The Race Home

I’d like to start with a personal note of thanks from my wife Paula and I, to all those who have expressed their love and support in our time of distress. Melanie’s going home celebration was well attended, which did her mother’s heart good. Many sympathy cards and notes have been received, several from unexpected sources bringing comfort that the sender may not comprehend. Emails and phone-calls and knocks on the front door all added to the healing process and lifting our spirits to carry on with what we must do. Once again, we just want to say thanks for your kindness, it’s meant a lot.
The most used cliché of comfort by people, and I can’t leave myself out, about a dearly departed loved one is, “But I know he/she is in a far better place now, without pain or distress.” I honestly believe that most people believe what they are saying, but sometimes wonder if they’re ready for that day to arrive at their doorstep. I’m reminded of a story, I think a preacher story, found in the book, Thinking And Acting Like A Christian by D. Bruce Lockerbie, that goes like this. A world-class runner was invited to compete in a road race in Connecticut. On the morning of the race, she drove from New York City following directions given to her over the phone weeks before. She got lost, stopped at a gas station and asked for help. She knew the race started in the parking lot of a shopping mall. The attendant also knew of a race starting in a nearby mall and directed her to it. When she arrived she was relieved to see a modest number of competitors, but far from the number she’d expected. Inspecting the course map, the race was also easier than she had been led to believe. At the registration desk she was surprised by the reception of the race officials’ at having such a renowned athlete show up at their race. No, they had no record of her entry, but if she’d hurry and put on this number, she could just make it before the gun goes off. She ran, and naturally she won easily, some four minutes ahead of the first male runner who finished second. Only after the race, when there was no envelope containing her sizable prize and performance money, did she confirm that the event she had just run was not the race to which she had been invited. That race was being held several miles up the road in another town. She had gone to the wrong starting line, run the wrong course, and missed her chance at winning a valuable prize.
[Hebrews 12: 1-3] Each of us is running a race on our road to forever, and many are expending a lot of time and effort in completing the course. How sad it would be to learn at the end that we have run the wrong course. There are many races out there, worldly and spiritually, that people are running, looking for a prize at the end of the course. I’ve chosen to run the race of a Christian, worldly and spiritually. Here are two reasons why. I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, protected by the Holy Spirit, and will be till the last day. The Bible, unlike other spiritual teachings, teaches of love for the Creator, for one another and ones self, not of hatred and retaliation. Secondly, I believe Jesus is the son of the living God. I believe He was resurrected from the dead and witnessed rising into the heavens. I’m not alone. His influence on mankind was so great and man’s new relationship with God so strong, even time was started over again. God has invited you to a race home. Don’t go to the wrong starting gate. (Matthew 7: 13-14)