Life is So Very Fragile

I don't know how to articulate this point more clearly than when I read a story of a young 16 year old athlete, Cameron Gallagher, who crossed the finish line of the Shamrock Half Marathon in VA Beach, VA then collapsed and died. Her father stated that she was smiling "ear-to-ear" as she crossed the finish line.

I cannot even begin to imagine the feelings of losing such an inspirational, wonderful young girl. Even at such a young age, she had already accomplished so much... but life is so very fragile.

This story hits many nerves for me. I grew up very near VA Beach, and one of my favorite marathons is the Shamrock Marathon. It was this marathon where I earned both my best marathon time in addition to my favorite hoodie as a finisher's prize. In addition, my wife had run the Shamrock 8K twice (once with me pacing her, while I pushed my son in a jogging stroller). Our friend, Faith, joined us at the running festival for the Half Marathon. One year, we had a runner in every race, including the kiddie marathon (26.2 yards). This year's running, on the same day that this horrific event occurred, one of my good friends from high school completed this same marathon (Shamrock), her first. So, to hear such tragic news in the midst of such joy, and so close to home, is heartbreaking, to say the least.

Another story, that I've told in this blog, is one of a good friend who died several years ago- one week after running the same half marathon (my first half-marathon) that he had run for many years- a man with a 20+ year running streak and an extremely healthy lifestyle suddenly dies without warning.

There are countless stories like these, so what is one to think? No one knows the day, the time, or the hour that they will be taken from this earth. We cannot predict when we or our loved ones will depart. We cannot determine when our bodies will fail us or injuries will occur. All we can really do is hope, pray, and fight.

We all deal with a huge pile of stresses that can easily overtake us. We deal with these messes in many different ways- some good, some bad. In the end, we have to choose whether to let fear, stress, or anxiety take over our choices; or we have to choose another path, the one that leads to enjoyment in life.

We need to explore ourselves, exploit our limitations and go beyond our capacity. I encourage you to explore faith in these endeavors, seek God. You will be amazed at what the human body can do when we treat it the way that our Creator intended us to treat it.

In the end, though, it might be that our time will come when we least expect it. In fact, those who are closest to us will taken entirely too soon. We can only fight genetics, current circumstances of our world, and our fellow pilgrims for so long. My prayer tonight is that whenever we cross that last finish line, we will all be smiling ear-to-ear.

God Bless,
Paul