Run, JOYFULLY, With Perseverances

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2 NIV)

Even when I was younger and athletic, I never like to run. Running was something you did in short bursts in basketball or tennis, or that long run around the bases. Running was that grind that you did around the track in the off season only because the coach’s drill-sergeant yells intimidated you and moved you forward. I never understood those who CHOSE to run and how they spoke about the freedom of being out and running free.

It’s been many years since then and, due to a change of attitude about health, I’ve begun to job. If you knew me when, you’d be quite startled. At least several times a week, I don headphones and begin to jog, and it is only now that I understand what I missed all those years. Now I’ll also admit that my jogging incorporates praise music and prayer, and between that and the actual act of jogging, I can honestly say that I relish that time as a physical and spiritual workout. The first time I experienced that joy, I was quite surprised. I should be groaning, but I just couldn’t do it. It was then I remembered an episode of the TV show “Friends”, where Phoebe went jogging. Her style of jogging was so wildly joyful that she couldn’t contain it. Not THAT was a picture of running with perseverance, and doing so with joy.

The verse from Hebrews is one of my favorites, and I always read it with the seriousness due a marathon runner, running forward with a serious face and eyes fixed on the prize. It was a test of endurance in which you grit your teeth and had your game face on. But in thinking of Phoebe, it put a different spin on the text. I now could see that joy was a major part of enduring. For those of you who are steadily involved in ministry, lay or clergy, I know that sometimes enduring and persevering are difficult positions to hang on to. I’ve set my game face and endured many a task or ministry, perhaps because I felt alone or put upon. But Phoebe’s joyful running reminds me that there is joy in the journey. I can and will endure, with joy. I pray you will too.