A different race, a deeper grace

I ran a 5k race this morning, an impulsive decision made late yesterday afternoon.  I love to run, but races are few and far between for me.   I was running for a group of physically and mentally challenged children and adults in a local church ministry, a good cause, I thought.

The race wove through shaded residential streets with small pockets of people cheering from the curb.  I thought I was keeping up a good pace until I was humbled by four jogging strollers swiftly passing and a young man running barefoot.

After one final turn, the finish line loomed ahead, pulling me, encouraging me to finish well.  I thought of a story I read this week of a woman swimming the English Channel, who quit after swimming for fifteen hours, not realizing that she was but a half-mile from finishing. Keep going, keep going.  I crossed the line.

With runners still finishing, I noticed another assemblage of runners lined up at the start for a 50 yard dash.  The starting gun sounded, and a large group of physically challenged young people ran joyously up the street to their own finish line, some holding hands, some pushing their walkers, one young woman physically held up by a caregiver on each side of her, all of them smiling widely.

My eyes teared up, my throat was tight.  This was why we were here after all, not to run our own race, to beat the clock, to achieve some kind of personal best, but to cheer and applaud those who live       everyday on grace.

And as they passed by, I thought a lot about performance and grace.  Performance says "be the best." Grace provides the freedom to "do your best."  Performance says "I can run better than you."  Grace says, "hey man, we all struggle with something," some more visibly than others.  We all stand in need of grace on the course we face, running faithfully with a strength that is not our own.

...let us run with perseverance

the race that is set before us,

               looking to Jesus...

                        Hebrews 12.1

As I entered the race area full of those who were able and disabled, I realized that we were not just running for a cause, we were running with people who run a proverbial marathon every day.  Performance looks at causes and statistics, grace knows names and faces.

At one point before the race, I overheard one man  introducing his wife to another couple, "This is my wife Precious."  And as I looked around, I realized that is how God sees us, each one, precious in His sight.   And performance has nothing to do with it.

Because you are precious in My eyes,
and honored,
      and I love you.

                         Isaiah 43.4