Back around 1982 or 1983 while I was a junior or senior in high school, I got this crazy idea to run a marathon. Back then I was on the cross country team and as I started training I remember being up to about 10-12 miles a day in my training. I had my sights set on running the Dallas White Rock Marathon. However, as time passed, I lost interest in running the longer distances and gave up training.
Now consider my “giving up” compared to Brock’s deathcrawl in the movie Facing the Giants!
In May 2009, I had the opportunity to go to Living Waters Ambassadors Academy #10. This is an intensive four day evangelism training camp. One of the messages during the Thursday training is called “Don’t Quit” by Tony Miano. (If you have never heard the complete message, I encourage you to check it out. On sale now at Living Waters for just $1.50 on CD.) This message is inspiring. The main point is to not quit sharing the Gospel. Read on. But first, have a listen to this poem written by Arica Wade-Gonzalez who I met at AA #10.
Last year, my doctor suggested to me that the best way to loose weight is to train for a marathon. “A marathon?” I asked. He said, “it’s not like you actually have to run a marathon, just train for it to loose weight.” I thought about it but did nothing about it.
This spring a friend and I were discussing an idea for a “Bucket List” Gospel tract. I wrote the text for the back that includes nine suggestions for a persons bucket list. After the tracts were printed and I started handing them to people, I’d ask “do you have a bucket list?” and then follow it with “do you think you will ever do the things on your bucket list?” This got me to thinking, “will I do the things on my bucket list.”
As I continued to pray about all of this, I realized the desire from my youth to run a marathon was still there.
So one day in June, I looked up online “training for a marathon” and found a number of sites. When I looked at the training plan it looked good to do a half marathon first and then the full marathon afterward. I had already been running for a couple months and had gotten to where I could run three miles at a time. While looking at a ten week training plan to run a half marathon I noticed that there was a half marathon exactly 10 weeks from the day I was checking it out. I also found that there was a full marathon exactly 16 weeks after that and that there was a sixteen week training plan for the full marathon.
Putting all of this together, I decided to make running the Dallas White Rock Marathon my goal. I set out to follow the 10 week half marathon training plan. During that training, I ran a 10K the weekend of the Fourth of July, I ran in the beach in California and around Travis Lake in Austin, TX. During that training run in Austin, my iPod got so much sweat in/on it that it no longer functions. The half marathon came on August 15th. I completed it in 2 hours and 49 minutes.
Following the half marathon, I took two days to rest. Then I started on the 16 week marathon training plan. I replaced my iPod with an inexpensive mp3 player. I was enjoying listening to praise and worship songs while I ran and I even made some devotional time with the lyrics after my runs. But, that mp3 player suffered the same fate as the iPod – but my son later fixed it. I ran seven miles in Norman, OK one weekend while visiting my mom. A business travel took me to NY so I had the opportunity to run across the Brooklyn Bridge as well as along the Hudson river. Fitting in training with my sons band contest meant that one day I ran from Arlington to Bedford, TX. I also ran some hills in San Antonio while we were there on a band weekend. But, mostly my mileage was run right around my house. A week ago I was discussing with my family how many miles I’d run and determined where I could have run too if it were all run in one direction.
During my training, I ran 195.1 to run the half marathon and 399.2 to run the marathon. This is a total of 594.3 miles!
Amazingly, if I had run south or west, I would not have even made it out of Texas! Here is where I could have run to if I'd run all these miles in one direction...
- Going south from my house in Carrollton, TX that would take me to South Padre Island
- Going west out I-10 it takes you past Allamore, TX which is nearly to El Paso
- Going North West towards Amarillo you can catch 40 West to Santa Rosa, NM nearly to Albuquerque.
- Going north through OKC on I-35 I’d pass Kansas City to Cameron, MO
- Going North East towards Sherman (US 75) to Tulsa and then up I44 to St Cloud, MO which is almost to St Louis
- Going East on I-30 I’d cross Arkansas and reach Jackson, TN
- Going East on I-20 I’d cross Louisiana and Mississippi and nearly make it to Tuscalusa, AL
- Going Southeast I’d make it to New Orleans with with 30 miles left to make it to Mississippi
Often as the miles added up and I was tired and wanted to quit, I'd hear Tony Miano's voice in my head:
Don’t Quit
I think the first time that happened was when I was just getting to where I could run 3 miles without stopping. I could see my house coming up down the street:
Don’t Quit!
Later into my training, I would hit a hill and be ready to give up. Then I’d hear in my head
Don’t Quit!
While running the marathon yesterday, my wife, my sons and my mother and father in law cheered me on. At mile 23 I turned a corner to go up a slight hill. I stopped running and started walking. Then I saw my mother-in-law at the top of the hill and started running again. As I passed by my father-in-law reminded me I only had a 5K left to go.
Don’t Quit
Folks, in April, I could not run to the end of my block without being out of breath. I had a goal to run a 5K without stopping. But yesterday, I ran a marathon – and basically without stopping.
Don’t Quit!
Yes, this BLOG really is about evangelism. I layered shirts to keep warm during the race and had my AfterLifeCatalog t-shirt at the bottom of the layers. It showed for the last six miles!
Don’t Quit
As you go about your day, don’t quit share the Gospel. If you need some ideas check out the As You Go BLOG.
Don’t Quit
If you need Gospel tracts to hand out then enroll in the Bezeugen Tract Club and we will send you 30 per month – for FREE!
Don’t Quit!
If you live in Dallas, join us for our Basic Evangelism Training Seminar. The next seminar should be the second or third week in January. Send me a note, or follow the Bezeuegn Blast to get the dates.
Don’t Quit!
At the end of the Ambassadors Academy, Tony preaches another version of the Don’t Quit message. He reminds everyone that they have to go home now. Back to their home town where they might be the only one engaged in Biblical Evangelism. I invite you to watch as he addresses Academy #15. Many thanks to Ben Adams for responding to my request for this video and posting it for me. It is really interesting that in the midst of encouraging the attendees, a man comes and Tony witnesses to him.
So whether it is running a marathon, parenting your children, loving your husband or wife or sharing the Gospel, may I encourage you:
Don’t Quit!
Only final video for you. Six months of training paid off. On December 5th, I ran the Dallas White Rock Marathon. Here I am crossing the finish line!
Very encouraging, this was such a blessing to me. Thanks, God bless. Don't Quit.