This past week I had watched a documentary called Just. One. Mile. It was a bout a race that is held annually in Tennessee. Literally it is held in a person’s backyard and is only a mile. Despite that it is one of the most sought after race wins in the country. There is no money, or trophy. The winner gets a quilt!

Although it is only a mile the runner must complete the mile in under 20 minutes and through a really tough course. Hundreds show up to run and the last one running wins. This documentary follows Chad Wright who was the winner in 2021 and 2023. He ended up running for 30 hours and around 133 miles in the last year he ran.

Although there was so ego play in the movie it had some bearing on Biblical themes, this includes the most direct scripture:

1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

Throughout the movie it was obviously that each one of the runners wasn’t just there for a quilt or even an ego boost only, though that played heavy in their spirit of competition. There is another aspect that was also present. To prove themselves as see how much they really can do with their abilities to run and endure.

As some point we all wonder how much we can endure as each year we get older and more tired and weak. It seems that we are slowing down. The race however is still running and we are still in it. We have to keep running to the finish line.

The Holy Days coming next week are part of our training. The annual Commitment to the Indwelling of Jesus Christ and the forgoing of sin in our lives. These Holy Days are reminders that we are still in training for the spiritual race while we are running it. In that regard heed the lessons learned and the reminder of our commitment to Christ our savior.

1 Corinthians 9 continues:

26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Running the race like the one in the documentary requires physical training. Ours requires spiritual training. It continues despite our age and physical status. Discipline often involves sacrifice and denying one’s self. The winner of the race in the documentary had a background as a Navy Seal and worked hard to discipline himself for it. Everything to him seemed to not be just about winning but proving himself. That should be our goal too, in this spiritual race.

Remember Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 KJV 16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Through Christ we can endure, prove ourselves in him, and win the prize he has for us in the end!

Happy Sabbath and Holy days!

Your brother in Christ,

Steve Koenig