This year COVID 19 has shut down events including spring athletics.
We are all sad and somewhat fearful. This year will be remembered and will
reshape our world and priorities. There will be a new normal!
Patriots Day
“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.”
(1 Corinthians 9 vs. 24& 25)
In Massachusetts, April 19th
is Patriots Day. That gave me two choices to write about today; Paul Revere’s ride
or the Boston Marathon. There is a similarity and it is not direction!
The marathon involves over 30,000 participants, one woman, and one
man will make a six-figure paycheck and be declared winners. As many as twenty
others will receive appearance money and have good paydays. Most will receive
personal gratification, be the recipient of a great engine for their body from
the training and recognition for a great effort. They do it out of the passion
that endurance athletes have and the feeling of accomplishment.
In 2013 two young terrorists interrupted things a bit at the
finish line. That was a sad day for all involved and it infuriated Americans
and the free world. It demonstrated that there is a world war in the process,
and we need to function normally through it.
This year there will be no race. There will be prayers, hard work
in the ICUs of the world. The 30,000 would-be participants and hundreds of
thousand spectators will be sheltering;…and praying for a solution to this
world crisis.
In 1775, Paul Revere and William Dawes raced out of Boston with a
message that the British were moving out. Their message to the people of
greater Boston was the call to arms. Unfortunately, Paul did not get very far
because he was picked up in west Cambridge by a British patrol. However, he did
get the poem named for him. William Dawes did not rhyme as well! They were both
on a mission to benefit humanity, both were unselfish and both are American heroes.
Being fit is a matter of spirit mind and body. Life is not a
sprint. It is a marathon. This virus is like mile twenty through twenty-five …tough!
We need to race it and live it with our eye on the ultimate prize that is
promised through our faith: “a crown that will last.”
Thought for Today: Let
us focus on our race for the prize; take a step closer to perfection.
Prayer for Today: Dear
Lord and Father, we pray for survival from this terrible virus! …and that the
people of the world will learn from its experience. That the new normal will be
more peaceful and loving!
Amen
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