Marathons and Eagle's Wings

"May you run and not grow weary,
walk and not faint."  (based on Isaiah 40:31)

These are beautiful words of blessing, especially when they are displayed on a large banner near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, at the Old South Church on Boyleston Street.  What does the Old Testament say about running marathons?  If there is a secret to "run and not grow weary", whether it's a special kind of shoes, fail-safe 18-week training program, (legal) performance enhancing supplements (energy drinks, gels, beet juice, enzymes, tuna fish mixed with Rice Krispies, you name it), massage, I've tried them all.  I've gotten better over time, but I'm still working on the "not grow weary" part.  It turns out that the secret has to do with waiting.

Seriously.

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary,
and they shall walk, and not faint.  (Isaiah 40:31, KJV)

Waiting upon the Lord does not necessarily mean that we not do anything.  It means that we prepare ourselves to be ready when God gives the command to move.  The waiting period is a time of preparation, of training, of development.  Bald eagle chicks remain in the nest for more than 3 months before they ever leave the nest.  If they leave too soon, they plunge to their deaths because they can't fly.  While waiting, they are feeding, growing, becoming physically mature, flapping their wings, and at the proper hour they leave the nest and successfully fly for the first time.  The prophet Elijah waited 3 years after his initial confrontation with King Ahab before his major showdown with the priests of Baal at Mount Carmel (1 Kings 17-18).  He wasn't just waiting - he was getting his faith tested by depending on God for provisions, initially by drinking from a brook and eating food provided by ravens, and later by subsisting on flour and oil from a destitute widow.  Spiritual muscle takes time to develop.  Before he called upon God to send fire on the sacrifice and send rain upon the land, he had to first flap the wings of his faith by raising the widow's dead son to life.

Similarly, when waiting to run the marathon, I trained by running, week after week after week.  I barely could finish 2 miles at a time when I first started running in the fall of 2003, but by the time I ran the 2007 Boston Marathon, I was routinely running over 100 miles a week.  It was worth the wait.

God may be calling us to action from time to time, but often, He calls us to wait as we study His word, pray, meditate and be salt and light to the world around us.  The waiting room is not necessarily a lounge...it's a gym.

Ready to run?

Drop in the Bucket

I left the espresso shop with my favorite drink (nothing fancy, just plain brewed black coffee) and blueberry scone, and noticing that there was still plenty of time before work, I picked a nearby chair in the outdoor seating area, sat down and began to read the last pages of a book chapter on my e-book reader.  It was a very cool and comfortable morning for the month of July, and I relished the light breeze, knowing that the day would get quite hot later on.  Suddenly, I noticed a tiny drop of water on the e-book reader's screen.  I looked around, did not notice any lawn sprinkler spraying nearby, casually wiped the water off, and returned to my reading.  A second drop of water appeared on the screen a few seconds later.  Whatever precipitation there was, the water droplets were so small that I could not even feel it on my face.  How small were the droplets?  From my prior experience working with tiny quantities of fluids in molecular biology research laboratories, I estimated that the droplets each had a volume of about one microliter.  In other words, it would take about 360,000 of those drops to fill up my 12-ounce coffee cup.  A microliter of water wouldn't be much of a thirst quencher.

My musings over droplets led to mental calculations and conclusions that if one microliter of water represents a single person, the population of the United States will be water that fills up one and a half bathtub, and the world population (nearly 7 billion) will just about fill up 4 large jacuzzi tubs.  From a physical and numerical standpoint, a single person like me is quite insignificant in this world, and of infinitesimally little importance in the vast universe of countless galaxies and tens of billions of light years in space.

How marvelous, therefore, it is to know that God knows each of us by name!  As descendants of Adam, humans are unique among God's creations for bearing His image, and He promises to provide for all of our needs.

When I consider your heavens,
   the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
   which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
   human beings that you care for them?

You have made them a little lower than the angels
   and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
   you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds,
   and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
   and the fish in the sea,
   all that swim the paths of the seas.  (Psalm 8:3-8)

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."  (Matthew 10:29-31)

Imagine that God knows every single hair on our heads, and every single molecule in my cup of coffee.  It is only when we reject God's existence that we start to feel insignificant in this big, big universe.

Early Retirement

I suddenly realized after eleven years on the same job as a pediatric gastroenterologist that a lot of people whom I worked with in the beginning were no longer around.  Nearly all of the original nurses, receptionists and medical assistants in my office have either retired, transferred out, been promoted elsewhere, or quit, and ten of my fellow pediatricians in the department have retired.  Two have subsequently passed away from chronic illnesses.  Even as I write, my department is preparing a farewell potluck for our most senior nurse who has been on the job for nearly 35 years.  She will soon clock out for the last time, and a new life awaits her and her husband.  She can hardly wait!

It will be but a matter of time before I also leave my job; however, it is impossible to know yet whether I will hang it up when I reach my 65th, 60th, or 55th year of my life, and whether I will remain on earth for any length of time after I retire.  What will I do after retirement?  Will I become a missionary doctor, a seasoned Sunday school teacher, a carefree globetrotting tourist, or a debilitated, grumpy old man?  Will I fulfill my semi-secret dream of becoming a writer?  Will my wife and I see grandchildren, and even great grandchildren?  Will I have enough money for my wife and I to sustain our retirement lifestyle?  What will our medical bills be like?  Is it even possible to even retire?

Interestingly, the Bible does not have a whole lot to say about retirement...at least the kind that we often dream of.  Jesus told the parable of the rich fool, who planned in his heart to live the easy life after harvesting in abundance, thinking:

'And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years.  Take life easy: eat, drink and be merry."'

"But God said to him, 'You fool!  This very night your life will be demanded from you.  Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'  Luke 12:19-20

The prophet Elijah contemplated a different form of retirement at the nadir of his depression, when he fled for his life from the evil Jezebel, shortly after an epic, emotional victory at Mount Carmel:

"Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.  When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day's journey into the desert.  He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die.  "I have had enough, LORD," he said.  "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors."  1 Kings 19:3-4.

Instead of granting his wishes, God told Elijah to get back to work:

The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus.  When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.  Also anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.  1 Kings 19:15-16.

May we be diligent before God to the very ends of our lives, even in "retirement".