The Race

Yesterday was the Boston Marathon. It is run every year on Patriot’s Day in April. It is a race that I was scheduled to run in 1979.

I was going to use that marathon to qualify for the Olympic Trials. I had to run with a time of two hours and twenty one minutes or better.

My last race I was only a few minutes slower than 2:21. My training in the last two months before Boston convinced me that I could go out in a pace that would qualify me for the Trials.

In March before Boston, I ran a workout that tore some ligaments in my hip and I was not able to race for four months. I tried to run in Oregon in the Fall,

but sprained my ankle the week before the race and I could not finish the race. The next week my wife delivered our first son, only to have him leave this world the same day he was born.

This was obviously a devastating experience and yet it made me re-evaluate my priorities and calling. A year after all of this, I sensed God was calling me to plant a church.

That experience was harder than training for marathons! Looking back, I can see God’s hand in helping me to stay focused on the real race that Jesus Christ has called me to run.

The race is the call to discipleship. My life has taken many turns since 1979, but in the process, Christ continues to call me to following him. The last twelve years the race has been located for me in Eagle Rock.

Last Easter Sunday, I looked out at our congregation and thanked God for what He has done in bringing so many wonderful people here.

My prayer is that here at Eagle Rock Community Church, God will continue to grow His people and bring more people into the Kingdom of God.

As a side note, my father ran the Boston Marathon in 1941 and was the first New Yorker to finish! Guess it was in my blood to run!

Pastor Fred