Losing To Grandma

How do you finish strong in this race called life without giving up or being discouraged?  Well I was able to get a better handle on running races when three years ago my two best friends and I decided that we would throw caution to the wind and sign up for a 5K color run.  Now the whole idea of signing up online and paying a fee for hundreds of people to see me come last was ,but I did it anyway.   I thought to myself, “Well if I run faster than at least one of my friends I wouldn’t be technically last.”   Don’t tell them I said that.

In the end, the experience was memorable because none of us had ever done a color run before, let alone run a 5K.  There were people of all ages there, teenagers, kids, babies in strollers and grandmothers that should have been home knitting a very ugly sweater.  I personally sized up those around me and thought “I got this.”  All I had to do was keep up the pace I had on the gym treadmill and follow the instructions from the “Couch to 5K app”. To my calculations my friends and I should be one of the top 10 to come in, right?

The three of us started strong as we made sure to pace ourselves and rotate from running to walking.  We quickly realized that running on a treadmill in an air conditioned gym is totally different then running in 80 degree weather where the air sucks all the moisture out of your eyes, nose and throat with every breathe.  After running for two minutes I was wondering where the finish line was?  I felt like I had already ran a good 10 miles, but that couldn’t be because the starting point was still a few feet away from me.  With my friends by my side we talked a little to pass the time.

Behind us was the granny that I assumed mistook the 5K run application for mug making; she was behind us keeping a nice stride.  We looked at her with a little pity as she worked her way into view with her light strides.  We talked about her determination and how strong she was to attempt this.  We soon realized that this granny must have been a distant relative to Usain Bolt— one of the greatest Olympic sprinter in history.  Within a few minutes she caught up to us and slowly began running ahead and away from us.  When I realized what had just happened , I increased my speed because I was not losing to someone’s great grandmother.   I totally underestimated her stride as she slowly disappeared into the crowd of runners in front of us.  It was then that I decided to let her go and at least beat the lady pushing a baby in a stroller who was also running with her two other kids—that was a more decent goal to reach.

I’m happy to say that I didn’t come in last, but I am sad to say that the lady with the kids made it across the finish line with all her kids and was having lunch with the granny by the time we came through the finish line.

The Race to The Pool

There is a man in the Bible who wasn’t necessarily running a marathon, but nonetheless was running for something without having any strength in his legs.  This man’s story is found in the Gospel of John chapter 5.  He was lame (unable to walk) and seemed to have made his home at a small body of water called the Pool of Bethesda.  Now scripture says that he was lame for over 38 years, we are not given the time table of how long he knelt by the Pool.  Some people mistaken the amount of years he was lame to the same amount of time he was there; which is not true. Nonetheless, he had to have been there for a significant amount of time though because when Jesus comes on the scene, the first question he asked the man is a little perplexing.

“Do you want to be healed?” – John 5:7

The question makes very little sense when you first read it because the lame man was not the Pool of Bethesda’s only occupant.  In fact there were others who occupied the area who, like the man in our story, were crippled and/or had some type of sickness or handicap.  People came to the Pool for healing.  Scripture says that people came here because occasionally an angel would appear and it would stir the waters of the Pool and whichever lame, crippled, or sick person that reached the water first would be healed instantly.

Once Jesus asked this question, the man made excuses for not being healed almost as if he was use to explaining his dilemma.  So the obvious answer would be that this man really was interested in getting some kind of healing, but he could not make it to the water in time to be healed.  In verse 7 he says …

“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”

But Jesus wasn’t looking at the man’s physical state, more over that He was looking at the man’s determination to win this race to the Pool.

Is there a part of your life that you need God to heal?  Maybe you are lame and/or cripple whether it be in your thinking, your perspective of life or even your view of yourself and you know that something has to change.  Are you at the starting line but see obstacles that makes you wonder if you should even run?  Are your shortcomings being used as excuses by you as to why you can’t go after what you seek?  Do your doubts make your desires seem completely impossible?  Are you watching others around you receive what you are racing for?  Are they living the life of healing that you are going after?  Well let’s look at the question Jesus asked that man one more time.

Really??

“Do you want to be healed?”  Now if I add one word to this question it changes everything and may even be a little offensive.  “Do you really want to be healed?”  Was Jesus saying that?  It is very possible because after the man’s excuse for not having anyone to take him in the pool and someone getting to it before him, Jesus says…

“Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”

To me, his response to the lame man was not one of sympathy or understanding.  It’s almost like a teenager who slacks off all year and then tries to explain why they got a failing grade.  The parent hears the excuse, but doesn’t buy it for one second.   Jesus didn’t buy this man’s excuse and Jesus doesn’t buy ours either.  There are many of us who find ourselves in bad situations that we have caused to happen.  Our own bad behavior brought us to a crippling state and in order to get better it will require complete determination to get us out.  Our bad actions can ruin relationships with friends and love ones.  They bring calamity and discord where ever we go and still we make excuses for why we can’t repair them or why things won’t improve.

Like the lame man, are you in a place where many where “lame and crippled” come, therefore you think that your situation is so bad that you’ll never overcome those circumstances.  You see others around you getting what you want, but instead of you digging your cleats in, you make excuses as to why you are the way you are.  This man made a bed in his circumstance and you have to make sure that you don’t make a bed right next to your handicap state.

Now some may be thinking, well Marsha how do we know that that man got himself in that situation.    How do we not know that he was a victim?  Well later on in the chapter, it says that Jesus saw him later on that day after he was healed and gave him a warning…

¹⁴ Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well!  Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”

Jesus confirms that the man did something that got him there in the first place and if he didn’t stop something worse was going to come on him.

The life we live is like a race that we run with the power of determination.  In this life we must be honest about the things we have done that have resulted in us  being detoured or stranded.  In addition, we have to be willing to take a step back and see if our reason for staying where we are is just an excuse and/or if we have settled.  Have we told ourselves what we think we need to hear to justify where we are and mixed a little bit of truth with a lie to feel better?

The Apostle Paul said it right when he was at the end of his life in 1 Timothy 4:7,8…

⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

What are the three main things needed in order to fight the good fight and finish the race?

1. Accept the struggle and quit complaining. We spend more time complaining about where we are than figuring out the strategy to get out and succeed.  Stay focus on the real issue so that you can preserve your energy for the race.
2. Stop making excuses. The excuses we make just show us that we are not learning from our mistakes.  If we can make an excuse for why we aren’t doing our best, then we will make an excuse for why we should quit.
3. Don’t make a bed in a place of lameness. We must not allow ourselves to get comfortable with the broken parts of us.  Don’t get use to where you are; don’t convince yourself to settle.

Weekly Challenge:

In this week take sometime to see if there is an area that you may feel crippled in: relationships, your perspective, your self-image. Be honest as to what part you play in being where you are and what excuses you have made to stay where you are.