| Galatians 6:9 – “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” |
Times where life is hard.
We grow weary.
We’ve done our best or at least tried.
We want to sit it out and let the world go by.
That pretty much describes American society right now with the pandemic.
We’ve masked our way to a face rash.
We’ve distanced ourselves until the soul breaks.
And yet…we want just to stop it and do what we did.
Be careful…times like this are not just physically dangerous. When we grow weary, we find danger. It happens to the runners of the St. Croix 40 Winter Ultra.
People spend a lot of money to do a 40-mile ultra marathon.
The race begins at night, in January, in Minnesota.
Temperatures may dip to 30 below zero…or more. The spit on your lips will freeze and blood turns to molasses at those temperatures.
Over a quarter of the starters never finish the race. Most drop out at a single point–mile marker 24.
Runners encounter Mile 24 between 10pm and midnight. Now, only those who have prepared for an emergency will survive.
They will stop and set up a body-shaped tent that encloses a sleeping bag, climb into this makeshift bed, rest for 30 seconds, and then pack it and start running again.
They have stopped. They get a breather. But this is the dangerous point because their sweat starts to freeze and you want to quit. And many do.
Only those who have come to make the race to the end overcome this hurdle.
All of us have a mile 24 in our lives when the temptation is to stop doing the right thing.
Robert G. Taylor
robertgtaylor.com
