The day you genuinely gave your life to Christ, you began a race. It is a spiritual race. The race to Heaven is not a sprint but a marathon. It is not something you run with all your strength for just one day and it ends there. Unlike the regular marathon that goes through streets and paths already marked out, you may have to take unmarked routes and paths hitherto unknown while running this race. Also, unlike in regular marathons where you can meet someone who has successfully finished the race for tips, those who have run this peculiar race to the end are definitely not around on earth for people to consult with.
 
By the grace of God, as young as I am in Christ, I have been running this race for more than forty years now, and I am yet to reach the finishing line. There are people who joined this race some fifty or sixty years ago, and they are still on it till now. Every race has its peculiar nature. If you need patience and a lot of tact while running an earthly marathon, you will need much more of these while running the heavenly race. No wonder Hebrews 12:1 says,
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us”
 
However, just like it happens in earthly marathons, there are several casualties in the heavenly race. Some people start a marathon like a sprint. They run far ahead of others, but after some time, they lose steam and begin to retrogress while those they left behind overtake them. Also, there are those who fall and injure themselves, ending up in an ambulance. There are also those who out of exhaustion are unable to continue the race, and so they drop out. There are even those who after running for a while, gradually step out of the path, and are disqualified. All these scenarios are applicable to the spiritual marathon. Since you started the race to Heaven, have you been affected by any of these? Have you stepped out of the path of the race? Have you run out of steam? Have you fallen and refused to rise up? Get up today! The Lord will give you strength. Persist some more. Take it one day at a time. Call on the Lord to help you. Never give up. Each day that passes draws you closer to the finishing line. You will make it in Jesus’ Name! Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.