We’re All Just Running Home Together

My sophomore season of track recently ended, and now I can look back on all the memories it brought.

This was definitely one of my favorite seasons. After last fall’s challenges, I came back with a rediscovered love of running and competing. After a year of no PRs, I managed to lower my 800 and 1600 times. And after the conference meet, I qualified for the divisional championship meet in both the 4×800 and 3200.

I also felt healthier again, and for that I’m praising God.

But one of the main parts that stood out to me this season is the environment in which I compete.

It’s a place where teammates and rivals alike come together to support each other.

It’s a community.

At one of the league meets, my team ran a 4×800 relay against just one other school. As I sprinted around the bend, I had that experience of running alone.

The other school’s runner was too far behind for me to hear her footsteps. For a moment, all I could hear was the sound of my own breath. Even with the strong lead, a sense of discouragement washed over me as I stared at the track’s empty lanes.

Strength filled my legs and air filled my lungs, but for that moment, I had nothing to keep me driving forward.

As I gripped the baton, I remembered that I had to stay strong for my team.

The cheers of my teammates broke through, inspiring me to press on. But I also heard the girls from the rival school cheering for me, supporting me in that moment also.

I had never experienced a race like this before. Between the prayer we said together in the beginning, the way we cheered for both our teammates and our rivals, and our joy-filled high-fives at the end–

It gave me a new perspective of what this sport means.

We race each other for the medals and the championships. Sure, we get a little too caught up in comparing ourselves sometimes… but we race each other to push each other to our best.

We race each other on the track to keep ourselves moving forward, because it’s so much harder to run alone.

The lanes weren’t meant to be empty.

But don’t they often look that way?

Doesn’t it often feel like we’re running down an empty road?

Praying words of life

During my times on the empty road, I learned how to pray.

I am thankful for the hard times because they brought me to my knees.

The empty road changed my prayer life. It led me to a point where I can now say:

I am thankful for the hard times because they brought me to my knees.

I needed something to make me draw near to God at last. Something to bring me to confessing–with all my heart–that I couldn’t do this without Him.

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”

~James 4:8, ESV

If it weren’t for those moments when I wanted to cry myself to sleep, I would have never prayed myself to sleep instead.

Prayer became my weapon, there on the empty road.

At the starting line of every race this season, it became my ritual to bow my head, close my eyes, and say a silent prayer over my steps. Invite God to run this race beside me. Open my eyes to see His presence everywhere.

I let the words inside my head follow the cadence of my breaths, because I’ve found that prayer is like oxygen for the soul.

Prayer became my weapon when I had to conquer the track or the empty road.

When I felt alone, it became my reminder that God always remains by my side.

After prayer impacted my life in this way, I wanted to be able to share it with others. That’s why I love running the 4×800 relay. In the final moments before our race, we come together to pray.

And before the race that I described earlier, we invited the girls from the other team to join us also.

“For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them.”

~Matthew 18:20, ESV

During our prayer, I felt a sense of peace wash over me. Here were a beautiful few minutes of Christian fellowship.

We all knew that the track was like a battlefield. We all knew that it would test our mental and physical strength. And we all knew that we needed the peace that only God can give.

We were united by sharing the pain and joy of the racing experience.

And we are united by sharing the pain and joy of the life experience.

Speaking words of life

We all know that the road of life is long and hard. We all have a few scars from the times we’ve fallen; we’ve all felt the ache of the uphill climbs.

But what if the aches and scars could become our words of life?

Because God let me bear my aches and scars–because He used them to reveal Himself to me–I can now use them to reveal Him to others.

I can now write the words that will encourage those who are going through my same struggles.

“Blessed be the . . . God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

~2 Corinthians 1:3-4, CSB

The aches and scars feel worth it in the end, because now I can see the people wandering down the empty road.

I can see them, and I can write the words to remind them that the journey will be worth it in the end–that we’re almost home.

“Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

~1 Thessalonians 4:18

In my own life, I’ve seen that God can speak to us through the words of others.

On the empty road, it’s easy to fall for our own lies. In the trying moments, it’s hard to know what’s true. Because there in the dark, we can’t see the hope at the end of the road.

And sometimes all it takes is one voice to remind us that there is still a light at the end of the tunnel.

One voice to remind us not to quit, because we’ve already come so far.

One fellow Christian to take a place beside us on our lonely path and become a literal testament of the fact that we are never alone.

I know, because I’ve been the one on the empty road before.

One voice can change everything.

It’s like we’re back in grade school, heading home together after a long day at the park.

“Race ya!” one of us shouts, and together, we pick up the pace.

But it doesn’t matter which one of us gets there first, because maybe…

Maybe it’s more about breathing in the sunset. Enjoying each other’s company. Finding the inspiration to see just how far we can go.

Because what if–

What if we’re all just running home together?

Thanks so much for reading! If you enjoyed it, you can subscribe to my mailing list here.

Also, if you’re wondering about the photos, they’re from a little spring break trip out to the countryside.