July 31, 2000

CYBERCOLUMN:
Life is a race
___By John Duncan
___ "I'm sitting here under the old oak tree, pondering the race of life. What about a bike race like the Tour de France? I recently watched a bicyclist from Austin, Lance Armstrong, zip down paved streets of Paris, France, the victor in one of life's most grueling bike races.
___ What about the rat race? I once heard a guy talk about being caught up in the rat race.

JOHN DUNCAN

I've never seen rats race, but I guess it's something to behold.
___ What about races with runners sporting spiked shoes? Recently a sprinter named Michael Johnson sought to qualify for the 200-meter sprint in the Olympics. He tumbled to the track in anguish as he pulled up lame while running the race.
___ Life is a race. The Apostle Paul asks the question, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize" (1 Corinthians 9:24).
___ Today, I'm pondering life's race and the cherished prize racers aim to clutch with their hands. I'm also thinking of NASCAR races with Jeff Gordon and Sheri Evans.
___ Sheri Evans?
___ Sheri Evans joined life's race on the starting line on the 31st day of July, 1964. At the age of 3, this wide-eyed adventurer quietly slipped into her neighbor's home and put on make-up. The race was on. Before her 10th year, she went to the shopping mall with her parents and announced, "Don't hold my hand!"
___ Free spirit that she was, she once tried the Lance Armstrong thing, biking from Fresno, Calif., to San Francisco and across the Golden Gate Bridge.
___ Soon, though, like most of us, she was deep into the rat race thing--a cheerleader in high school; off to college to earn her associate's degree in nursing; marrying; working; cooking; doing the laundry; raising her precious son DJ, and loving just about anything connected to a race and a prize, like rooting for her beloved Oklahoma Sooners. She cheered "Boomer Sooner!" and all that stuff that Oklahoma fans do as they wish for their team to race to the top of the standings in football, baseball or whatever. Her favorite thing, though, was stock car racing and watching No. 24 Jeff Gordon circle the NASCAR track at high speed with a loud roar.
___ In 1985, she did the Michael Johnson thing and groaned in anguish in life's race. She did not tumble in her quest for a gold medal, but rather received the disappointing news that she had Hodgkins' disease. She struggled in the race--surgery, radiation and recovery. Miraculously, God picked her up and put her back on her feet. Her diseased body made peace with her cancer for a season, 10 years of remission joyously thrusting her back into the rat race.
___ I met Sheri in 1997 when she and her family visited our church. They later joined our church fellowship. During this time, I also learned of her love for stock car racing and of her body's renewed battle with disease. Life's race shocks with flat tires, blown engines and unexpected detours. Sheri raced for the checkered flag of victory as her body shouted in pain.
___ "God," C. S. Lewis once observed, "shouts in our pain and whispers in our pleasures."
___ In pain, was Sheri deflated in the race, Job's twin complaining, "My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul"? ( Job 10:1). No, while slowing in the race, she endured without complaint.
___ She kept her eye on the finish line, determined to complete the race, whispering back to God, "I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth" (Job 19:25). Sheri gripped the steering wheel of faith. Her radiant smile hinted of imminent victory. And in this drama, Jeff Gordon cheered for her, sending an autographed T-shirt with an encouraging message: "Refuse to lose."
___ Then on the 24th of April, 2000, amid tears of grief and joy with family gathered around, the checkered flag waved, and Sheri crossed the line of victory, entering the winner's circle of heaven.
___ Life is a race. The journey waves flags--green flags signaling "go"; yellow flags cautioning "slow"; red flags announcing "no"; and checkered flags calling us home.
___ Life is a race where little girls with wide-eyed wonder put on make-up, a grueling endurance test of uphill climbs and of rat races and of anguished tumbling which sends you sprawling flat on your face. Life shocks us with death.
___ When death comes, life troubles us. When life troubles us, God sustains us. When God sustains us, he comforts us.
___ And so as the shadows lengthen here under the old oak tree, I'm pondering the race. Run the race long and hard. Determine to live. Enjoy the company of family and friends in the race. Determine to love. Know how to win the race. Determine to live forever. Run in such a way to receive the prize, the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus.
___ Life, I've decided, is a race. Is your eye on the prize?


___ John Duncan is pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, and the writer of numerous articles in various journals and magazines


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