I was once a runner. I loved the feeling of finishing a race. I never much cared that I wasn’t first, and even when I was in the best shape of my life I knew my body type wasn’t one that would win races. But I was a finisher, and that for me was always an accomplishment worth celebrating.

From my experience, there are two categories of runs: sprints and marathons. OK, technically a marathon is a set race of 42 km. But in my mind, there are the short races and the long hauls. And you run the races very differently depending on the length.

Sprints are all-out, pump the legs and arms as fast as you can, pound the feet against the track, end goal in sight type of deals. You basically go like stink until you reach the finish.

Marathon length races are run much differently. They require persistence and an ability to push through a more aching pain as you consistently pound the pavement. Mentally your focus needs to be on the end goal though you cannot see it for miles in between you and the finish line. Pacing is important, and having a strong support team providing water, food, encouragement and arms to fall into at the end of the race are crucial.

Our entire Mexico trip we were with a team from Coquitlam Alliance Church (CAC) and as we worked with them, I really saw the difference between a sprint and a marathon when it comes to a short term trip. The people on this trip worked like stink, hiking and digging and dry-walling and pipe laying and concrete making and running VBS and encouraging and praying and driving – lots of driving – for two weeks straight.

And we pretty much followed along the team schedule set up for the CAC group. For 14 of the 15 days we ran the rapid pace that is a short term missions sprint: limited time, much to do, many places to get to in such a short time that every hour counts.

And what a team CAC was to race with, sprint style. They were probably all tired of work projects by the time we had hiked out of the Copper Canyon and got to the base camp in Rio Chico. Yet everyone was out there, smiles on, shovels in hand, ready to get brand new scratches, blisters, aching muscles and then to look back at the end of the day and know they did a job well done. It’s amazing to watch and it was great to be a part of that experience.

But now that sprint is over. The CAC team members are back home, blisters healed, burnt skin pealed off, photos downloaded and travel items put back in closets and drawers. It makes it all the more obvious to me now in comparison that Justin and I are running a marathon, not a sprint as we see others finish the race they set out to do and we are not even halfway done ours.

I remember that when I ran, there was almost always a point where I had to mentally remind myself of why I was in the race. I would glance around me to see other racers plugging along. I would take in the scenery, feel the ground and my shoes connect with each step, listen to my breath and just take the time to realize that my body could, after all, complete the remainder of the race.

We just spent a week away from all things Pockets of Change related. It felt good to take that moment in time to look at the scenery, feel the grass under my feet, listen to my heart and realize that I could, after all, complete the remainder of this race, this project, set out before us.

Am I tired? Yes. Do I long for the finish line? Yes. But I am enjoying the course immensely. There have been many interesting people along the route, many God-breathed moments like a cool breeze out on hot pavement, and many assurances that the race is nothing to hard in light of God’s glory and grace.

Pray that we can run this race with strength and endurance, and finish strong whenever that finish line may be.

Tags: Lessons, Prayer, Teams

This entry was posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 11:01 am and is filed under Mexico, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.