Running For Life

Running for Life

Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!

1 Corinthians 9:24

During the great rivalry game between Alabama and Auburn one year, the first-string quarterback for the Alabama team had been injured, so the team was left with the second-string quarterback. Alabama was on the opposing team’s twenty-yard line and was ahead by five points. There were two minutes left in the game, and it was a first down for Alabama.

Coach Bear Bryant yelled into the ear hole in the helmet of the second-string quarterback, “Whatever you do, do not pass! Run the ball all four plays. And then, if we have to hold them, our defense will get us through, and we will win.”

The second-string quarterback ran onto the field full of zeal and determination. First down, Alabama was smeared. Second down, Auburn held them. Third down, Alabama gained only a yard. Fourth down came. The handoff was somehow muffled, and the quarterback wound up with the ball. Running around the backfield, he looked into the end zone and saw his split end ready to catch the ball, so he passed it. What he failed to see was that the fastest man on the field, Auburn’s safety, also saw the pass coming. He came in front of the receiver, intercepted the ball, and started racing down the field. The quarterback, not very fast himself as a rule, raced down the field, caught up with the man and tackled him, and Alabama won the game.

Coach Dye, of the Auburn team, said later to Bear Bryant, “I read the scouting reports, and that second-string quarterback is supposed to be slow. How is it he caught up with the fastest man on the field?”

Bear Bryant replied, “It’s very simple. Your man was running for the goal line and a touchdown. My man was running for his life!”

O Lord, thank you for the life race you have given me to run. I love you, Lord, and I want to run my race with joy and with my eyes always focused on you, because I know that I, too, am running for my life. Amen.