Run the good race

On your mark, get set...Go!

But I don't move. Paralyzed, stuck – I didn't move.

Seconds that feel like ages pass and my hands and feet are still glued to the race track.

I visualize myself springing from the ground and racing forward, and my muscles feel as if

this visualization is a reality. But the reality is I am frozen in fear and frozen on the mark. What if...I can't...
I can feel heat in my face and cool sweat dampen my neck.

I relax my body and slip from my toes to my knees and I rest my forehead on the dusty track. You blew it. You lost before you even began. You...

“Hey, are you okay?” I hear the voice of my coach ask.

“The race is over, isn't it?” I ask from my fetal position.

“Not if you don't want it to be. You still have a chance.”

At that I raise my head and sit on my heels.

“You can't be serious? You saw me. I didn't even take a single step. I froze at the starting point. I blew it.”

“You can try again. You can run this race and you can finish.”

“Well, even if I had another chance to do it over - What if I'm not fast enough and I come in last place?”

My coach smiled a warm smile.

“Those who are first will be last and the last will be first. ”

Coach extended his hand to me, I grabbed it, and he pulled me up in one smooth movement.

“You aren't running to beat anyone else. And in my eyes you have already won.”

“Well...What if I trip and fall?”

“Then I will come and pick you up and you will continue to run the race as if you never fell.”

“What if I can't get back up?”

“Then I will carry you across the finish line.”

“And what if...”

“Listen to me.”

I shut my mouth when I noticed that my coach's smile was gone and a serious expression had taken its place.

“I have already run this race myself and I have already obtained the prize. There is nothing for you to lose because I have already won for you. All I am asking is that you keep on running and don't stop until you reach the end.

“And if you continue to run then you must only remember what I am about to tell you and silence and cast away any doubts you may have about your ability to run or any worries you may have about circumstances you could come to in the race.

“You cannot run to beat others or prove yourself. You will run with the strength I have trained you in. And when you falter I will be your strength. Run with endurance because this race will be long. Run with courage and boldness because you will come upon many obstacles. Run with hope because you know that you will finish this race and I will be at the end to meet you. And run with joy because, although this race will be exhausting and challenging, it will also be once in a lifetime and an amazing race. I have fully equipped you for this moment and I couldn't be more pleased or proud of you, no matter how the race plays out.

“Now,” the smile returned to my coach's face, “Are you ready?”

As my coach described the race I was going to have, my confidence began to build up in me once again.

“I think I am. I'm really excited and also a little scared. But I believe in what you say and I trust you. I'm ready.”

My coach gives me a nod.

“You've got this, superstar. Go run with all you've got.”

I walk to the starting line filled with determination.

On your mark.

I place my feet in their proper place and bend my knees.

Get set.

I reach my fingertips to the ground and lift myself onto my toes.

Go!

And I shoot forward, confident in my steps, joy in my soul, and my eyes fixed on my coach at the finish line. A smile spreads across my face and I have a plan in my heart to run this race with all my might. I have nothing to lose and everything to win.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,

let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Hebrews 12:1-2, NIV