The Race

“I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” Ecclesiastes 9:11 NIV

Most commonly the scripture I read is said this way, “The race is not given to the swift or to the strong but to the one who endures to the end.”  As I was driving home one day this week, I thought about that scripture, and two interesting characters came to mind: The Tortoise and The Hare.

This fable tells the story of a race between a hare and a tortoise. The hare makes fun of the tortoise for being slow, and the tortoise accepts the hare’s challenge to a race. The hare gets far ahead of the tortoise, but then stops to take a nap.  The tortoise continues moving slowly but steadily, and eventually passes the sleeping hare to win the race.

The moral of the story is you can be more successful by doing things slowly and steadily than by acting quickly and carelessly.  You know what the hare’s problem was? He was overconfident and cocky.  That old rabbit saw that turtle as an unworthy opponent, you know, not a threat at all. Cecil as he was called on Looney Tunes, was a meek and humble creature.

The turtle’s perseverance and determination helped him to complete the race. Nope he did not entertain the idea of quitting, instead he stayed focus on the race. That rabbit had his own ideas about what he saw as a worthy opponent.  Can you see that rabbit, sizing up the turtle? He figured “it’s in the bag.”

Have you encountered people who think they got you all figured out?  Have you been underestimated? Look at Jesus who was born in a manager. There laid the savior of this world. He was underestimated, questioned, ridiculed, and hassled. But he came to set the captive free through healing, and with love. He came to give us the right to the tree of life. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is our enduring strength. Yes, it’s the God in you, that won’t let you give up. Amen.

Remember friends, we are each other’s keeper and the only time we should be looking down on someone is when we are helping them up.