Badwater Belt Buckle

   I happened upon a show on the TV last night entitled Ultramarathon. Now I know what an ultra is in this case, a race longer than a regular marathon, longer than 26.2 miles, but I had no idea about the one that was being featured in this production.

   The Badwater Ultra is a race from Death Valley to Mount Whitney in California. Held in July, the 135 mile test seems to be the ultimate of physical endurance, set in an atmosphere of epic proportions. From temperatures of up to 130 degrees in the desert, to the number of hours involved to complete the distance, the effort to finish is tremendous. I can't even begin to fathom the preparation for such an endeavor, much less the actual running of the event.

   The race organizers take only a limited number of runners for the yearly event, these picked from an applicant pool of many more. I believe 90 is the cutoff now, and the runner must have some proven ability in this race or other ultras in his portfolio.

   Any runner that finishes the course in under 48 hours receives a prize. And what is that prize, you may ask, a bronze belt buckle.

   A bronze belt buckle, a symbol of great effort, many hours of training and a perseverance to continue the quest to the end of the goal, no mean feat for sure.

   I thought this morning, as I looked at the Scripture, of a verse from I Corinthians 9:

 "Do you not know that all the runners in a stadium compete, but only one receives the prize? So run to win. Each competitor must exercise self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one."

   And I thought of the prize for completing the course of life, a life well lived; a well done from Jesus Himself.

   I do not discount the effort involved in that race, in fact, I am awed by just the thought of it, but I know that the imperishable crown is far superior, not even in the same league.

   The image that sticks in my mind from this documentary was that of a 76 year old runner standing in a close circle with a couple of friends. As the film showed this and then several other runners preparing to take off at the start, the words of a prayer, one being offered up by a man in that circle for the runner, furnished the background:

   "Lord, help this man to run the race set before him for Your Glory"

   Now that is a real prize...