the morning running came apparent for two of our instructors recently as they told the story from DM’s latest expedition.  The first few days on the trail were pleasant—too pleasant by their estimation to make for a good challenge.  The participants needed something more to awaken spiritually, but the instructors didn’t know what to do until near the end of the expedition.  The group, struggling to find their way with maps and compasses took a wrong turn that resulted in their being totally disoriented in the wilderness and far behind in their itinerary schedule. 

The instructors lovingly but firmly informed the group that they would need to press on together and do whatever it took to reach the next destination before making camp.  The result was a very long hike that took most of the night.  What the exhausted group didn’t know was that at this destination awaited a beautiful valley with a little creek.  It was there they would spend the next 24 hours in a restful, intentional time of spiritual solitude.  The instructors were particularly glad they had trained themselves physically by completing the morning runs, but even more encouraged about why they needed to press on…so they could help the group capture the prize, a rare and precious time with God. 

Continuing in Paul’s message in Philippians, the reader finds an answer to the deeper reason for us to press on.  We press on not just to leave behind the past mistakes and not entirely so we can embrace that heavenly home, but to take hold of Jesus in a way similar to how he has taken hold of us.  We are not running for ourselves or by ourselves.  We are with Jesus.  He finished the race at the cross, bridging a way for us to take hold in unity with the Father, and He stepped out of the tomb leaving it empty so that we could take hold of real life itself.  This is relationship, and He’s not just inviting us to it; He’s holding onto us in it.  So in this race as you press on, are you taking hold of him? 

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“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect,
but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”
Philippians 3:12