I have been attending a pastors’ prayer summit this week. Nearly 50 pastors together for three and half days – worshiping and praying for each other. Each man struggling with different issues in their lives – fears, discouragement and disappointments.
Each man at different stages in their journey. During the week I had opportunity to go for my usual morning run which prompted me to reflect on last week’s “race.” One of the things I noticed in the race was the amazingly different strides. Some runners had long smooth strides and others ran with short, choppy strides. Some leaned forward and others ran tall. Each was different and yet they all ran – most of them ahead of me. They were all in the race and all determined to finished. Only a few were focused on finishing ahead of everyone else. Most were focused on finishing – perhaps doing well in their own age bracket.
Disciples of Jesus are a bit like that – each is running with a different stride-different pace-different style. What marks them is that they are definitely in the race and they are striving with all their might to finish and to finish well. As one trying to encourage and train disciples, I am learning that they still must run their race. Some will run faster than others. Some will run differently. What I am watching is to make certain they stay in the race and that they run with a determination to finish and finish well.
