Has God ever told you a joke? It unexpectedly happened to me in a recent prayer meeting at our church.
As we prayed, we felt challenged to lay aside our “encumbrances” so we can “run the race with endurance,” as Hebrews 12:1 describes. It was at this point that the Lord told me a funny story.
A man named Joe was talking to his friend Moe about the marathon he had run the previous day.
“Yeah,” Joe told his friend proudly, “I made it the entire 38 miles!”
“But Joe,” his friend countered, “a marathon is only 26 miles long. What do you mean that you ran 38 miles?”
“Well, I took some detours along the way!” Joe explained sheepishly.
The Point of the Story
Although humorous, this story was also convicting. Too often, I’m like Joe: prone to detours, diversions, and distractions. A marathon is meant to be 26 miles, which is challenging enough. Yet I often get off course, which makes my journey take much longer. And some of my time-wasting diversions have even come during ill-fated attempts to find “shortcuts.”
So, what can I do? One of my key objectives for 2025 is “focus,” something incredibly difficult for me. I typically set off to do God’s will, but then get distracted along the way. Like the Israelites in Moses’s day, my waywardness causes me to stretch a 40-day trip into an epic 40-year detour.
As I’ve pondered the tale of Joe’s 38-mile marathon, I’m reminded of another funny story, the Gilligan’s Island TV series. A “three-hour tour” was prolonged into three years of being stranded on a Pacific island. In this case, the “detour” was beyond their control, caused by a fierce tropical storm.
We’ve all faced unexpected detours from time to time, and sometimes even shipwrecks. As in the voyage of the SS Minnow in the Gilligan series, some of these diversions are unplanned and unavoidable.
However, when we find ourselves straying on some tangent, it’s wise to get back on course as quickly as possible. Otherwise, we’ll find ourselves disqualified from the marathon or castaways on a secluded island.
Lord, You know we’re prone to wander. When we’ve taken a detour from Your plan, please show us quickly. Only with Your help can we “make our paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
What a beautiful story! More often than not, our journey is prolonged along the way by our actions but sometimes it is circumstances outside our sphere of influence, more like events conspiring against us. The key is to keep going, to keep running, until we arrive at our destination. That is where the need for endurance comes in. The Bible says that we must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:3-4)
Excellent point, Jim. We do well to get it into our brains that there is no way we can improve on God’s plan for us. Trying to do so will always end up being an unwanted detour, resulting in more pain than necessary.