8/9/2019 Which Face Will Finish the Race?

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/which-face-will-finish-the-race 1/4

Which Face will Finish the Race?

Through love and truth, restored to stand, renewed and clean within,My past forgiven, my present new, my future freed from secret sin,I am at peace with where I am; forgiveness lets me breath again,The dark is gone, the ropes untied, the light of grace has entered in.

He set me free because He lives.I am . . . I can . . . because . . . He is.

But where I am is not enough; to linger in this peaceful placeOf solitude and healing, of redemption, cleansed through grace.He asks and prods that those who change quicken then the paceOf moving forward, not alone, but with others in the race.

He set me free because He lives.I am . . . I can . . . because . . . He is.

-- Thom Hunter 

When I was a little boy in Texas, yearning for a summer snow cone . . . and broke,there was only one solution: Coke bottles. Well, not just Coke bottles, but Nehigrape bottles and 7-Up bottles and Big Red and Dr. Pepper. I'd start under thekitchen sink first and claim any I could find there. Then I would walk theneighborhood and the nearby park. Each bottle could be redeemed for a few centsat the U-Totem convenience store. Pick 'em up, haul 'em in, get your cash and

8/9/2019 Which Face Will Finish the Race?

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/which-face-will-finish-the-race 2/4

spend it. A snow cone, some Sweet-Tarts, maybe even a Spiderman comic book ona good day.

Sometimes the discarded bottles would have spiders in them or be filled with dirt, or,even worse, might have been used by a tobacco-chewer for a spit receptacle. Inever gave a lot of thought to the fact that, post-redemption, those same bottleswould be filled again and back on the grocery shelves. Redeemed. Clean and clear and filled with purpose.

Some of the bottles I found, of course, were too chipped or cracked to be redeemed.They made good targets for a BB gun or, usually, just got tossed back down and left

behind. Unredeemed. Beyond use now.

They were just bottles.

But what about people? Are we sifting through the discarded, searching for "TheMost Likely to Be Redeemed," like we did "Most Likely to Succeed" in high school?

Do we vote with our eyes and actions, tossing aside a few that are just a little toobroken to be of further use? Are we sealing someone's future because of therevealing of his past?

I have a past. Cracks and chips and broken pieces. Dirt.

When I am still and focused, I try to see that past as God sees it in his way of flowingtime where past and present and future meld into just being. Where was and is andstill to be are . . . one. And I see a little boy, a struggling teen, a stumbling man and .. . I know them. Indeed, when I try really hard to see all three as God does . . . Ieven like them. I see them in snapshots, first with an old black-and-white Polaroid,then a Kodachrome Kodak Instamatic, then in digital brilliance. A little boy with aburr . . . a kid with a cowlick . . . a teen with shaggy hair on his shoulders . . . a manwith graying thinness. Snap . . . snap . . . blink.

Still, as Clarence, the angel in "It's a Wonderful Life," said when focusing in on theface of good old George Bailey, said "I like that face." Or, those faces, all mine. Ilike them now.

Still, love them as I do, I find myself, when viewing through the continuum of timeand memory, wanting to warn them . . . to say a lot of "don'ts." To freeze the frame.To reach down and turn them like a plastic piece on a game board. It hurts to seewhere they are heading, but I cannot intervene. I think I understand a little bit how

God must grieve.

Don't go there.Don't do that.Don't open that door.Don't close that door.Don't tell that lie.Don't believe that lie.

8/9/2019 Which Face Will Finish the Race?

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/which-face-will-finish-the-race 3/4

Don't say hello.Don't say goodbye.Don't think that.Don't want that.Don't refuse that.Don't hide.Don't run away.Don't cry.

And the flash goes off and another moment passes, perhaps another self-inflictedcrack or a chip here and there, the dents of desperate and deliberate decisions.Trending toward empty, bordering on discarded, left in hope of redemption.Wondering at my worth.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for theungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good mansomeone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in

this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. -- Romans 5:6-8

I am so valuable, not because of myself, but only because God considers me so. Iam so redeemed.

But what of this trail of sin, so easily traced? Regardless of the reasons we sin, wesin. Yes, I was abandoned by my father, sexually-abused as a boy, a wandering andneedy easy target for fellow sexual sinners. But, the scarlet sins that grew from thisfertile soil were tended by my own hand. The regret and the remorse are the fruits of my own weakness.

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing,but the body is weak." -- Mark 14:38.

Too little watching, too little praying, way too much falling. I'm responsible.

But, regret and remorse morph into redeemed and restored in the hands of a Godwho does more than trace that trail. He sweeps it clean. He establishes a new one.And He walks it with us.

No, He runs. If we run.

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us

also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us,and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyeson Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Himendured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. --Hebrews 12:1-3.

8/9/2019 Which Face Will Finish the Race?

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/which-face-will-finish-the-race 4/4

Believe me . . . witnesses surround me. And there are encumbrances and sins. Andthey have entangled. But . . . God says to lay those things aside. God says to runwith endurance, which means it was never going to be easy. God says to fix our eyes on Jesus, which means we can ignore the tempting scenery that flashes by aswe head for the finish line.

I am sorry that Jesus endured my shame and I am in awe that He did so with joy,despite the fact He despised it. He endured it . . . so I could also. So that I wouldnot grow weary. So I would not lose heart.

So I can finish.

And He provides help, in the form of fellow runners who help set the pace and in theform of those who cheer the progress of those who run.

One of my favorite camera views of televised marathons are of the outstretchedhands along the way that hold forth a paper cup of water. The runner grabs it almost

without pause, gulps it down, drops the cup on the road and keeps running. Evensaying thanks at that point consumes too much energy, so the appreciation is silenceand a renewed stamina to finish the race. And the person on the sidelines cheersand knows he helped provide the endurance.

Sometimes we are the runner, wondering how much further we have to go before wecan collapse on the ground and breathe deeply of the clarity of completion.Sometimes we are the one who stands and offers a taste of the living water that

rushes through and replenishes the rebellious body. Either way, we are in thistogether . . . and we can finish well. If we don't lose heart. If we do not grow weary.

Sadly, some people in your life will choose to be a stumbling-block rather than awater-bearer. Fix your eyes on Jesus. They're hurdles and He will help you jump.We will all come to the end of the race at some point. Which face will you wear?One of regret or one of restoration?

We are all so valuable. We are so redeemed.

Don't stop.

Finish.

God Bless,

Thom