Fan or Follwer?; Jogger or Runner?

The Long Run

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me".

Luke 9:23

In his book, “Not a Fan”, Kyle Idleman distinguishes between a fan and a follower of Christ.  A key part of that is going from John 3:16 “For God so loved the world…” to Luke 9:23 “take up your cross…”  Being a follower of Christ takes commitment – it takes hardship.  And yes, even though we are promised the power and comfort of the Holy Spirit we still need to step out in faith and do things outside of our comfort level.  Jesus, for instance, had no place to call home.  Many Christians, even today, suffer for their faith.

So what does this have to do with running a marathon?  When a person makes a decision to run a marathon it shouldn't be done lightly.  There is a lot of work involved.  Over the past several months I’ve run in beautifully sunny weather on the beaches in Florida or by the Potomac river near Washington D.C.  I’ve enjoyed sunrise runs on crisp cool Ohio mornings.  I’ve also run in the cold and the rain on mornings I didn’t feel like getting outside – and endured long hard runs on weekend mornings that have the potential for wiping you out the rest of the day. 

We would love it if Christianity was all about the sunny days – the beach runs and beautiful sunrises.  And praise God we get to enjoy all that.  But being a follower of Christ means we need to follow wherever God leads – and sometimes that’s in the cold and the rain.  Sometimes that’s a long 17 mile run on a 20 degree Saturday morning. 

Now here’s the important part.  I choose to do that long run on a Saturday morning because without it I will not reach my goal of finishing the marathon.  Without the training achieved through the long runs, when it comes time to actually run the marathon I will get to about 10 miles (of 26.2) and mumble “Why did I sign up this?  What am I doing here?”  And most likely give up.  You see that in life as well.  When hardship comes, a fan walks away and mumbles “Maybe this Christian thing isn’t working out”. A follower continues on because he’s made the commitment to follow, to endure the hardships as well as enjoy the blessings.  And as we follow Christ and act in obedience to Him He prepares us to face the hard times and come through them. 

Someone once said the difference between a jogger and a runner is turning in a race application.  When you turn in that application you are making a commitment to run the race.  You are no longer a fan, but a follower.

I know I haven’t trained as well as I’ve liked.  I still have one more long run to get in.  But over the past 6 months I’ve logged over 700 miles of running.  And in less than 3 weeks I hope to receive a finisher’s medal for the Pittsburgh Marathon.

 Someday, even more importantly, I hope to hear the words from my Lord and Savior, “Well done, good and faithful servant”.

Run on!