His chest was rising and falling, just like violent tides on a hot beach in mid-summer. He could not help it. He was a trained runner. The sweat was pouring, but he could not feel it running down his skin. The only sensation he could feel was that of his leg muscles. They were the most active muscles right now. He ran down the curve of the tracks. The others were ahead of him now...oh, such a disappointment! Why did he have to sprain his ankle almost at the end of the race? He had trained for this one race the entire year...minute after minute, day after day...night after night. He had climbed ropes, swam in rivers, waded in mud...just for this very moment in history.
But he kept running. He was the last runner. But he did not dare stop.
He suddenly felt a chaotic noise. But he kept running. The noise was from the heavy applause of his witnesses, cheering him on like he had no tomorrow. Bidding his lungs to keep breathing. Telling him to reach the finish line. So he kept moving, unmoved by his own emotions. He kept swimming, in a sea of his own breathlessness. He kept climbing the ropes of his own hopelessness. He kept wading, in the mud of his own thoughts. But he kept running...he didn't stop.
He was the last man running...
.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As 2008 draws to an end, the clock cannot stop ticking. A new dawn surely must come, a new light. 2009 surely must knock on our doors. There's no holding back tomorrow. So also, many of you are still running. You've just got three more days, and that's it! But I want to talk to the last man running. You, who is still training your athletic muscles. You there, who is still waiting for that last wish to come true. You, whose vision has not yet been materialized. Yes, you...the last man running. Yes, you...everyone has gone ahead of you. Some have even begun 2009, but you are here...in this very moment...captured in the last few days of 2008.
Oh, I want to tell you not to stop running. A true runner never stops. It does not matter whether the first man has crossed the ropes, he has to keep going. He still has to reach the finish line. So I want to tell you today that in three days, you will reach the final destination. Please, don't stop now...oh no, please don't. You've got three more days to run. Keep running, don't stop. Keep praying, don't stop. Keep exercising your spiritual muscles in these last few days of 2008. Withstand the enemy in your body, in your mind. It cannot be over yet, until it is over. Don't claim defeat when that was not the original plan. You, yes you...are a winner. By all means, if you don't stop running, then you are a winner. God is filled with crazy surprises.
"But many who are first will be last, and the last first." Matthew 19:30
Photo from the Kanakuk Colorado blog
Photo from the Kanakuk Colorado blog
