One More Lap Around
Isn’t it funny what your brain can recall when you just sit and let it grind? On the one hand I can’t remember a phone number without looking at my phone. When I had to dial it, I knew all of them by heart it seemed. Now, Apple and Siri do that for me. On the other hand, I can remember intricate details of something that happened 50 years ago that means absolutely nothing to my current life. One such passing thought that made an appearance in the misty mind of yours truly this past week took me back to football practice in high school in 1977 (I think).
As I recall, I had a detention for something, (shocker!) and I had to serve it right after school on this day. The problem with that is that football practice was also held right after school. Since I didn’t have an evil twin clone to serve the detention (let’s call it a misunderstanding by the school against one of its finest students), I had to serve my debt to society with all the other low lives of the day. I did my time and was set free to go to practice, albeit an hour late. Side note: Coach was not big on anyone being late.
As captain of the team, the coaches looked poorly at one of their leaders being late for practice, especially for being delinquent of school standards (most likely talking in class and not paying attention). Any who, I was informed that after practice I would have to pay the team and coaching staff some laps on the track. This was not a normal occurrence for me but on that day, I joined the other misbehavers to pay for my sins and to pledge that with all my heart I would never do something so heinous again.
Practice comes and goes, and it has been a full day. I am looking forward to going home and getting a shower and something to eat. Hoping that the coaches may have forgotten (RIGHT!), I start heading for the fieldhouse. A booming voice comes from Coach Croyle, “Hey Rutledge, are we forgetting something?” Poop, he clearly was on top of his game. Me and a few other rule benders marched over to the track for payback time. We are fined with a one mile run or four times around the track. Not bad as punishment goes in those days. I once saw a guy run twenty miles to get back on the team after being kicked off for smoking some illegal weed like substance that smelled like burning rope.
As we go around once, we all notice that it doesn’t appear that Coach is paying real close attention to us as we slowly move around the track. We put our heads together and come up with a plan to get out of one of the laps. We decide that when we come around to where he is sitting in a chair reading a book to all say, “well that’s three” instead of the actual second lap we had just finished. We do as plan, and he says nothing. We all have a great feeling that we pulled one over on him and we might get out of a lap. As we come around again for the (hopefully) last lap we cross the finish line and say, “Well that’s four!” Without even a budge, he looks over the top of the book and says, “One More Lap Around boys, and if you don’t finish it a LOT quicker, I’m going to add some more, get stepping!” We finish that lap and now we are huffing and puffing pretty good, and he adds another lap for screwing around. We look at each other, don’t say a word, and finish our sixth lap and look at him hopefully as we seek redemption for our wayward actions. He says, “Any more questions fellas?” “No sir”. Okay, hit the showers.
Today’s blog will likely be a bit heavier than some of its predecessors. If you are looking for a laugh riot, this one is not going to be that. Life, at times, has a way of knocking the starch out of all of us. It makes us run extra and keeps us from doing the things we want to do. Like you, I’m sure, it makes me weary and leads me to ask some tough questions about what exactly is going on. It makes me wonder why it must be so challenging. Especially if everything had been going relatively well. Today’s blog will be about the One More Lap Around in life we seem to have to do.
Thanks for your time reading this and I hope you enjoy it, even if it is in a different way from normal.
But First…A Joke:
Stan was 26 over par by the 8th hole. He had landed a dozen balls in the water hazard and dug himself into a trench fighting his way out of the rough. When his caddie coughed during a one-foot putt, Stan exploded.
“You’ve got to be the worst caddie in the world!” he screamed.
“I doubt it,” replied the caddie. “That would be too much of a coincidence.”
Bonus Dad Joke:
Q: What do you call a spider with ten eyes?
A: Spiiiiiiiiiider
A Verse to Contemplate:
As it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” - the things God has prepared for those who love him - these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. - Corinthians 2: 9-10
Have I Told You This One?
Luke 16:10 is a very important verse to me. It says, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” Another way to look at this is, if you are unfaithful with the small things, how will He entrust you with bigger things?” It illustrates the type of person I am, regardless of the circumstances and people involved. I should be the same person when it is going easy as I am when things are difficult.
Lately, I have been worn down by bad news. It has made me weary. It has zapped my strength, and it seems like it takes a bigger effort just to power forward. My spirit and resolve seem to have taken a hit. I feel like I bow up when the storms come and take the fight to the enemy, but recovery seems to take longer and is less victorious. It seems like it takes all I’ve got to take One More Lap Around. People have let me down. Trust in others is a challenge. Failure has knocked me down. Our “leaders” show themselves to have clay feet and weak resolve. Work is not fulfilling. My friends and family are constantly being attacked by health issues. Some very serious. People I care about are addicted to drugs and alcohol. Divorce and broken relationships seem routine and normal. Deaths of loved ones is painful.
Fatigue and discouragement have replaced energy and excitement. It hurts so much. Where do you find the motivation and strength to do One More Lap Around? The greatest energy drainer is trying to deal with all of this is in my own strength. It’s exhausting. I’m aware that no one promises you or me an easy life and typically it is hard when everything is going “right.”
In my own circle, I’ve spent 40 years dealing with a brother with sobriety issues. I can’t count the times I had to decide to take One More Lap Around. Why do it? What will change? Is there a point to it?
My family has been chased by a curse of kidney failure for 50 years. When I hear about another one visited by this demon, I think, he we go again, One More Lap Around. When it’s your kid, it’s heartbreaking.
A lot of this is just “life” but it wears on you. Weariness is an opportunity for the Lord to strengthen me and you. He uses His people to energize and encourage one another. We are all needy, and it is just a matter of time before we learn how to receive strength from Him. The Lord wraps his strength around the gift of a prayer warrior - someone who storms heaven on your behalf.
This week a lifelong friend that I met in grade school informed us that she had cancer and asked for prayers on her behalf and for her family. “Life” didn’t leave them alone because of one concern as they also lost a parent in the same week. My heart hurts big for them. I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and rally around my friend and her family. What came to mind was that I couldn’t do anything to help in my own strength but allowing the Lord to work through me in prayer was the best approach. Christ’s strength comes from being still. He strengthens my soul by ceasing to strive and allowing Him to work. This total trust in him is what I saw in my friend and that energizes me. Here is a person facing a mountain that seems immovable, but she has all her cards played and trusts in the only One that can make it worth One More Lap Around.
Why go One More Lap Around? The good parts are why. Someone is watching how we handle things. They see what we really believe when it looks the worst. God trusts us with more when we are faithful in the small. I am honored to pray for her. He tells us to come to him with confidence and expectations that He will answer our prayers. I don’t know what will happen to the things I’m dealing with or what my friend is fighting but I know this: He is Sovereign, He loves us, and He has a plan for each of us.
Her fighting spirit picked me up out of the dumpster I was in and energized me to get up and fight with her. Please join me and believe that He is the Great Physician and anything and everything is possible. It is always worth One More Lap Around.
Fight like hell my friend, I’m praying and I’m not stopping.
A Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I draw my strength from You. I want to seek You with all my heart. When I’m weary, I need Your refuge. Take this beaten and broken spirit of mine and fill it with courage, endurance, and unrelenting faith to face each day You have gifted me with purpose and grace. Plant in me a desire to spend intimate time with You because I know I will never be the same after being in Your presence. Lift me in my hurting so that I may be a source of Your strength to others. Make my weakness a strength. Make my strengths a glory to You.
Book Recommendation:
A Fire to Win, The Life and Times of Woody Hayes by John Lombardo (2005)
Music Recommendation:
The Wolves Are Coming by Philip Sayce (2024)
Quote of the Day:
“I know that there are people who do not love their fellow man, and I hate people like that!” - Tom Lehrer
Cool Place to Visit:
West Palm Beach, Florida