As you might have read or heard about, the city of Boston is in shock after the bombings that occurred during the running of the Boston Marathon. This race I personally understand to be a race worth finishing. Unfortunately the end of this race resulted in 3+ deaths so far and countless lives have been wounded (not including those internally wounded for loved ones). This only made me think of one other passage in the New Testament where Paul was departing Timothy with "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7)
Strange right? I can only explain it with the keyword "finish" because the given story. But there's two different moods and scenarios given! So why did I stumble across this in my head? This is when I heard God speak to me.
"You can make it" "Keep going"
I wasn't long until I remembered what it was like to say it myself. It was the Boston Marathon of 2006 when I couldn't have been more proud to watch my mom run it. But if any of you know what it's like to try and follow the runners through the course, it's not easy to find the runners you know running at the mile markers you plan out. So as my Aunt and I are finding shortcuts and metros we decided to make a sign while we had some time. So I made my sign and got off at mile marker 20 right before the race got bad because from there the runners had to make their way uphill to the finish line. So I found a spot in the crowd to showcase my newly developed sign when it hit me. Why don't I go "the extra mile"? So when I finally found her, I jumped into the race and ran alongside her holding my sign that said "This is my Mom!". I started to run with her while holding this sign up in the air and shouting at her to "keep going" and "you can do it" for a mile. I finally jumped out and of course I look back and I realize how weird of a sign that was but I understand God's reasoning behind the sign.
We all feel as if though we can't finish the race sometimes. But remember, God is running alongside you and telling you to "keep going" while holding His sign up that says, "This is my son/daughter" because He's proud of you and loves you for fighting the good fight.
To encourage the victims along with their friends and families, I wanted to share something extra. The finish line in the race in Boston still had Jesus there comforting and supporting those who lost and suffered, just like I did last year.
After my mom's passing I was in complete pain. Even more so as her first birthday after the fact. But instead of mourning without her I gave her the best gift ever. I gave her the gift of perseverance through running a local 5 mile race. On the front of the shirt I wore I wrote "Happy Birthday" on it and on the back wrote "This One Is For You". I'm not much of a runner so the race was really difficult to do. But what kept me going was hearing the passing runners yell "Happy Birthday Mom!" with the enthusiasm I didn't have. Even with them not knowing of my mom, it was heart warming and what I needed to keep going knowing my mom was watching and running with me like I did at her race. When I finished the race I got on my knees and cried because I felt joy that could only be described as perfect.
So to those people hurting right now, keep going because God created you to finish through and with Him.
You can make it!
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