God's Timing

After 36 marathons over 22 years, I finally found myself at the starting line of #37 for the ING New York City Marathon last Sunday. It's not that I hadn't wanted to have done it earlier or sooner in my running career; Lord knows I had tried. Several hundred thousand runners worldwide apply through a lottery to get in each year, with 47,718 slots available and half of those reserved for non-U.S. residents. The race itself is a huge celebration of running, with two million spectators carrying every one of those runners from the start on the Verazano Narrows Bridge through to the glorious finish in Central Park. Many times I've considered running, and the times I did apply I hadn't been fortunate enough to get in. And each time when that rejection notice came I experienced this sense of sorrow and heartbreak, assuming I'd never get the chance to toe the line in Staten Island.

This year would be different, I came to learn, my finishing time at another marathon earlier this year would earn me bib #5-718 and entry into this prestigious race.

I don't even know why after all these years I still question or doubt God's perfect timing. When I look back and see all of the times my plans didn't work out the way I wanted and wonder why I have to wait so long or endure so much along the way, I have the perspective and full view of HIS perfect plan and it all makes perfect sense. My NYC marathon weekend was magical, for so many reasons. One of those reasons was the fact that my "brother" Bill Sauber was fortunate enough to earn one of those lottery slots and join me, yet another chapter in an incredible friendship forged by faith and love.

Author Max Lucado once said, "In the end, everything works out. If it hasn't worked out yet, it's not the end". What we think is a "no" from God to our prayers is quite often just a "not yet". Lucado's words not only comfort me, but they serve as an eternal reminder that just because something hasn't yet worked out or happened, doesn't mean it won't. It also means that I can stop worrying about my future because it's in His good hands - I've come to accept that God's timing is perfect, that He made me in His image and He knows what I need and when I need it - and that includes both the good stuff in life and the stuff that rather soon forget or not have to experience. I'm called to simply keep the faith and to BELIEVE.


"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end" - Ecc 3:11