I went to get a suit altered the other day and in doing so I began to wonder how long it had been since I had been able to fit into a pair of 34 x 34 slacks. Needless to say things have changed since college. I was internally furious with myself. After all, my uncles, all over 50, could easily outrun, outhike, and outexcercise me and can all fit into my old 34s with room to spare. So I did my marathon training this morning. I ran my three miles (nonstop) this at 5:30AM with my brother, Brian. By ‘brother’ I mean the Christian euphemism for a ‘good friend’. The funny thing about running with someone is that you push each other on the outside when everything inside of you screams to QUIT NOW! You yell, “Cmon man, pick it up, you can do this…” Actually Brian is doing most of the spurring. I’m pretty much trying to get oxygen. There’s nothing on earth that I like and dislike more than getting up before sunup and running. It’s not the doing of the thing that holds the pleasure and pain but the completion of the task that carries the satisfaction. Certainly there is a joy in the journey and I have embraced the process but I’m motivated by the promise or the destination. Hebrews 11 gives a list of people who had embraced a process (most of them difficult) and were motivated by a promise. A promise that they would not ever see in their earthly lifetime. The destination was beyond good. Beyond great. Beyond physical limitation. Immersed in spiritual reality. It’s no wonder they were able to endure and achieve as a result of that endurance. I may run, motivated alone by getting back into the old 34s, but I’ll keep running if I can find a higher motivation. I may endure hardship on behalf of the Kingdom of God but only if I get a clear view of the eternal Glory of that Kingdom. Ask God for a fresh vision, a new motivation, but only if you purpose to use it to endure and embrace the process that will take you there.