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Stephanie loathes running. She grumbles when it’s
time to go for a run. She crabs all through the warm up. She groans when it’s time to
start jogging. Even though I’ve assured her she doesn’t have to go, she still
chooses to run with Hannah and me.
During the second (of six) round of jogging, her
grumbling became louder. Within seconds of the end of the jogging round, she decided to
quit. She sat down cross-legged on the edge of the road. “I’m done,” she
declared.
I paused. “What are you doing?”
“I’m done. I hate running and I’m not going to do it.” Her face was red and her eyes were fire.
I looked at her for a moment, not quite sure what to
say. “So that’s it? You’re just quitting?”
“I (arms crossed). Hate (chin out). Running
(emphatic nod).”
I shrugged. “Okay, then. We’ll be back in about
twenty minutes.” I jogged up the road to catch up with Hannah for our walking round.
“What’s Steph doing?”
“Quitting.”
Hannah looked back at Stephanie. “Are you just going
to leave her there?”
I looked back too. Steph hadn’t budged. She remained on the edge of the road with crossed legs, folded arms, and a
chin jutted out. “Can you move her?” I asked Hannah.
She snorted. “Nobody could move her.”
We continued with our round of walking. In a few moments we heard feet
slapping behind us. Stephanie was jogging to catch up. She fell into stride
beside me. “I thought you decided to quit.”
She rolled her eyes and grunted. “It turns out,” she
sucked in a deep breath, “that I hate quitting more than I hate running.”
I think this is the kind of perseverance we are to
have in our faith. God made us to run the race of life. Sometimes, though, when
it comes to matters of faith, we give up when life gets hard. Things don’t
always go as predicted and expected. There are rough patches and unfair events
and moments that make no sense. Life is heartbreaking and difficult.
Too often, instead of running the race, we sit down
on the edge of the road and quit. We let go of faith.
It is here when we begin to live hard. Anger. Hurt.
Offense. Sadness. We shell up and wonder why a good God would give us a hard life.
The truth is God is waiting to give us a rich and satisfying life
(John 10:10). Instead, we’ve chosen to remain on the edge of the road,
sitting with crossed legs, folded arms, and chins jutted out. Just like Steph
would have missed out on the run if she remained on the edge of the road, we
miss God when we sit on the edge of the road.
Yet, the One who created us to be very good is
right there waiting with an arm full of blessings just for each of us.
It’s time to quit letting hard be a way of life.
Stand up and get going. We aren’t made to sit on the
edge of the path.
Life may be hard, but it doesn’t have to define the
way we live. Because we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them (Romans
8:28).
