Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Once in a Blue Moon (01/06/11)
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TITLE: An Amazing Moment | Previous Challenge Entry
By Wilma Schlegel
01/13/11 -
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“Yes, Craig, I appreciate that.” I smiled warmly and I hoped convincingly. “Walking’s great and you know I do walk. Swimming’s great, too, but...”
“They wouldn’t be so hard on your joints,” Craig continued.
“My joints are ok,” I insisted as I applied some ice to my knee.
“So, you’re not buying it, are you?” he asked.
“Buying what? An elliptical trainer?” I asked just to frustrate him.
“No, you’re not buying my good advice, are you, Miss Bullheaded?” His eyes crinkled in a smile.
“Nope - as long as I can, I’m going to run - it’s just one of those experiences,” I tried to explain. “You should give it a try.”
“Well, maybe. Tell me what got you started.” This response from Craig surprised me.
“Really? You really want to know?” I asked.
“Sure.”
“Ok, it was a once-in-a-blue-moon experience. It was a great big, downhill, one-mile, foot race. I hadn’t trained. I only ran it because a close friend of mine didn’t want to run alone. It was her first race, too, and my encouragement to her (while I thought I would die before I got to the end) was ‘don’t worry - I don’t mind if you want to drop out!’”
Going on with my story, I said, “but she was determined (while I was in pain) and she said, ‘I’m finishing even if I finish last.’”
Craig was smiling.
I went on, “Well, she wasn’t last, I was. Was I ever relieved when I finally ran across that finish line! That race took me over twelve minutes. My lungs burned and I coughed and coughed afterward, but - I was awarded second place in my age group!”
Craig gave me a jesting punch in the shoulder and said, “way to go, champ.”
Then he said, “Seriously, that sounds awful and you do realize that you would have placed second in your age group even if you crawled all the way, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do, but don’t you see? It’s kind of like the kingdom of heaven. I placed without working for it, without making myself fit for it. It was a wonderful, free gift. It made me think, what would happen if I actually trained, really worked at it?”
“But you can’t work your way into heaven.” Craig didn’t seem to be following my thinking.
“No, it’s the gift of Jesus if we just accept it,” I agreed. “But once we accept it, we want to change to be more like Him. We want to work to bear fruit for Him and we’re blessed along the way. But that’s not to say it’s easy, just like running.”
“So are you saying you’ve been blessed by your running experiences?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah! The things I’ve seen - deer, water fowl, snakes (actually yuck, but fascinating), beautiful landscapes, and covered bridges and I even ran across the Ben Franklin Bridge once and I ran through the Lincoln Tunnel. And I’ve seen people running together, people cheering and once in a blue moon I’ve seen something really incredible.”
“Such as?” Craig prompted me.
“Such as a bald eagle in flight just yards off the running trail. That was really amazing! Or there was this one time... I had run an especially long race. I was spent, it was hard. The race finally ended in a football stadium. It was such a thrill to hear my name called when I entered the stadium - spent, used up, pushed to the limit, but finishing. As I rounded the last turn before the finish line I looked up in the bleachers and there, rising inch-by- inch to his total six feet, clapping, was my marathon-running brother, cheering, hollering....for me.....!”
“Cool,” Craig said quietly.
“Yeah, what an amazing moment, I’ll never forget it,” I mused. “You know, I think its going to be like that when we get to heaven and the saints welcome us in. But standing tallest and cheering the loudest with the most incredible welcome of all will be the Lord Jesus Himself.”
“So, what do you say? You going to run with me tomorrow?”
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