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Race to Finish

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I ran a 5K the other day. It was for a good cause. Signed up thinking that it would be no big deal if I didn’t go through with it. I thought about asking someone else to run it together, but I didn’t want to set up something only to bail later if things came up disrupting plans.

People who know me are worried and asking if I trained for this. Well, I have been walking/jogging in our cul-de-sac where most of the neighbors keep tabs on each other in a good way, so before it’s totally dark after dinner, I’ve been “training.” I’m in mediocre shape and knowing that I could just walk the 5K took the pressure off. And at the starting line, I placed myself in the middle of the pack between the runners and the walkers. The serious runners took the leading positions at the starting line. In this middle of the pack region were the costumed and the matching outfit groups. Once the race began, I started out with a brisk jog trailing all the runners. The faster joggers passed us and in time, I slowed down to a brisk walk to catch my breath. And it was at this point that I noticed a petite, silver-haired woman in her late 60’s. She impressed me because she kept jogging even though it was at a slow pace. Note to self, at least keep up with her.

And so I did my thing which was to alternate between walking and running, slowing when I needed to catch my breath and speeding up to get through the shadeless portions. As such, I would pass my silver-haired pacer on my “runs,” and she would pass me as I slowed down. Back and forth we continued. And at the last 300 yards or so I caught a second wind and thought of challenging myself a bit and make a dash to the finish. Because we were getting close, people on the sidelines formed a cheering section urging us onward to the finish line. It was a good feeling being cheered. As I looked around, I couldn’t spot my “pacer.” Apparently, she wearied and fell behind. I was tempted to just run ahead as we had never met and I didn’t even know her name, but I realized she had served as my motivator the entire way and it would be much better if we finished together. I slowed my pace and finally saw her coming up. The finish line was now in view, I turned and said to her, “I have been following you the entire way,” and shockingly she turned to me and said to me, “I had been following you!” I often forget that I am no longer a youngster either and likewise stick out like a sore thumb in settings where youth is the norm.

And so in life, sometimes we are the motivators for others and other times we need to see somebody else running the race, keeping pace, never giving up, to encourage and motivate us to go on. Isn’t this the case for our common journey as believers in Christ. Others knowingly or unknowingly have served as our examples by their consistency and persistence. We, too, can faithfully run, even when we get weary, and stretch towards the finish knowing that there is a prize even greater than a medal waiting for us. And beyond the other racers, we are surrounded by a cheering throng urging us onward, telling us the finish line is in sight. Ultimately, we realize that it is not coincidental that we find ourselves running the race together in this same place and at this same time for mutual encouragement.

Do you feel that we are about to enter the final turn? Maybe you caught your second wind or maybe you feel that you have no strength left. Either way, is that the finish line in view? The Bible reminds us that when certain global events appear, we are very close to the finish line. Let’s do this together. The prize is Christ. The cups of cool water at the pit stops, that’s also Christ. The shade along the way, that’s also Christ. Your cushiony shoes, Christ. Your sweat-wicking shirt, Christ. There is nothing He left to our own devices. In a way, we just need to show up as a response to His call and say, “Lord, I am here. Even my willingness to show up You had something to do with that. I woke up today and am willing to turn things over to You. Help me live this day with You in view. Thank You for including me in this race.”

My finish time? 48:11. If I sprinted there at the end, I think I could have knocked off 15 seconds. But it didn’t seem right to run off without my “pacer.” It’s not a great finish time, but I’m thankful to finish and meet my personal goal of staying under an hour. I’m satisfied. The experience was rewarding in itself. Lots to think over and make parallels. I started this “race” decades ago running with many mentors and companions, men and women who live by faith in Christ and I have been helped by their example and assistance alone the way. When the Lord Jesus appears, this race of faith will have ended, for our faith will be changed to sight. Many have gone before us and ran faithfully. They have joined the cheering section urging us on for the finish line is in view. It’s not too late to tighten the loose shoelaces and pick up the pace. Let’s grab a cup of cold water at this last pit stop. Others are waiting for us. We can finish together. The Apostle Paul said at the end of his life that he had fought the good fight, he finished the course, and he kept the faith. Do we also love and long for the Lord’s appearing like Paul? Jesus is coming soon. Just as the Father ran to embrace us when Jesus made a way for us to be reconciled to the Father, we can run to meet Jesus as He promised to return for us. For love. Let’s go!


Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:1-3

Why Celebrate, Part 3

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Time has a way of diluting intensity as the news cycle speeds onward. Charlie Kirk’s murder seems nearly forgotten just mere weeks later. If you haven’t read Parts 1 and 2, it would help but not critical. I want to address the question why Christians feel so compelled to share the good news of salvation in Christ Jesus even to a non-receptive audience eager to punish, even assassinate and celebrate the killing of the Christian messenger.


I must confess that as a Christian, I cannot claim to be someone that is particularly earnest about sharing my faith. And in the video clips of Charlie debating the students, he shared his faith sincerely and eagerly to an often hostile crowd. He inspired me to do more than I have in the past. As the world has become more chaotic, I am realizing that we don’t have all the time in the world to share the good news and whether we choose to receive this good news or not has serious consequences.


I have a strong aversion to awkwardness, both in feeling awkward and making others feel awkward. Sometimes, sharing the gospel feels awkward and sometimes the person I’m talking begins to squirm and avert gaze a bit in discomfort. And I am all too ready to divert and redirect the conversation back to shallower pleasantries because awkwardness makes me so uncomfortable.


A few Sundays back, just before church service began, I was approached by a dear couple describing some vague-ish but serious symptoms that started five days ago in the left eye of the husband, I will call him Z. Instructions were given to get a referral first thing Monday morning with the primary care physician. After the service, they came up to me in greater distress. With a little bit more questioning, I realized that Z’s retina was actively detaching. So Z and his wife were driven to the ER at the medical school hospital where they have specialists on hand or available to call in. At the initial triage, Z still had central vision. By the time the ophthalmology resident examined him three hours later, the diagnosis was confirmed, and the detachment progressed to loss of central vision. The procedures needed to reattach the retina were beyond the scope of the resident, and the fellow (more years of training) above him and the attending (the instructor above them) were both called in to do the delicate and critical procedures for Z to regain his sight in the eye.


The staff graciously allowed me to stay with him the entire process to help with translation. There were many steps to each procedure, and some of the procedures unfortunately had to be redone. So he endured at least six needles in or around the eye on top of strange and painful sensations involving lasers and exceedingly bright lights that seem to go on and on. Twice the specialist working on him took a break because Z was in serious distress and had a hard time catching his breath. Z endured much as the specialists heroically and methodically reattached his retina. All in all, the process took over 8 hours. Z was trying to be tough but he was overwhelmed by the pain and the very uncomfortable procedures at the hands of the specialists all the while going blind in the eye.


I felt so bad for Z. I have an idea how he felt, but I cannot imagine what he was thinking and feeling without a lot of preparation for what was coming next. It seemed like the procedures would never end. But as bad as I felt for Z and as bad as the pain and discomfort was, it NEVER occurred to me to say to the specialists, “Stop what you are doing! Do you see how much agony he is in!”


Am I heartless and unkind to let this team of expert specialists continue to “torture” Z?
I did my best to calm him down and prayed with him when the specialists gave him breaks. I encouraged him that the doctors were only doing the necessary things to help him see again. And after cheering him on, and he regained his composure, the specialists came back to finish the procedures. Finally, it was over. He had instructions to keep his head face down and drops were given. He was to return the next day to do the next procedure needed to complete the reattachment. Procedures continued for weeks, but his retina was successfully reattached.


What does this have to do with sharing our faith persistently?


Knowing Christ is a matter of life and death. Jesus came to give us life, His own eternal, death-conquering life. And heaven is only a part of the good news. Every one of us has a life with purpose. Don’t you want to know your purpose and live that out? It took a lot of enduring pain and discomfort for Z to keep his sight. Would you rather go blind than for your sight to be saved? Would you be willing to endure some uncomfortable discussion about how you need a Savior because you cannot even help yourself from doing the things you know you shouldn’t do? Look what you stand to gain from hearing out your Christian friend or even someone like Charlie Kirk? And I also am reminded that you are worth the awkwardness and the discomfort. Jesus is my good news, today, tomorrow, and forever. I don’t have to fear even when the chao of this world accelerates. I know the One who is ultimately in control. He has me covered. I enjoy Jesus’ forgiveness, peace, empowering, and guidance today and everyday. You can, too. Could it be that you were meant to read this long post and to consider that Charlie and others risked all to bring this to you? You can pray quite simply, “Dear God, I think You might be telling me something. Would you help me to come to Jesus? I’m tired. Help me to see me as I am and help me to accept forgiveness in Jesus for all that is in my heart. In Jesus’ name.”

Why Celebrate? Part 2

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So here is my take on one aspect of why Christians try so hard to share our faith.   

Your impression of Christians is probably quite low. Maybe you feel that Christians are self-righteous “scum” for putting a moral damper on people’s rights to “do whatever feels right to them.” In fact, you consider yourself to be significantly better than most Christians. I get that. You feel like you already know the things I want to say, in fact, you have already anticipated that at some point, I am going to start quoting the Bible. Indeed. Please let me narrate this account found in the book of Second Kings (Old Testament), a historical record of the people of Israel that covers the major events from the reign of King Solomon (~970 BCE, 1 Kings) through to the nation being exiled to Babylon (~586 BCE, end of 2 Kings).

Every ethnic Israeli alive today descended from the people mentioned in the Old Testament, that means if they trace their family tree, it will go all the way up to Abraham right on through to Adam. The people of Israel in those old days were advanced in the treatment of infectious disease because God gave instruction on cleaning surfaces, washing with water, disease isolation and so on. One disease that was somewhat prevalent at that time was leprosy. Leprosy is not terribly contagious now, but back then with people living in much closer quarters without running water on tap, this disfiguring disease was serious. So, lepers were treated as outcasts, the “scum of the earth,” and often forced to live outside city walls or at least distanced from the healthy majority.

In the book of 2 Kings from the Bible, Israel is attacked by the neighboring nation of Aram.* The King of Aram with his army surrounded the walled city of the Israelites. This siege prevented supplies from getting in the city so the people within the walls either starve to death or surrender. And indeed, the Israelites within the walls are starving and tragically resort to cannibalism as the siege drags on. The people of Israel had been especially blessed by God because their forefather Abraham greatly pleased God because he believed God. When God called him to come out of a life of worshipping all the temporary pleasures of this life as all the people were doing, Abraham responded.  

But throughout the history of Israel, there were times that these marked out people turned away from God who really loved them, and in doing so, they turned away from the blessings and the special protection. The surrounding enemies would take opportunity and take advantage of Israel. But whenever Israel would realize what they were doing, the nation would repent, turn back to God, and God would forgive and bail them out.

So that takes us back to the starving Israelites under the siege. Outside the city walls were four lepers. They were also starving, but they had this idea that maybe the attacking Arameans would show them mercy and give them something to eat. If the enemy kills them, they were starving to death anyway. Well, they approached the camp of the Arameans during twilight and found no soldiers, just tents filled with food, supplies, and even valuables. The four of them went from tent to tent, feasting on the abundant food and taking the treasures they found. What happened to the Aramean army? God made the Arameans hear the sound of chariots and galloping horses, like a vast army fast approaching and the Arameans mistakenly assumed that Israel managed to hire a vast mercenary army from another nation or two to fight them. In a panic, the Aramean soldiers fled for their lives on foot leaving everything behind.

As the lepers feasted on the seemingly endless supply, they realized that they needed to let the king know right away so the people inside the walls could come out and be fed. If they waited until daybreak, they certainly would face the consequences of keeping this from their own people. So, in the dark of night, they went to the gate keepers to tell them that there are no soldiers left at the Aramean camp, just the horses, and donkeys, and tents full of supplies. The king didn’t believe them. It took a lot of convincing and finally some wise servants of the king convinced the king to at least send some people to check out their story. Well, they found things just as the lepers described and as they opened the gates, the starving people rushed out of the walled city to find food and supplies and treasures and freedom, just as these despised lepers had said.

So, though you might despise us Christians, and see us as the lepers of our day, we are compelled to come to you and do our best to convince you that we once were starving, too, but we found food, treasure, freedom, and life. Turn to Christ. There will come a day, if you ignore our pleadings now and the opportunities that God has been providing you, with friends who share with you the good news, with family members that invite you to church, even the pull of your own heart strings, if you reject Christ time and again, there might come a day, when everything comes to light, you might tell us all, why didn’t you try harder to convince me.

* 2 Kings 6:24~7:18

Why Celebrate? Part 1

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I hope this message eventually finds its way to people who celebrated the death of Charlie Kirk. I struggle to comprehend the justification of celebrating anyone’s cold-blooded murder. It doesn’t mean that given the opportunity, the celebrator would have also pulled the trigger on Charlie, does it? If you celebrated, was it that you found his message offensive or are you offended by Charlie because he’s a Christian? I have heard the complaint that Charlie was imposing his Christian faith on the people he was debating. Is that it?

I am not a debater nor a theologian, just a born-again Christian. Would you allow me to share my take? You don’t have to accept what I have to say, but it comes from a place of peace and conciliation.


Every Christian that ever lived started out antagonistic to Christ. So, if you are not a fan of Christ or His followers, neither were we to varying degrees. Every person who became a Christian, even someone born to Christian parents, starts out living in a way contrary to Christ, without exception. No one comes out of their mother’s womb a Christian, quite the contrary. So, if you think Christians don’t understand what you are going through, my response is, we were you. We had the same questions, the same frustrations, and in some ways, we are still working out some things but from a completely different standing and perspective, even with new senses that we didn’t have before we were born-again as a Christian.


We appear exactly the same before and after being born again, with similar dispositions, and we are still quite prone to failure so much that we are on the receiving end of a lot of finger-pointing. So what changed when we became a Christian? EVERYTHING. Something in me came alive and I realized that a righteousness requirement for humanity does exist, and I have come terribly short of measuring up to it. It’s humbling, but great things often have humble beginnings. And when a person is willing to accept that he or she doesn’t measure up, (and no one ever measures up), we are willing to accept that gracious offer given by God to receive Jesus Christ’s “measuring up” as my own. I cannot pin-point how it happens, but I know I am changed.


When I accepted the reality that I didn’t measure up to God’s righteous requirement (we call that sin), I also receive the offer God extends to accept Jesus Christ for my measuring up. Forgiveness found in Christ Jesus not only covers my failure to measure up, but it also covers my resentment and anger towards God. Furthermore, the ability to live a life that measures up is found in Jesus’ new life in me. Because Jesus died for me on the Cross, I no longer live powered by my old life, I now live from a new source, eternal life in Christ. I stumble often, but this new life has enlivened senses that have long been deadened and I enjoy forgiveness, and peace, and joy, and love in God’s presence.


In a way, when you hear a Christian talk or try to explain things, like I’m doing, it often sounds like nonsense. We know this because we experienced this before our senses were enlivened. It’s kind of like hearing someone try to describe the smell of macadamia nut chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven to someone who has never even eaten a cookie. Or it’s like hearing someone trying to describe an ocean sunset to a blind person. Just words, meager words. So what the baker might do is drag you to their home, whip up a batch of dough, pop a tray in the oven, and watch your face at about the 8-minute mark. That’s kind of like being invited to church or to a Bible study, and we ask you to read the Bible with us and sing with us. It’s easier when you come with us and experience it for yourself. God makes a way.


You might think, why do you Christians feel compelled to go through all this trouble to tell us about Christ and the Biblical perspective? Why does Charlie and Cliffe and others feel the need to travel to college campuses and talk to people who obviously don’t want anything to do with anything Christ? In fact, Charlie received death threats to stop him from going to the campuses. He still went. You might even tell us Christians, listen, we are happy never smelling the cookies baking. Leave us alone. Why do you try so hard to share your experience with us?


Good question.