It's here! The months of work and planning are culminating in the 10th anniversary of the Memorial Marathon. We are welcoming 23,000+ runners this year to our city for “The Run to Remember.” On Monday of this week we celebrated the triumph over tragedy of the Murrah bombing and the way our people have come back from a devastating event. We have come a long way in the past 15 years to end up at this point.

Our church has also come from the ashes of that day to embrace what would have first appeared as a threat to Christianity: “A marathon on Sunday morning!” “Why would they choose Sunday for a marathon?” “It's the worst day of the week for a church to be shut down.” I have heard these comments and many more from people in our church and some outsiders. When the marathon began, we closed up shop and said, “Why did they do that to us?” Now we are saying, “Why didn’t we get involved earlier?” God has sent people to our doorstep, and we have the opportunity to witness to them the real love of Jesus as Jesus would have done. We know from Jesus’ first miracle that he loved a party. He used that gathering to show the power of the Almighty God who cares about even the small things of our life. We are using the marathon as a way of showing that God cares about all people. As you come to do the work of the marathon this Sunday, you will truly be the face of God to everyone you meet. We are showing the love of Jesus with every pancake. We are expressing God’s love with every runner who hears us cheering them on and keeping them safe the last two miles of the race and caring for the children who are running. We are being God’s hands and feet to those who are not running but are looking for place to wait for their family member who has trained for this day over the last year or for a lifetime. This event is truly an opportunity to express the family of God in a way that we could not create on our own.

On Sunday afternoon you will be exhausted. Each of us will have given all that we can to let people know we truly care. But it will be a good exhaustion. It will be an exhaustion we will talk about for a little while as we share what we have done with family and friends who have no understanding of what this event means to those who are involved. God continues through our ability to share what we have done, to open opportunities for you to witness. Let this weekend be rewarding to your spiritual journey as you become Jesus’ face to those who are searching.

This week I ask you to share below any experiences you have had over the past few years we have hosted“Second Wind.” What do you remember? What feelings do your recall? How have you changed by the work God has given you through this ministry?

Sharing the marathon together,
Kirk