Dec 26, 2019
by Eric Bofinger
During the Fall of 2018, I decided to get more involved in my community and start up a chapter of the Healthy Kids Running Series in my hometown of Pittsgrove, NJ. HKRS is a nationwide non-profit organization that relies on the help of community coordinators to teach kids the importance of physical exercise and friendly competition. Kids ages 2-14 meet each Sunday evening for five consecutive weeks in the fall and spring and run age appropriate races that range from 50 yards to one mile. At its peak, we had 133 children participate from the area, including many who attend the Seventh Day Baptist Church of Shiloh, NJ (see page 5). With children, come parents, grandparents, great grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and other family members (and that’s just describing the fan crowd that came out to cheer for Brayden Chroniger and Abigail Veale!). It is awesome to see the kids step up to the line, fearless of the distance ahead and run with perseverance. Moreover, it’s even more impressive to see them come together and embrace and uplift one another in times of joy and even defeat.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” —Hebrews 12:1-2
I’ve been running competitively for over two decades. I’ve run hundreds of races in my life and run thousands of miles each year
in training for a goal. Running has taken me places I wouldn’t have otherwise gone and has led me to interact with people I otherwise would not have met. Most importantly, running led me to Messiah College where I met my wife. In addition, it led me to coach cross country at Philadelphia Biblical University/Cairn University for nine seasons, where I was able to have a positive lasting impact on young men and women. Through my involvement in running and coaching in Christian environments, it has helped me understand some scripture more clearly. Have you ever noticed that Paul mentions running and competition a lot in his writings? Many of these verses have been made into track or cross country team verses that I’ve been a part of. I even have a drawer-full of t-shirts that sport these verses and their references. I’ve heard many devotions on topics of training and perseverance relating them to Christianity. I have had plenty of time to think on them during countless miles of running.
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a
perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.”
—1 Corinthians 9:24-25
Why all of the running references? Do even non-runners and non-competitors understand these analogies? Do you know what it’s like to subject yourself to the strict discipline of training in order to win a race? We know, like Priscilla and Aquila, Paul was a tent-maker by trade, but was he a runner? Most likely not. He is described as being a man of small stature and a crooked body—which isn’t great for a champion runner’s build. But what Paul was good at is knowing his audience. From 776 BC to 393 AD the Ancient Olympic Games were held in Olympia, in which primarily running events occurred. During the Roman Period, the games were open to all citizens of the Roman Empire. The best athletes trained, and they even had events for the youth athletes. During his mission trips from Tarsus, Paul traveled around the Aegean Sea to Corinth and beyond. This idea of strict training was commonplace in the culture because at least every four years these games were a big deal. Paul used the knowledge of the culture to convey God’s message in a way people would understand and hold fast to.
“For physical training is of some value, but
godliness has value for all things, holding
promise for both the present life and the life
to come.” —1 Timothy 4:8
God has given us all different talents and abilities and has given us all trials in our lives that we have overcome. Not all of us are confronted by God on the road to Damascus. But, for some of us, it takes a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn to get it right—like for Paul. For others it takes getting rid of the sin that so easily entangles. Maybe not all of us know the long-suffering of running a marathon, but we all know pain and hurt in some form or another. We have all overcome, we have all persevered and run our own race. Use these times of trials to draw closer to God and use your testimony about Him working in your life to further His kingdom. God has placed you in your mission field, whether it’s in your backyard or across an entire empire. Fix your eyes on Jesus, persevere, and put one foot in front of the other.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”
—Colossians 3:23
