Run to win!  Paul says.

Was he talking to senior citizens?   Like me?   Win, Paul?   Are you sure?

I never thought of myself as a runner until my Kbear invited me to join her in a half marathon race.  Before then I just walked.  With nerves and trembling I did the race, but I mostly just walked.  Now, 5 trembling and nervous years later, I kinda think of myself as a sorta runner, which means lotsa walking steps.  I am 7 races down the road and about to start and finish my 8th race.   Eight half marathons.  Winning doesn’t happen when you’re a senior.  But what does happen, as a sorta runner, is lots of training — the win.

Paul says, “All athletes are disciplined in their training.  They do it to win. …So I run with purpose in every step.  I discipline my body, training it to do what it should.”  Athletes and Believers.  In it for the win.  But first for the training.

The coolest thing has happened during this last training season.  Every dark morning.  The stars glisten.  The temps or wind or rain greet me out the gate.   And I step.  Then step.  Then step step step.  And as I step, I listen to teaching, preaching, stories, worship.   I discipline my body AND my mind.  Both are after the prize.  Fearing I might otherwise be “disqualified,” and longing to finish well,  I train.

Here’s what I’ve noticed during the day.  Lyrics come to mind without music.  A broader concept of friendship causes me to call a friend.  I put scriptures to life-things like money and work and church and hardship and love.

Now I run with purpose in every step.   I’m a sorta runner, in it for the participation medal.  I’m a Believer, in it for the forever medal.  I train to win.

1 Corinthians 9:25-27