A Lesson learnt from the Comrades Marathon

The time has long since come and gone for me to write about my Comrades Marathon experience. On the 8th of June this year, I ran this gruelling race for the first time. It is called the Ultimate Human Race for a reason. I don't think anything could have fully prepared me for the intense pain and emotion that I experienced during that day.

While I learnt many physical lessons about fitness and race management, I learnt some valuable spiritual lessons as well.

People have since joked with me, saying that I must have felt really close to God along the route because I had a lot of time to pray. I jokingly respond by saying that I certainly had some choice words with God along the way, but perhaps not ones that you would hear in a church anytime soon.

I was certainly trusting in the hope that God was with me and would get me through the day, but there were many moments along the route where I did not believe that I would make it through the day. In fact, I felt more akin to the many psalmists in the Bible who cried out to God in the midst of their turmoil.

Regardless of my lamenting along the route, it was a couple of weeks after the race was finished that I truly realized how God had carried me through the long day. While it didn't feel like it at the time, I know that there was no possibility of getting through that race without God accompanying me along the way.

Often it is after periods of lamenting to God that we become more fully aware of God's comforting presence in our lives.

Completing the Comrades Marathon reminded me that sometimes we will only recognize God's presence in our lives when we have taken time to reflect on the difficult moments a while after they have taken place.

As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy." 

- James 5:11 (NIV)