Excerpt from Hebrews 12:7-13

"Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.  Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed."

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

I'm not much of a fan of sports metaphors in the life of faith, mostly because they tend to be used to get cheap laughs at the front end of sermons.  I suspect it also probably has something to do with my not playing any sports myself.  But I've recently become something of a runner, and the more I've done it, the more convinced I've become that the running metaphors one finds all over the New Testament actually work quite well.

Herewith, the top ten ways I think the life of faith is like running:

1. Most of the time, it feels like work.

2. Every once in a while, it feels like flying.

3. You can do it alone, but you'll do it faster and better with other people.

4. If your knees aren't at least a little bit sore at least a little bit of the time, you're not doing it hard enough.

5. Somebody will try to tell you that certain clothes are required to do it well; they're wrong.

6. When people who don't do it see you doing it, they wonder why the hell you would bother.

7. But they're also just a little bit impressed, especially if you look like it's not coming easy to you.

8. It's hard to start and easy to quit.

9. The longer you do it, the harder it is to quit.

10. If the only time you ever do it is when you're being chased, you're totally going to get caught.

Prayer

Holy God, may I run and not grow weary, walk and not faint.  Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell, a United Church of Christ minister, is the co-author, with Curtis J. Preston, of the Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ, published by The Pilgrim Press.

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