Hitting the Wall

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:30-31

 

Saturday morning I will toe the start line of long distance race for the third time this year.  The gun will go off and I will start the first of 69, 168 feet (13.1 miles) of the Milwaukee Brewers Half Marathon.  For the first few miles, most racers will feel great, jubilant even, as adrenaline pulses through their veins.  But at some point this feeling will start to fade, and another feeling will set in.  Are we there yet?  It’s hard to appreciate how far 13.1 miles is to travel on foot, but along the road you have mental lapses, as your body reminds you, that you are running farther than most people drive to work.  Runners call it “the wall,” the proverbial place where you body begins to push back.

 

Next week I will start a journey with a group at church, Run TCC, where people of all abilities and experiences will run and grow together.  And on that first day there will be some who after a few minutes of running will get that same reminder from their bodies that this is hard work. 

 

Maybe you have never run before, or you are so physically fit that you laugh at my puny struggles, but I bet you are familiar with this feeling in your life.  You are experiencing this same feeling at work.  It has been go, go, go for so long you struggle to remember a time when it was “normal.”  Late hours are the norm, low support is expected, and you haven’t seen a pay raise in longer than you would like to admit, and you wonder, are we there yet?

 

You feel it at home.  Your marriage is just so much work.  You struggle to talk with your spouse about finances, about sex, about the kids.  You are busy taxing your kids all over town each day, and by time you rush in you are exhausted, and your spouse is cashed out from their tough day at work, much to tired to work on your relationship.  Why is it so hard?  It hasn’t always been this way.

 

When you hit the wall, God sends along this promise, I will renew your strength, just trust in me.  These are not just words on the page, but a promise from God to his people, that is as true today as it was the day He spoke it.  God promises to renew your strength, to give you what you need to make it through, to help you get through the wall, if you trust in Him.

 

Pastor Bill

 

 

Discussion Questions

  1. Where do you feel like you are about to hit the wall?
  2. What is your prayer to God as your approach the wall?