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I was supposed to put the second part of a blog I posted last week, but let me interrupt with a little thing God did today....

I went to my second Cross Country race today. No, No, not for me, but for my son Lake who is in the third grade. Let me set the stage...

It was at Cove Lake. The mountains, majestic in the distance, and the lake hugging the course, served as a perfect backdrop for a memorable race. The girls raced, then the boys. Both races begin with a couple hundred kids lined up like scottish warriors waiting for Mel Gibson to say, "They may take our water bottles but they can't take our Gatorade!" The only thing missing from the racers were kilts, blue war paint, and spears. I have never seen anything like it. At the sound of a gun, hundreds of kids raced for one goal....the Finish Line.

It was a clear day, not a cloud in the sky, yet the water works almost came down. Not from the sky, but rolling down my cheeks. I don't really know what came over me but when I saw these kids crossing the Finish Line I about lost it...and it wasn't even my kid! All of the different expressions on these kids faces were priceless. From happiness to relief to confidence and my favorite...pain.

Kids crossing in pain got me choked up. Kids pushing their bodies to the point of pain just got to me. I guess it wasn't just the pain but pain handcuffed to pleasure. The pleasure of finishing. I saw it in my son's eyes.

You know how you can think one thousand thoughts in one second? But to express those thoughts would take ten pages? Well, I don't have the time to write that and you don't have the time to read them. But indulge me a little...

Earlier this summer, I was able to go the Crosswalk Reunion, a reunion for all those who went to the youth group of Trinity Chapel. It was nice to see people I had not seen in 15-20 years. During the reunion, we had people share about how much Crosswalk meant to them. My friend, Paul, got up and shared his testimony and it brought tears to those in the room. But one thing he shared stuck with me. He looked at everyone in the room and said, "I'm finishing this thing...I'm going to finish this race"! When you give your life to Christ at an early age, sometimes you don't have years of pain to go through to test that faith. Now, twenty years later, I can echo the same sentiments as my friend Paul. With years of pain built up...dissapointments, false expectations, mixed with the awesome faithfullness of God...I am going to Finish this Race!

Today finally put art to Paul's words. It summed it up in a living painting. We may not finish first, but if we don't finish this race in Pain and Pleasure...maybe we never ran the right race. Loving Jesus involves pain, but it is blended with the pure pleasure of serving Him...isn't that worth fighting for...worth finishing for?