“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” (Hebrews 21.1 NIV).
My town of Corpus Christi held their 46th Annual Beach to Bay Relay Marathon. There were over 8,000 runners who participated in the event. The 26.2-mile race started at 7 a.m. at the beach and ended at the bay on Shoreline Drive. The first leg of the race is on the beach with a run down the shoreline and back up to the beginning point where the runners of leg two awaited the baton. I’ve done this leg two times. Though the sand can be difficult to trudge through, the temperature is cooler than the other legs of the race. Since we live on the island near the beach, my husband and I decided that he would drive me to the first leg which started at 7 a.m. on the golf cart. We left twenty minutes beforehand, thinking that would give us plenty of time. The race always started at Bob Hall Pier, and it was only a five-minute ride. The only problem was that when we got there, not one single runner was in sight. After years of starting the race at Bob Hall Pier, they changed it to JP Luby Beach. This meant we would have to drive on the main road which isn’t allowed for golf carts. This was a relay marathon, so I had five other team members who had trained hard depending on me. I couldn’t be too late, or our team would be disqualified. The time was now 7 a.m., and I had to get out of the golf cart and run to the starting point down the main road, over the bridge and to the beach. This took me twenty minutes, so by the time I got to the beginning of the race, the people at the starting point were the second-leg runners. I was dead last in the race of 8,000 runners. I ran alone along the shoreline, feeling like I was in an impossible race but not wanting to give up. God would have to provide a miracle of stamina in me.
Have you ever felt like you were in an impossible situation, but you knew in your heart you couldn’t give up? Either people counted on you, or you felt the Lord egging you on. When faced with a seemingly impossible situation, we can’t give up. We must choose to move our feet, run our race and trust that God will make a way where the doesn’t seem to be one.
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