Run with Endurance

for happy feet

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:1-2

There are seasons we run for ourselves, and seasons we run for others.

I began running for me. Freshly back from Africa and spiraling downward into grief and large cartons of large Chick-fil-a waffle fries, I needed to move. To breathe. To pump out my confusion about why God had led us out of the place where I thought I would live out the rest of my life. To push through the culture shock of living back in a home country that had drastically changed since 9/11.

So I started running with a group of gracious women who all had their own reasons for pushing themselves at 5 am over miles of pavement.

Thank God for the great cloud of witnesses He gives so we don’t have to run alone.

I ran my first race. Then I ran another, and another. Obsessed, thrilled, I ran.

I never was fast, and I never was a winner. But I was a distance runner, and the strength it gave my mind and heart drew me up out of grief, into clarity of purpose, into worship again. Jesus ran with me, coaching me, mentoring me, inspiring me. I determined I would run the rest of my life.

One dark morning, as I navigated the streets by orange lamplight with my running club, I fell behind. I was breathing, but there seemed to be no oxygen. Black splotches danced before my eyes, and my hands tingled. My chest felt like a truck had landed on it, suffocating me.

My doctor stopped my running immediately, sending me to a cardiologist where I learned I have a heart condition (just a wee hole) that impedes efficient oxygen flow. At my age and activity level, it manifests itself with an inconvenience called passing out during exercise.

Very scary.

For a while, I was immobilized with disappointment and anger. 

I can’t run.

I had more than a few pity parties, complete with cake and cookies.

I begged Jesus to give my running back. I needed it. His response was gentle and lowly, firm.

You lack nothing.

Walking, the gym, cycling, none gave me the satisfaction of a good run. My eyes were on me, and running had grown bigger than worship. 

Thank God He saves us from ourselves. I repented, and I yielded my body, my mind, my strength, to Him again. I laid it all down, quite miserably.

One day my doctor suggested I could possibly run again, but monitor my heart and go at a much slower pace. This would allow me to run safely. What it would not allow was pushing myself for the next PR. It would not allow boasting, for surely there would be nothing to boast about an 11 or 12-minute mile.

So I started running at a different pace. Now I notice things I missed before. I see the poppies growing along the canal in the shadow of an ancient brick wall. I see a bird flying across the vineyard with an olive branch in her beak. I see a little fox fleeting through the underbrush, his long bushy tail splashed with white. I see the mountain still capped with snow at its peak.

I stop when Jesus whispers to my heart to take an unexpected turn and look at what beauty He has created.

Maybe in this new season, running with #endurance means slowing down, seeing. Being present. Noticing others instead of pushing myself so hard. #discipleship Click To Tweet

Louis Zamperini knew how to run with endurance through all of life’s seasons. He was not always a long-distance runner.

In ninth grade, when challenged to a foot race by his classmates, he came in last.

One day, unbeknownst to the humiliated young man, he would become the youngest American to qualify for the Olympic 5,000 meter race (a record he still holds today).

From the Olympics, Zamperini went on to college where he set a record for the national collegiate mile at 4 minutes and 8.3 seconds.

But when he enlisted in the United States Army Air Force in September 1941, Zamperini entered a new race. A new season. A difficult season of suffering, torture, and imprisonment as a POW. He wondered if he would make it to the finish line.

Not only did he make it home, but he also received a hero’s welcome. Shortly thereafter, he attended an evangelistic crusade led by Billy Graham, where Zamperini committed his life to Christ. From 1952 onward, the champion distance runner devoted himself to at-risk youth, leading them to Jesus.

You can learn more about Louis Zamperini’s run with endurance in the book by Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, or the three biographical films about his life: Unbroken (2014), Unbroken: Path to Redemption (2018), and Captured by Grace (2015). 

A legacy of leadership, all the way to the finish line that matters most.

No matter what season of life, let us run to Jesus. I’m in the second half of a century now. It’s a new season. It’s time to run with endurance for the sake of others. Who might I lead? 

Lord, let me lead them to You. Amen.

@audreycfrank