In 2008, Bryan Clay won the Olympic gold medal in the decathlon, arguably the most difficult athletic feat in the world.
“How did it feel to win the gold?” asked one reporter.
(Side note. Don’t you love the insightful questions reporters ask? I just want one athlete to say, “Terrible! I hate winning! I was so hoping to lose but, by golly, here we are.” Anyways, I digress.)
Clay said what you’d expect him to say. It was the moment he crossed the finish line.
Clay laid down on the track and closed his eyes.
As he did, he said it was as if he was seeing a slide show of his life. All these scenes were flashing through his head. Then it would stop on one and he’d think, “Oh yeah, that was worth it.” Fast forward again. Stop. “Oh yeah, that was worth it too.”
He lay there until the slide show ended and, once again, he was on the track having finished the race and claimed the gold.
“And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” wrote the Apostle Paul. “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.”
I don’t know what it will be like when we cross that finish line.
But if you get a chance to lie down on the track, remember those moments, those decisions, that wore you out and stretched you and almost made you quit.
I have no doubt that you too will be able to say, “Oh yeah, that was worth it.”
Keep running hard, my friends. It is worth it.