Run!

http://herbaltee.spreadshirt.com/2-timothy-4-7-A2054540

“Leave it all on the mat.”  Those were the words oft uttered by my high school wrestling coach.  His desire was for me to give every last ounce of effort, strength, and energy.  Whatever I did, I was not to return from the mat with something left in my tank.  However, this became my greatest issue throughout high school wrestling.  I continually remained reserved.  I always seemed to hold back.  Yet, there was one match in which I was given a glimpse of what “leaving it all on the mat” for me would actually look like.  For whatever reason, I engaged my opponent with the entirety of my physical arsenal.  I remember returning from the mat, my coach’s face frozen in disbelief.  It seemed as though he was not convinced that the person he had just observed was actually me.  It felt good, I was completely spent, but completely satisfied.  

When I lived in Mississippi, sometimes during an awful storm, I would step out on our, screened in, back patio.  It was a wondrous experience.  All around me the storm was fiercely howling.  However, all the time I remained dry.  Yet to simply stand close to our back door, protected from the elements was to miss out on the real experience of the storm.  So, I moved closer to the screen.  The closer I got, the more I felt the insolent wind wrapping across my face.  Then I began to feel the spotting of rain drops spattering across my arm.  It was cold, and coupled with the wind, invigorating.  I came to realize that if I wanted to experience the power and sheer thrill of the storm, I would have to get wet.  

A Christian life should be lived with the same philosophy.  It is one thing to claim Christianity, and stand a safe distance from the howling winds of need and pain in our world.  It is an altogether different matter to immerse oneself in the thick of the storms of life.     

In 2 Timothy 4:7, Paul powerfully asserts “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”  Paul’s listeners understood Paul’s metaphor as a reference to an olympian.  As it was for me on the wrestling mat, it was for the olympian in the colosseum, give all that you have, leave nothing on the field of play.  

Paul calls us to run the race, and so we must run.  We must run with all that we are, with all that we have, with nothing reserved.  Run!