Articles
Running the Race
Running races has been part of human history for a very long time. I can’t help but think that it probably goes all the way back to the very beginning. You know that Cain and Able must have had races when they were growing up, seeing who could get home first when Eve called them for supper. We do know that in recorded history there was a foot race in 1829 BC at the Tailteann Games in Ireland. That’s almost 4000 years ago.
In 776 B.C. at Olympia Greece, the Olympic games began, and the most important event at the games was the Stadion Footrace. We know that it was a 210 yard sprint, and we know the name of the first winner Coroebus of Elis.
Cross country was contested as a team and individual event at the 1912, 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics. During the 1924 race in the Paris heat wave, where temperatures reached 104 degrees, only 15 of the 38 competitors reached the finish. Eight of those were taken away on stretchers. One athlete began to run in tight circles after reaching the stadium and later knocked himself unconscious, while another fainted 50 meters from the finish. José Andía and Edvin Wide were reported dead, and medics spent hours trying to find all the competitors who had blacked out along the course. Although the reports of deaths were unfounded, spectators were shocked by the attrition rate and Olympic officials decided to ban cross country running from future Games.
The Bible uses the idea of a race to illustrate living the Christian life several times. We find one example in 1 Corinthians, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (9:24-27).
We are all running in the race of life and one day we will all cross that final finish line. I hope you will give some time and thought to where you want to be in eternity. What kind of reward do you want? Are you running to win the race or are you passed out along the course?
~ Brad Tolbert
