I consider myself an average runner. Not a star runner by any means, but a middle of the road, ten minute miler who can comfortably finish a 5K in about 30 minutes, give or take a few seconds on either side. I started running later in life, in college. So, the first time I entered in and ran in a 5K, I was anxious at the beginning of the race as only someone who is older can be – thoughts colliding and floundering. Like, am I crazy to try this? could I keep up? would I be able to finish? would I have to stop to tie my shoe? would I trip on a crack in the sidewalk? Pressing through the psychological forest of competing, clamorous worries in my head was a tougher challenge than the actual physical running of the race.

Now, though,  with practice and experience, I can mentally relax, tune out the distractions, get into the zone, and run a decent 5K without much internal stress. That is, until the end when I am in sight of the finish line. Having pounded out a steady 4.9K, passed my share of runners, and been relatively calm to this moment, it is the last .1K  (1/4 of a mile) is where I can start to panic inside.

Now, one would think that the prospect of finishing a race would be joyous, and not a cause for a high level of anxiety. Logically, I think that the given the past 3 miles of steady, consistent running for 29 minutes would put a runner in a confident frame of mind for the last, umm, minute? Yet, in my experience, insecurities leap like frogs inside of me during that last stretch when I can see the goal. I can’t figure it out. The race is almost over and the goal is in sight!

Pressing through to the finish line in many aspects of life can be scary, overwhelming, even terrifying. A couple in love, with a solid relationship, eagerly planning their wedding day and marriage – and the bride (or groom) bolts as the music starts for the wedding ceremony (it’s funny when Julia Roberts does this in Runaway Bride).

Or, you’ve been in school for four years, and you are completing the final assignment for the last course you need for your degree, and it’s hard to hand it in. It’s what you’ve been working and striving for – but when you get to the end, there are turbulent emotions, anxiety, even fear. Everyone has an example of this in their own life – a chapter of your life is ending, even as you press through to reach a goal. The joy of reaching the goal can be surpassed by the fear of letting go.

Spiritually speaking, I can even see a close parallel in the book of Hebrews. We read, “let us also lay aside every weight and the 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…”(Hebrews 12:1&2 ESV) As believers, we have a race to run with a goal at the end.

I begin to unpack the looking to Jesus part of this verse as if it were a sermon. You see, we see from this side of the cross that Jesus has completed the ultimate race, he has faced the finish line of death, and it is not the end. When the chapter of Jesus’ earthly life and mission closed, and He was to cross the final finish line; He, Himself, experienced turbulence and fear. The Son of God, the Lord of the Universe, prayed to the Father with great agony as he faced the completion of his goal. As Hebrews states, there was joy set before him, but before he got there, he had to press through some almost indescribable emotional and physical suffering. (Isaiah 53)

If we are enjoined to “look to Jesus,” is his path not our path as well? To follow in His steps means we have to keep going, in spite of the difficulties and suffering of letting go of the comfortable familiarity of sin in our lives, pressing through this for the joy and freedom on the other side.

The uncomfortable end of a rather routine 5K race is just a way that God focused my attention on running the larger race of life with endurance. I’m in the race, repenting of ingrained sinful habits and strongholds, knowing that joy awaits if I but press on. But it’s not over ’til your foot hits the finish and you run into the embrace of Jesus.

Is the end in sight?  The author of Hebrews must have known that continuing to keep running may be harder than it was when the race first started.