Good Morning!
30 days!
Yesterday, the President asked us to continue our
efforts to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus until the end of April. The hope
… and I use the word “hope” because there is no guarantee … is that by the end of
the month we will be on the backside of the pandemic.
Harking back to my youth (a long, long time
ago), after we had run the mile for the President’s physical fitness test, the
coaches required us to double the mile.
Again, it was a timed event … but it did not count as heavily on our
grade. We also ran the quarter-mile
(440) and the half-mile (880). Each distance required a different strategy to
get to the best time. When running a
short distance (the 100-yard dash, for example), the runner begins and ends
running as fast as he or she can. The same is true for the 440 … it is considered
to be a short distance. The strategy changes
when the distance goes beyond the 440.
One begins to consider how to start, how to endure, and how to
finish. The start has a period to get
one’s muscles adjusted to the pace of the endurance run. The endurance run was rhythmic. I can recall almost a song of running going
through my head as I endured the mile and half in the middle of the two-mile
run. The finish is strong … a 440 when one’s
energy is almost completely expended. The
runner ends the race exhausted … but finished strong.
Over the last sixteen days, we have run a mile
in our efforts to contain COVID-19. We
have come to the end of that mile … but the race is not yet fully run. The President has asked us to run two-miles …
to take 30 more days to try to beat this disease. I hate it.
I miss being with my people … my church friends; the residents at the nursing
homes in Cleveland; and others who come in contact with me. I didn’t like running the mile as a student… but I did
it. I hated running the two-mile but I
did it – over and over – until I could make a good grade. We have run the race – looking to the
benefits that lay ahead.
Paul was in a Roman prison for the second
time. Nero was in power … and was using Christians
as a scapegoat. Paul knew the outcome would
be his death. He wrote one of his best friends
… the person he considered to be his son, Timothy. His final general instructions appear in
chapter 4:1-8 …
4 I charge you in the
presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the
dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the
word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke,
and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound[a] teaching,
but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit
their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth
and wander off into myths. 5 As for
you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an
evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
6 For I
am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of
my departure has come. 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.
Footnotes:
a. 2 Timothy 4:3 Or healthy
Paul encourages Timothy to continue to run the
race that he is about to complete. He wants Timothy to continue in the ministry
God has given Timothy to complete. Paul points to his expectations when his
race is completed … inferring that Timothy will acquire the same when Timothy’s
race is done. We often recite this verse
as our own goal in life.
The President is asking us to run the race …
to fight the good fight … to complete the course. Like Coach Nowell and Coach Chance
who “encouraged” their students in the runs, we are being encouraged to run the
course that we believe will curb the spread of COVID-19. Let’s do so with hope.
God bless …
Agape’
Mr. Jim
Prayer: Father, we continue to come to You asking that
You give us the courage and the desire to run faithfully this race before
us. Guide our footsteps. Give us hope.
Let us see Your power over all things … especially this virus. In Jesus’ Holy Name … Amen
Scripture for today: 2nd Timothy 4:1-8
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