The sun beat down with no sign of shade in sight and I was acting as the cover for my ten-year-old. “Here, just sit in my shadow.” The bottle of once cold water I was saving to dump on her ponytail was sweating. We were entering the point of Oklahoma summer where you start to question if it will ever end. As soon as her race was next and I saw the starter, I dumped the water on her ponytail and took off to the first straightaway to meet the rest of her cheering section. The gun sounded and she darted off the starting line. Still darting. Still darting.
Sweet heavens.
Slow down.
The kid is a teeny powerhouse. A ball of muscle. She looks tiny and then you go to pick her up and are quickly reminded of her stoutness. She’s typically a short distance runner, but on this day she assumed her title as the only fifth grade cross country runner in her school; with 10 minutes of practice under her belt. Was she prepared? No. But was she in the race? Definitely.
The majority of cross country meets are run in the middle of nowhere. Through fields, trees, and quiet areas; only brief moments of visibility. Only brief moments of access to encouragement.
About seven minutes after takeoff, Everly finally came back into view. She came around a turn and her crowd of fans erupted in cheers. A few moments after she passed me, and less than 200 meters from the finish line, I watched beauty unfold. Her sweet friend, Sutton, who was just hours from turning 11, was running alongside her cheering! “Come on Evs. You’ve got this! Keep going! You can do it!” When she was on the brink of giving up, encouragement carried her to the end.
Watching this, I couldn’t help but think of Hebrews 12; the race we run, the endurance it requires, and the great cloud of witnesses cheering us on. In those moments when I was utterly exhausted, questioning God’s plan, baffled by an outcome, and confused by the path forward – there they were; that great cloud of witnesses. The ones who showed up with pizza on my doorstep, folded my laundry, sat with me as I cried what felt like the only tears remaining inside of me. God used their love, encouragement, and service to carry me when I was too weak to carry myself. A voice of hope. A voice of reason. A voice of faith when mine felt so small.
The day following the race, I was five minutes from starting a zoom call when I got a text from my friend. It was a picture of Sutton cheering on an exhausted Everly. Gratitude overwhelmed me. Gratitude for encouragement and for encouragers.
But when I saw this picture, rather than only thinking of how God has placed people around me to receive encouragement, something else came to mind. He has also started showing me that there’s a special place on the sidelines. Yes, we want to continue running this race well until the very end, but all the while knowing the crowd matters, the bench matters.
In 2023, my younger sister achieved something she never expected. She completed her first half marathon. She, like Everly, was not a long distance runner, but somehow found herself in that race. She, unlike Everly, trained and set herself up to finish. We neared the end and her strength was fading. This was before we realized the importance of nutrition along the way. She was shaky, dizzy, and found a patch of grass to sit down in to gain her bearings.
“How much further?” She asked.
I sat next to her and said, “The finish line is right here. Just right around the corner and you’ve done it. Less than a quarter mile to go. You are so close!”
Sometimes we run in rhythm side by side.
Sometimes we grab an arm to help stabilize the shaky.
Sometimes we break the wind for others.
Sometimes we catch the windbreak.
Sometimes we stop with them and say, sit here in your pain, in your exhaustion, in the moments just shy of giving up, knowing I am not leaving your side…and when you find the strength inside you to finish, we finish together!!
And that’s what we did.
So to those of you who are drowning, to those who have terrifying thoughts that you don’t remember placing there, to those who think of giving up, to those who are ready to throw it all out the window. Don’t. Keep going! You are not alone. Look to Jesus.
To those of you rested and filled, to those with strength to muster, to those who have faith, who can pray, who can speak truth; don’t forget the importance of the sideline.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12: 1-2