Finish the Course

As I write this, the death toll from the Boston Marathon explosions has risen to three people, including an 8-year-old boy.  The injured are more than 130 in area hospitals.  My heart is so heavy.

I haven’t lived in Boston for over 11 years.  I wasn’t even born there.  But I grew up in Watertown, just ten minutes outside the city.  I went to college in Chestnut Hill.  I spent many Friday nights in Harvard Square.  I danced away my college weekends in Kenmore Square and Brighton and downtown Boston.  I worked on Newbury Street in the Back Bay.  I wandered the MFA on countless Saturday afternoons.  I ate pizza and gelato in the North End.

Fresno may be home now, but a piece of my heart will always be in Boston.  As I’ve said so many times in the last decade:  You can take the girl out of Boston, but you can’t take Boston out of the girl.

Bostonians are fiercely proud, and I love my city.  Hearing the news reports today made me feel heartbroken, angry, confused, hurt, frustrated, and left me incredulous.

A few of my friends ran the Boston Marathon today.  They trained for months.  They ran for good causes.  Sarkis ran to raise funds for Dana Farber – he ran in memory of his two grandfathers and in honor of a young boy fighting leukemia.  He raised over $20,000.  My friend’s sister, Katie, ran with an autistic boy.  Incredible people doing incredible things.  Sacrificial things.  Good things.

I’ll leave the investigation and quest for justice to the Boston Police Department and the FBI.  I’ll choose to focus on the good.  Because despite the pain and fear that marred this day, there was infinitely more good achieved.

So why am I still crying?  Why does my chest hurt?  Why is it hard to breathe?  Because lives were lost, limbs were lost, and the suffering will continue for a time.  But there is a way out.

There is a way to dry the tears.
There is a way to heal the heart.
There is a way to renew the limbs.
There is a way to regain hope.
There is a way to reclaim victory.
There is a way to rebuild life.
There is a way to run again.

There is one way.  And life on this earth is too short and too unpredictable and too sucky to keep it to myself out of fear of being branded a fanatic or being unfriended.

Satan thinks he’s so clever and he may think he won today, but that is a lie.  His fear is a lie.  His hopelessness is a lie.  Because Jesus already claimed victory on the cross.  He is the only way.  The only truth.  And the only life.

Whether you believe that right now or not, in the end, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  And after reading this, you will not be able to claim that no one told you.

God put these verses on my heart today:  “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”  (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

Keep the faith and finish the only course that matters.

OK, I’m getting off my shoebox now.