“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”

2 Timothy 4:7

To me, this verse means that we should never give up when we are trying to do something good.  It reminds me of participating in a high school cross country race, because in cross country, the main thing is to never let yourself give up and to keep going. We need to keep going and give it our all. 

The cross country race that I most associate with this verse is when I ran in the sectionals during my freshman year of high school. The meet was at the Mondovi golf course.  I was fortunate to be the seventh of seven runners for the team.  As the race progressed, I told myself that I can finish and not to give up no matter what would happen. With those words in my head I was able to put a lot of runners behind me and I continued to move up the ranks with my team.  Near the middle of the race I passed my own team’s sixth runner.  Passing that runner made me a happy person, but as I passed him, I encouraged him to keep up with me.  Encouraging our teammates is an important part of our team’s success, because we don’t just pass our teammates, we ask that they keep pace with us.  Our sixth runner was able to stay with me for about a mile but he then started to fall behind.  When that happened, he told me to go ahead because he knew that I could catch more people if I kept up the pace. 

I caught up to our fifth runner when we were getting fairly close to the finish line.  While I was glad to be one of the top five on our team, it was unfortunate timing because there wasn’t much distance left in the race for us to push each other.  So since I am a pretty good sprinter, I quickly passed him and two other runners from a different team before finishing.  In cross country, the top five runners score points for the team.  Moving from runner six to five at that late stage didn’t help my team that much because I couldn’t make up many additional points for my team.

This verse helps and encourages me, not just about cross country, but with life in general. It encourages me to work hard, keep going, and to keep developing my faith. 

Prayer: We thank you Lord for helping us to not give up even though we sometimes want to.  Thank you for helping those that are having a hard time with loved ones, and for helping families that are dealing with a loss of those close to them.  Stay with us and guide us through all rough times.  Amen.

Jabin Hojem