When our daughter Bethany was in the 7^th Grade, she was involved in athletics. She played basketball, volleyball and softball for several years. That first year, because she was already involved in several sports, the coaches asked her to be on the track team. I don’t remember all the circumstances surrounding this, but I remember going to a track meet not knowing what event she would be in. To my knowledge, she had not even been to a practice. The coaches simply recruited her at the last minute. Since we were the kind of parents who went to just about everything our kids did, we went down to McKinney for this track meet, too. After we had been there a while, Bethany came up to us and excitedly announced that she would be running in the 400 meter race. I wished her luck, and we took our place in the bleacher seats.

When the starter’s pistol went off, it was obvious that Bethany had never run a 400-meter race before. She took off like a shot, leaving everyone in her dust. She pulled out to a 25-yard lead on everyone. She was trying to sprint the whole way! She kept that lead for a while, but when she passed the 100 meter point, you could see her starting to slow down. At 150 meters she realized she had made a mistake, and her lead started shrinking as she started running out of gas. At 200 meters, the rest of the pack caught up with her. At 300 meters, she and one other girl were left in the dust of the pack, and I think that other girl had a pulled hamstring. Bethany ended up second to last in that race, crossing the finish line long after the winner. That also marked the end of her participation in Track and Field events. But she did finish the race! And I was proud of her for finishing.

Philippians 3:12-14  Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus

The author of Hebrews would also have been familiar with ancient athletic competitions when he used the “race” image to speak of our task as Christians.

Hebrews 12: 1b-2a … let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith …

By 7 p.m. on October 20, 1968, at the Mexico City Olympics Stadium, it was beginning to get dark. It had cooled down as well. The last of the Olympic marathon runners were being assisted away to first-aid stations. Over an hour earlier, Mamo Waldi of Ethiopia had charged across the finish line, winning the 26-mile, 385-yard race looking as strong and as vigorous as when he’d started. As the last few thousand spectators began preparing to leave, they heard police sirens and whistles through the gate entering the stadium. The attention turned to that gate. A sole figure, wearing the colors of Tanzania, came limping into the stadium. His name was John Steven Aquari. He was the last man to finish the marathon in 1968. His leg was bandaged, bloody. He had taken a bad fall early in the race. Now, it was all he could do to limp his way around the track. The crowd stood and applauded as he completed that last lap. When he finally crossed the finish line, one man dared ask the question all were wondering. “You are badly injured. Why didn’t you quit? Why didn’t you give up?” Aquari, with quiet dignity said, “My country did not send me seven thousand miles to start this race. My country sent me to finish.”

1 Corinthians 9:24-25 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. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

In athletics, awards are given to the top finishers in each competition, but in Hebrews God tells us the reward is for all those who finish the race. When we cross the finish line we are declared winners – not because of who we are or what we’ve done, but because the real Winner, Jesus Christ, went before us. And it is not just a participation ribbon. He gives the actual prize He won to each of us – eternal life with Him in heaven. And He shares His victory with you through faith. It’s like someone on one of those awards shows who goes up to the microphone and says, “I’d like to share this award with…” and then they list a bunch of people. Jesus says that of His victory, and it is a valid offer: “I’d like to share my victory with EVERYONE. All who believe in me will share in what I have won – forgiveness and life everlasting.”