Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:1-2).

My son is a runner. Recently he completed a race through the Canadian mountains, finishing the course after 22 hours. What a course! It took him from mountain tops with beautiful vistas through deep valleys that required slogging through mud and muck – in the dark! “The organizers set the course,” he said as he painfully limped home, “we just had to run it.”