Good Run

April 02, 2014 | By Chuck

"Good Run" I'm becoming a huge track and field fan because my son runs for his high school. Track meets are long, lasting anywhere from 4 to 5 hours but I typically arrive early and stay until he runs in the final event of the night. Last night as the boys 400 relay, the final event, was about to start I noticed the stands were clearing out. There wasn't near as many cars parked in the lot outside the gate. As for me, I was still sitting in the same place in the stands waiting for my favorite part of the track meet. After he runs that final event I always walk out onto the field to meet him and say, "Good Run." That's my favorite part of every track meet, not because it's finally over, but because I get to meet him on the field and tell him, no matter how he did, "well done. " As I waited for my son outside the locker room under the stadium lights I couldn't help but think of how much I enjoy watching him run his races and how much more I enjoy walking onto that field after the last event to meet him. As he appears from the locker room and we begin to walk across the now empty field toward the parking lot, just father and son, I thought this must be what heaven will be like. Can you see it? The similarities are definitely there. "Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."(Heb.12:1) The Christian life is that race. It doesn't matter if you're a fan of running or not. If you are a Christian then you are running the race of the Christian life. Unlike the track meet, it doesn't matter where we finish in the Christian race, it's only important that we finish faithful to God. Nearing the end of his life Paul wrote, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."(II Tim.4:7) I wonder when I finish my race in this life will God meet me on heavens field and say, "Good Run" as He welcomes me home. There we will be, Father and son, walking through heaven, not under stadium lights but under the light of God's glory. That, no doubt, will be my favorite part of the Christian race. Chuck Ball