8 Seconds of Glory

Categories: Blog Jan 29, 2017

Ok, I have a crazy story to tell you. But it’s true and it’s my story. I want to share it with you for two reasons: 1) It may help you, and 2) It will help me to remember it.

About two weeks ago, I was sitting alone just thinking and “being.” I wasn’t thinking anything intentional and more or less just being. As I was sitting there, I heard an inner whisper say, “You are going to run track.” It was odd because it was out of no where - it was the furthest thing from my mind. But, it pierced my heart. I love sprinting. I love the idea of sprinting. To me, it is like flying. Anyway, the whisper stirred my heart so much, I programmed my phone to remind me every day that, “I am going to run track.” Every day when I woke and read that statement, it made me smile. And that was that…

Last week, on Wednesday, I remembered a friend of mine had told me about a track meet that was being held two hours from me. It was a Master’s meet. I decided to google it and found the registration page. As it turns out, I found the page on the last day of registration. The meet was to be on Sunday, January 22nd, the day I was to be flying back from Texas. I knew I could not be in two places at once, but something in me made me decide to register for the meet. It wasn’t expensive and I thought there may be a slim chance I could make the two hour drive if my plane landed on time, depending on when my event would start.

So, I registered for a meet, that I more than likely physically couldn’t be at. But it gave me an unexplainable joy. Because after all, I am going to run track - someday… Now, I have not run in a track meet in twenty-four years. Needless to say, I have not been “training” to run track either. So I registered for the 60 meter dash, figuring I would be able to run 60 meters. The 200 meter dash might stretch me. Anyway, Thursday night I decide I was going to need some track shoes, just in case a miracle happens and the released schedule for my event fits into my plane’s arrival and my drive schedule. I walked into the sport store hoping to find some shoes. To be very honest, I was hoping the shoes would find me - I was following something not too normal…

I found a black and white pair of Nike track shoes. They looked okay. I held them up, tried them on, and then just sat there staring at them, wondering what I was doing. As I was staring at them, I heard another whisper, “These are your shoes.” Then, after I heard that, I was filled with an unexplainable joy again, joy laced with excitement. It was weird. I bought those shoes but it felt like I had just bought a red cape.

The excitement and the joy, it felt like life. So much so, on Friday morning I started looking for earlier flights home from Texas. I found one. It put me getting home after midnight the day before the meet, but I wanted it. I had to race. The pull and the hope were too much to bare.

Okay, I show up to the meet, it was an indoor track. The place was full of stallions. I mean the room was full of sprinters who looked like sprinters; strong, fast, powerful. They even had “outfits”. I had a t-shirt and shorts, and some awesome shoes… I was there two hours before my race. I warmed up, watched everyone else do the same, and I simmered in a peaceful excitement.

When it came time to race, one of the guys in my heat looked at me and said, “Have you been training?” I said, “no.” He laughed - in a nice way. I said, “I haven't raced on a track in 24 years.” He smiled and said, “It’s still in there.” When he said that, I knew he was right. I said, “Yes. I believe it is. That’s why I’m here. It’s calling me.”

We were called on the track. We set our blocks. The attendant said, “Runners, take your mark.” Then after what seemed like 5 minutes, he said, “Get set.” When he said that, everything went silent. I had a peace in me that I could not explain. I wasn’t nervous. I was where I belonged. Then, BANG.

We were off. I felt like I was literally flying in the air. For about 8 seconds I was alive. I felt invincible. It was glorious. There really aren’t any words that accurately describe it other than to say, I felt life. The level of joy was immeasurable. I was literally high.

The very next day, as I continued to smile, a friend of mine sent a random text. He didn’t know anything about my adventure. Almost no one did. I tend to keep my whispers to myself. Anyway, his text simply said, Psalm 94:17 - "Unless the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.” I read that and it dawned on me, if I had not heeded that still, small whisper, I would not have had such a wonderful experience of life. I would have sat in the silence of death - not knowing what it was like to have life throbbing through not only my veins but my soul.

The whisper was my Help. I do believe I was being guided to do something I was born to do, to feed something that was inside of me. Now, I know this seems wildly weird - if not crazy - but again, it’s my story, and this did happen to me.

In the beginning of my story, I said I was sharing this with you because it may help you. My question for you is,

What is inside you? What were you born to do?

Whatever it is, you should seek to feed it. Do the thing(s) you were born to do. That is where you will experience joy, excitement, purpose, life… Were you born to teach? Teach. Were you born to sing, to write, to race, to account, to engineer? What is calling you? If you don’t know, you need to know. Because when you do the things you were born to do, you will find your flow, your energy, your passion.

We all need to be able to wake up in the morning and read a simple phrase that makes us smile and gives us hope like, “I am going to run track.” Even if we don’t know how or when we are going to do it.

Oh, by the way, I won. But only because I stepped onto the track. I did not win the actual event. There were 46 other runners, powerful stallions. But I was one of them, doing what I was made to do. Now I know where I belong, and I am going to train for the next race, and the race after that. I am going to follow my whisper.

Here is my advice to you: Listen. What do you hear? Don’t dwell in the silence of death. Find your help, listen for your calling, your purpose, or your passion. Then do it.

Live.

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