there are a gazillion and one reasons to love this boy. but his face as he finishes a race is on the top of my list.
he finishes looking like it has killed him. as his cross country coach says, “he leaves nothing out there. he puts it all in each practice and each race”. he doesn’t finish first. or in the top ten. but he finishes strong. and tired. and happy (even though it doesn’t look like it for about 5 minutes as he walks around trying to breathe).
Ecclesiastes 9:11
I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.
Hebrews 12:1
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.
1 Corinthians 9:24
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.
he is going to get a prize one day. not the one for the fastest runner. but maybe for the one that tried the hardest.
in case you are wondering, the pink socks are a race day staple. his coach’s wife (and two of his teammates’ mother) died of breast cancer a few years ago) and at the state finals they always wear their pink socks in her memory.
and by the way... his time did qualify him for state this year. so we will be going to lakeland to watch him race one more time.
God has a character goal for you to attain in this life,
and by his unrelenting grace and mercy
you are going to get there.
(even if it almost kills you in the process)
{from broken down house by paul david tripp , addition by lea marshall}