The Race

As I watched our little guy sleeping on the baby monitor last night, I started thinking about how fast he is changing and growing up. It seems it wasn't so very long ago that I felt his foot push against my stomach and felt the vibration from his hiccups. I was thinking about the great race of life. You're in the hospital, pushing that last push, and BANG! The baby enters the world and he's off! He's running his own race. Of course his track will run along side mine for a while, but one day it will branch off in his own direction and, if God allows, will long outstretch my track by many years. But if life is a race, what is the finish line? Death? That's a bit depressing. Eternal Life/Damnation? That's what Paul had in mind. What if eternal life isn't real? What if the whole concept of heaven is a hoax? Something we tell ourselves and family to feel better. Like where our puppies go when we're little. Can you believe in God and not heaven? Can you believe in Hell without heaven? Maybe the finish line, in this particular race, isn't the goal. Maybe it's the joys we experience along the way. The spouse we travel down the track with, the children we start on the tracks of their own, the beauty we see along the way. Maybe the point isn't what is in it for our eternal souls, but how we inspire the souls we meet along the journey. For now, I whole heartily believe in heaven and hell; if for no other reason than the way it helps me be a better person. But I truly believe the point is to be that awesome person without a reward in view. One day I hope I'm that person.