I have been reflecting on how hard it is to keep at something for a long time—to keep my nose to the grindstone week in and week out. The word for it is endurance. Whether it’s reading God’s Word, studying hard in school, remaining faithful in marriage, or performing your ministry for the Lord week in and week out, it’s hard to keep doing something—anything—when everything in you wants to quit. However, the older I get and the longer I am in ministry the more convinced I am that it’s all about endurance! Life and ministry is about finishing well. I love seeing new believers come to faith in Christ. One Sunday last spring we baptized and welcomed into the church family some sixteen people. It was a great day! But I’ll get more fired up to see each of them twenty and thirty years down the road still serving and loving God, still running the race marked out for them, still persevering and enduring in their faith.

Hebrews 12 says “…let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus . . . who for the joy set before him endured the cross . . . consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Those words: endurance and perseverance. I love those words. I love what they stand for. I love what they mean. But I also hate those words because I see in them so many of my failures and weaknesses. If Jesus embodies endurance and perseverance, I too often stand cowering in their shadow. Yet, we are told to follow Jesus’ model in this regard. We are to run the race with endurance so that we can finish. Too many folks start out great in their Christian walk. They spring off the starting block a blur of motion. Many marvel and wonder at their dedication, their activity, their faith. They are sprinters in a race best suited for the long distance marathoner. And, all too often, when things get difficult and God doesn’t seem to want to behave the way they think He should, they run out of steam. They burnout. They quit. They take their eyes off Jesus and forget that it’s all about the finish. Disillusionment sets in. And they drop out of the race.

Recently, God has been teaching me about endurance and perseverance when things get tough.

Many moons ago I loved to run. The last time I lost significant weight was about 17 years ago. I did it partially by running. With the years came the excess weight and somewhere along the line I couldn’t run anymore. So one of my goals with my current weight loss has been to get back running. Over the last year I have spent a lot of time on my treadmill but most of it was walking for fear of messing up my feet or knees. But that has been my goal. About a month ago I found that I can actually start running again. And it felt good. So little by little I began running again.

That brings me to a few days ago. I was on the treadmill. It was late at night. I couldn’t sleep so I strapped on my iPod, cranked up Rush, and started running. I didn’t really want to at first. I had to force myself to get on the thing. The first half mile or so was rough but not because I was out of breath or in pain. I just would have rather sat down and ate some ice cream. But I ran through it. Now, for those of you who are hard core runners, my accomplishment in this regard is small in comparison to yours. But for a guy who got out of breath getting off the couch just 15 months ago, this is a big thing. So that night I kept running.

I ran with Rush through Subdivisions and raced with the Red Barchetta. I ran with the Working Man pounding in my ears and I and Flew By Night like an owl. Nearing the two mile mark I felt great, like a New World Man. My adrenaline was pumping, and endorphins were coursing through my body and mind. My breathing was heavy but controlled and rhythmic as Rush screamed through Limelight. But at about the two and a half mile mark I got a Distant Early Warning of trouble. A pain shot through my left calf and disappeared as quickly as it came. “Just a distraction,” I thought as Tom Sawyer pulled me back into my rhythmic stride. But it came back and it hurt.

I ran with Rush through Subdivisions and raced with the Red Barchetta. I ran with the Working Man pounding in my ears and I and Flew By Night like an owl. Nearing the two mile mark I felt great, like a New World Man. My adrenaline was pumping, and endorphins were coursing through my body and mind. My breathing was heavy but controlled and rhythmic as Rush screamed through Limelight. But at about the two and a half mile mark I got a Distant Early Warning of trouble. A pain shot through my left calf and disappeared as quickly as it came. “Just a distraction,” I thought as Tom Sawyer pulled me back into my rhythmic stride. But it came back and it hurt.

Now by this time I had been on the treadmill for about 30 minutes. This doesn’t seem like a long time when you’re zipping through an episode of Monk on the Tivo. But when your pounding it out on the treadmill it’s a long time. And so when I felt this throbbing pain in my calf, everything in me said “Quit. It’s okay. Two and a half miles is not bad.” Only problem was that I had determined to run three and a half miles—a distance I had not run in eighteen years. To quit would have made me a . . . well, a quitter. So I kept running through the pain. Did I mention it hurt?

But an amazing thing happened. After about another quarter mile, the pain disappeared and I began to feel . . . amazing. I could have kept going indefinitely (well at least until I collapsed and had to be air lifted to Hurley Medical Center).

But I worked through it. I didn’t give up. I didn’t let the pain dictate my actions. I kept going and it went away and I felt great. I persevered and I endured through the pain.

Let’s face it. Sometimes life is hard. And it can be very appealing to quit and walk away. I don’t care what the issue is. It’s hard and not very much fun, at times, to persevere and endure. There will be pain and at times it seems that it’s all just running on a treadmill sweating and cramping but going nowhere. But life is a marathon not a wind sprint. I want to finish strong, steady, and with an even stride when I round life’s last turn. I want to be like Jesus who endured and persevered through physical and emotional pain the likes of which we can’t imagine. All of this so we could think of Him and be reminded that there was once a Man Who didn’t give up when it got tough. There was a Man Who did persevere. Who endured. And Who will be the first to catch us as we break the tape when we cross the final finish line.

And it will be so worth it.