Most children, and even some grown-ups, really like a race. Often children call out to each other. “I can beat you!” and off they run. If it’s an organized race, someone will say, “On your mark, get set, GO!” and everyone runs as fast as they possibly can. Sometimes children like to have a hopping race or a swimming race — but how about a 100-mile bicycle race! In Psalms 19:55Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. (Psalm 19:5), we are told it takes a strong man to run a race, and only strong, well-trained men were going to enter this 100-mile bicycle race.
The race was set for a Saturday morning in July on the Manitoba prairie in Canada. However, instead of the warm, sunny day the racers had expected, rain was falling, the temperature was about 45° and the wind was strong. It was just a miserable day for bike racing, but the race would go on anyway. The starting point was in a valley, so the first two miles were uphill, and if that wasn’t bad enough, they would head right into the gusty wind.
What a slow start for the racers! That day the thought was not to be the first one to the top of the hill, it was just to make it to the top, for each racer knew there were still 98 more miles to go after that first hill.
Several places in the Bible the life of a Christian is compared to a person running a race. Often life’s pathway is difficult and the race seems hard, but we are told to run with patience — that is, we should keep going and not give up — and we can only do that by looking to Jesus. “Let us run with patience [endurance] the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” Hebrews 12:1,21Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1‑2). The bicycle racers had trained for months, some of them even years to prepare for this race, and it was still going to be very difficult for them. Are you prepared for the “race” that every Christian runs? A song we often sing tells us one way to train:
Read your Bible, pray every day,
And you’ll grow, grow, grow.
We get stronger as we grow, and it takes a strong person to run a race.
Several cars and vans followed the racers with the drinks and food they would need to keep up their strength. They also carried medical supplies in case a racer should become ill or get hurt. Someone would be right there to help out all along that 100-mile ride; the riders would never be left alone.
It was over 41/2 hours before the first racers came in sight of the finish line. They were a tired, wet group. Even though each racer wanted to win the first prize, there was no burst of speed — just a steady pedaling to make it to the finish line — and then a cheer went up as the wheels of the first bicycle — the winner — crossed that finish line.
In 1 Corinthians 9:2424Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. (1 Corinthians 9:24), we are told to run the “race of life” as though we wanted to win the first prize. “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.” That should always keep us running steadily in the right direction. Just as every bicycle racer was happy to reach the finish line, even if he didn’t get first prize, a day is coming soon when each of us who has accepted the Lord Jesus as our Saviour will be happy to be with Him in heaven, and our “race of life” will be over. Are we each good runners? Are we keeping our minds on the finish line?
ML-07/31/1988