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Race in the Clouds

by Jerry Ousley
9/29/2023 / Christian Living

Race in the Clouds

By Jerry D. Ousley

I dug myself into the sand under my feet. Dressed in camouflage fatigues, combat boots, and an OD green tee-shirt, I readied myself. Looking to the left, then to the right, I measured up my opponents; basically, young kids, men eighteen to twenty, maybe twenty-one years old. I was the elder at twenty-eight. Because of the intense heat that day, instead of doing our normal calisthenics and two-mile run, our drill instructors had been ordered to “take it easy” on us. So instead, they decided to make us do short races, the losers of each dropping for twenty-five (that means that the one coming in last had to immediately assume the pushup position and do twenty-five pushups after running the race at full speed – yeah, right, take it easy).

Even at only twenty-eight, I was one of the old men of the group which put me at the disadvantage. “They couldn’t have added Billy-Bob to our group (a fictitious name)” because Billy-Bob had a weight problem and I could have easily beaten him. Nor could they have added Pete (another fictitious name) because he was the true old man of our platoon at thirty-five – the maximum age you could enlist in this man’s army.

And so, I hatched a plan. If found myself at the end I would just ease up my running and save my strength for the pushups. But if someone was behind me then I would give it all I had so as to beat them. To make the race official, and because we were in the Army, the drill sergeant fired a blank shot in the air and the race began. As I had assumed, all those young bucks sprinted out ahead immediately. It seemed I would be last as I had thought. But wait, suddenly a tinkling sound caught my ear. It was dog-tags rattling behind me. Someone was behind me but not by very far. I couldn’t let him pass me. And so, I pushed ahead straining every muscle I could to stay ahead of whoever it was.

I nearly fell across the finish line, but relieved because I had beaten an opponent and wouldn’t be doing those pushups after all, when I heard the sergeant yell, “Drop, Ousley and give me twenty-five!” What? I was about to protest, turning around only to discover that no one was behind me, but that my own dog-tags had worked around the back of my neck in the running and the tinkle I heard was that of my own dog-tags. Bummer!

We all are in a race. It is a spiritual race. It is a race in which the prize has eternal consequences. Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” In the previous chapter (11) we find what is popularly called the “Roll Call of Faith” or “The Hall of Faith.” In it we find a short account of the lives of many of the great Old Testament men and women who finished their lives doing great things for the Lord. Then chapter 12 begins with the picture of this “great cloud of witnesses.” It is telling us that all those great people, and many others unnamed (which include those people we knew that have passed on before us, finishing their life-race) make up a vast sea of faces who are cheering us on. There could even be some in that cloud who don’t want us to make it.

Whether you claim to be a Christian or not, still you run the race. It isn’t a race in which other men and women are your opponents, but against your own sinful desires, the temptations of this world system and order, and the devil himself. He will throw all sorts of temptations at you in attempt to get you to stop running. And in the time in which we are living there are certainly strong temptations. Those who claim God isn’t real, and that the truth of the Bible is just a bunch of fables written by men in attempt to control our lives. Then there are temptations even from the organized church of our day, that say it’s okay to be whoever you are, just so you come to church. You can pray a simple prayer and suddenly you are okay for the rest of your life. You can do whatever you want to do and you are safe. All lies. All attempts to get you to stop running, take it easy, you’ll be okay.

But the real truth is that there is a finish line. We are all hurtling toward it. At the end is the face of Jesus, the One who cheers us on the most. He’s sitting by the right hand of God the Father, waiting on us to finish. But, just like an Olympic runner, we must train hard. We must take off all that weighs us down. All that stuff that holds us back. All the sin that so easily ensnares us. In most races you discard it all before you run. But in our race, we must throw it aside as we go because we can’t stop running. To stop means defeat. To quit means that our eternal prize is a false prize because it will wind up being eternal punishment in Hell.

We run, as that cloud of witnesses cheers us on, as Jesus is at the end telling us to “keep going, don’t give up, just a little further.” He knows what we are going through. He knows the temptation we experience. He knows because He has been there – been there in a much worse way than most of us. He endured the cross. He despised the shame of hanging up there, naked, as a spectacle for all to see. He thought nothing of it because He was running the first race, the one that would set the pace for all of us in our own race. He conquered death and sin, rising again on the third day to never die again.

And that is our reward. Eternal life with Jesus. Never to die again. Never to hurt again. Never to have to push, to endure, to suffer again. The prize is a place in His house where there will be no mor hunger, no more pain, no more tears – Only eternal joy and happiness. Yes, it is real. You can argue against it all you want. But as the old saying goes, “the proof is in the pudding.”

Our opponents can make fun of, heckle, ridicule, scream and yell all they want. They can torture, maim, steal and deny all they want. They can make their claims, belittle and tell us we are simple-minded fools for believing, all they want. But in the end, what they have fought will be brought to light. “I don’t believe that,” some might say. Well, do you believe enough to stake your life on it? Because that is exactly what you are doing. If we are wrong, all that will happen is that we have lived a life of loving people, doing good and believing erroneously. But if we are right … are you sure you want to take that chance? Are you sure you want to stop the race in the clouds? Are you really sure?

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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