Run That Race! (Australian Ultra Marathon - Cliff Young)

We just recently started a new church. We've been looking for over a year, trying out great churches here and there, but nothing seemed to fit for everyone in our family. We prayed, "Surely, God, you know our needs, and you care about each one of us. Please bless our efforts of looking and help us find that church!" 

Rewind a bit..
       Our son, started his freshman year at an amazing school this year. He shadowed this kid that was just a ton of fun! He enjoyed his shadowing so much, he thought he really liked that school. At a football game a month ago, the kid's mom asked me, "Where do you worship?" I cringed as I had to explain the many wonderful churches that we were touring lately. We liked them all in a different way. She invited us to her church, and we figured her son couldn't be wrong about the school our son loves, why should she be wrong about a church? 

We haven't left since that first Sunday. The church is called, Harvest Bible Chapel. Our Pastor, Ryan Hall, delivers an interesting, funny, Bible based sermon that anyone can follow. I love that! Link to his sermon on vimeo  below the article. Listen, it's great!

I wanted to share an inspiration story from his first sermon in the series. "Running with the Giants." It's about Cliff Young, the Australian ULTRA marathon runner. I won't take the story from their site, but I did want to share a clip of it, and have you read the rest with the link provided. It's not my story, but it's an encouraging one. 

The Legend of Cliff Young

An Unlikely Competitor

Cliff Young

Every year, Australia hosts 543.7-mile (875-kilometer) endurance racing from Sydney to Melbourne. It is considered among the world's most grueling ultra-marathons. The race takes five days to complete and is normally only attempted by world-class athletes who train specially for the event. These athletes are typically less than 30 years old and backed by large companies such as Nike.
In 1983, a man named Cliff Young showed up at the start of this race. Cliff was 61 years old and wore overalls and work boots. To everyone's shock, Cliff wasn't a spectator. He picked up his race number and joined the other runners.
The press and other athletes became curious and questioned Cliff. They told him, "You're crazy, there's no way you can finish this race." To which he replied, "Yes I can. See, I grew up on a farm where we couldn't afford horses or tractors, and the whole time I was growing up, whenever the storms would roll in, I'd have to go out and round up the sheep. We had 2,000 sheep on 2,000 acres. Sometimes I would have to run those sheep for two or three days. It took a long time, but I'd always catch them. I believe I can run this race."
When the race started, the pros quickly left Cliff behind. The crowds and television audience were entertained because Cliff didn't even run properly; he appeared to shuffle. Many even feared for the old farmer's safety.

The Tortoise and the Hare

Cliff Young

All of the professional athletes knew that it took about 5 days to finish the race. In order to compete, one had to run about 18 hours a day and sleep the remaining 6 hours. The thing is, Cliff Young didn't know that!
When the morning of the second day came, everyone was in for another surprise. Not only was Cliff still in the race, he had continued jogging all night.
Eventually Cliff was asked about his tactics for the rest of the race. To everyone's disbelief, he claimed he would run straight through to the finish without sleeping.
Cliff kept running. Each night he came a little closer to the leading pack. By the final night, he had surpassed all of the young, world-class athletes. He was the first competitor to cross the finish line and he set a new course record.
When Cliff was awarded the winning prize of $10,000, he said he didn't know there was a prize and insisted that he did not enter for the money. He ended up giving all of his winnings to several other runners, an act that endeared him to all of Australia.

Continued Inspiration

In the following year, Cliff entered the same race and took 7th place. Not even a displaced hip during the race stopped him.
Cliff came to prominence again in 1997, aged 76, when he attempted to raise money for homeless children by running around Australia's border. He completed 6,520 kilometers of the 16,000-kilometer run before he had to pull out because his only crew member became ill. Cliff Young passed away in 2003 at age 81.
Today, the "Young-shuffle" has been adopted by ultra-marathon runners because it is considered more energy-efficient. At least three champions of the Sydney to Melbourne race have used the shuffle to win the race. Furthermore, during the Sydney to Melbourne race, modern competitors do not sleep. Winning the race requires runners to go all night as well as all day, just like Cliff Young.

 (taken from www.elitefeet.com)

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I think we can apply this to our lives almost anywhere. What have you done to continue the race? In our case, it was to find a church. Although discouraging at times, wanting to give up, we didn't. We knew with God's help, we would find something that suited our family's needs. 

Here is Pastor Ryan's sermon beginning his series, "Running with the Giants." 

Listen Here: 

"Running With the Giants" - September 9, 2012 from Harvest Bible Chapel Palos on Vimeo.