Do those word sound familiar? If you’ve ever participated in Field Day, then chances are you’ve heard them. I remember the anticipation of standing in line for a race. Each one of us was waiting to hear a teacher say those three magic words. When they did, I leapt off of the starting line and ran across the field as fast as my legs would go. I wanted that blue ribbon for first place. Usually, I ended up with the silver one for third place.
But, have you ever seen a one-sided race? Tim and I did a few years ago as we were heading home from our daughter’s house. We were sitting in a turn lane at an intersection. In front of us, was a guy revving his car’s engine. I’m talking the car was bouncing in place. The driver must’ve had one foot on the brake and the other one constantly goosing the gas pedal. Tim and I thought this was odd. When we have seen cars do that, they were usually getting ready to race each other. This was a single lane, so there were no other cars for this guy to run against . As soon as we got the green arrow, he squealed the tires as took off.
Instead of driving in a left-hand turn, he literally shot out straight forward. He was driving toward the cars waiting to drive forward on the other side of the intersection. I was terrified. To me, it looked as if he was going to hit them head on. Suddenly, he whipped the car into an almost ninety-degree turn. Unfortunately for him, there was a pedestrian cross walk at that corner with a cross-light that was up on a concrete platform.
The speeding car’s right two tires went up on the platform as he continued to drive onward. He didn’t hit the metal cross-walk light, but as he drove, dust and smoke flew up into the air. Pieces of metal did as well. The car slammed back down on the road as he drove off of it. I’m surprised he didn’t pop any tires. Then he veered into a parking lot and finally stopped his car.
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:” 2 Timothy 4:7 (KJV)
In this verse, Paul is referring to living the Christian life as a race. For one, you endure the race and finish it without giving up. Second, you run the race like you are after the prize. For us Believers, the prize, or better yet reward, is spending eternity with Jesus. There’s more. Seeing others that we have witnessed to being there as well will also be rewarding. That is infinitely much better than a thin little blue ribbon that will eventually fade.
As for the lone racing driver, the only reward he was interested in was showing off his fast car. And it cost him dearly. What reward are you racing for?

Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.