A Just Race

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On Sunday, November 7, 2010, Chilean miner Edison Peña finished the New York City ING Marathon in 5:40:51 hours. Peña, 34, was one of the 33 miners trapped inside the gold and copper mine, located in the Atacama Desert, for 69 days. He managed to run loops of 3 to 6 miles through tunnels 2,000 feet below the surface, wearing sawed-off miner’s boots, in temperatures up to 90 °F. He ran attached to a rock sled to make his training even more difficult. Media services around the world have covered his captivating story. For Peña, participating in the NYC Marathon was more than just a lofty goal. It was more than just a race. He ran for his life; a life that the world did not even know still existed during the first 17 days underground. Like Edison Peña, we are all participating in a race. It is a race for our lives, and it is a race for life. It is also a race of faith.

“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (NIV: Philippians 3:13-14).

In my previous article, A Just Arbiter, I used this passage in Philippians to talk about the qualities of the race from the perspective of the arbitrating authorities. The winner of the race is determined by the decision of the referees and the race organizers. Let us now take a moment to reflect on the qualities of the race itself; recognizing that our race is not just a race, it is also a just race.

Without Pretentions
Notice the words, “I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.” We should not be conceited about having reached perfection, having completed our race, or having fulfilled all that is expected of us. In previous verses, Paul gives us a list of things he could have been proud of but was not: religion, ethnicity, family name, ancestry, education, job, or morality. He actually considered all these loss, even garbage, compared with the level of perfection – meaning work completeness, growth, mental state, and moral stature – found in Christ.

If we want to run a just race, we should not boast about the success we have not reached. We should not be ostentatious about those things we have not fully acquired; including those we are making payments on. We should not be pompous about the person we have not yet become, or pretend to be someone we are not.

Without Past
One thing I noticed at a recent loop marathon is that as soon as the last group of runners took off, race workers rotated the structure marking the Starting line around and made it into the Finish line. It probably took them less than five minutes. This taught me a great lesson: The starting line is well past gone and only the finish line remains. Once you start your race – and you have – your start is your point of no return. The past is past. If only we could learn this lesson! I have met many people who live in the past. They have not been able to get over their failures, their buried feelings that make them bitter, or their nostalgia for the times gone. Some are even stuck in their previous successes, as if these were anchors instead of oars.

Paul said it this way: “Forgetting what is behind.” If we want to run a just race, we should let go of our previous mistakes and sins. We should not stall at our past fears. We should not feed on our past glories and graces. For a reason, “God's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning” (Message: Lamentations 3:22-23b).

With Projection
There is a remarkable shift in this list of withs and withouts. Note how the withouts correspond to the mind. The next two withs are actions that will get you moving forward. The lesson is this: Once you fix your attitude you can fix your actions. Some people want to run their races carrying extra weight in the sled of their attitudes. This might be good for training but certainly not for racing. Fixing your mind will let you glide, now it is time to get your propellers and move forward; in other words, stand up and run; stop thinking about and do it. Peña said. “I struggled with myself, I struggled with my own pain, but I made it to the finish line. I want to motivate other people to also find the courage and strength to transcend their own pain.”[1]

If we want to run a just race, we should honor the award set before us – the prize of God’s supreme calling. We should respect the revelation we have received. We should keep those qualities and abilities we have already attained and the character we have already shaped. We should put effort “straining toward what is ahead.”

With Perseverance
Another great lesson of a marathon, there are no shortcuts. You wear a race chip on your shoe so that the arbiters make sure you cross the farthest points of the route. Paul knew this when he wrote, “I press on toward the goal.” The Greek word for goal is scopos, and it literally means a milestone or road-marker, just as in a race. It also means watchman, someone that is making sure you cross the farthest points of your race. And Someone is. In an interview reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, Edison Peña said “I wanted to communicate with God to tell him: ‘This is how much I wanted to live.’ I wanted him an active participant in my own salvation. I wanted to beat the mine desperately; I wanted to show the mine that it would be just tired of me.”[2] You keep that attitude and God will surely listen.

When I was a child, I remember playing the game of finding the scopos on the road during a long trip. The more you could find, the more points you could get to win. Now as an adult, I have learned that the same is true, and accumulating points is the essence of perseverance. If we want to run a just race, we should set up reachable goals and press onto them. Someone once said: “There are no impossible goals, only unable ones.” We should persist to reach our maturity. We should persevere to become who we need to be.

[1] “Chilean miner Edison Pena toughs out NYC Marathon,” San Francisco Chronicle [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/hottopics/detail?entry_id=76565] Last accessed November 08, 2010.
[2] Ibid.

Vladimir Lugo