According to Julie Deardorff in “Unwitting Marathon Runners Go Extra Mile” of Chicago Tribune (6-3-05), many ran an extra mile. A marathon, for most runners, seems long. But it is always 26.2 miles. Always with no exception… that is except for the Lakeshore Marathon held in Chicago on Memorial Day weekend, 2005.
That day the 529 runners who finished actually ran 27.2 miles, one mile more than they were supposed to, only nobody told them so at the time. The organizers simply miscalculated where the finish line should be. The whole race was a mess, with missing mile markers and confused directions. One woman who had been leading early on got completely turned around. “I was so confused,” she said, “I wanted to cry.”
The organizer, a man named Mark Cihlar, issued an apology—kind of—on a website. “[Last-minute changes] caused us to miscalculate and we foolishly added an extra mile—how terrible!”
Maybe life has been like that for you past weeks or months. It’s tough enough to get through each week, and then someone threw you a curve—or added an extra mile; an impossible deadline; another sick child; an overdue notice on a bill; or an unexpected disaster.
When you feel like you’ve been forced to run farther than anybody should have to, it helps to remember that God’s strength is sufficient, and that “those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isa. 40:31). I am sure there are people around you who are willing to go an extra mile WITH you. Me, too! Let me know how I can better pray and minister to you.
Have a blessed week!
Pastor Loren