MESSENGER CHURCH PAPER FOR SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS IN THE BRITISH ISLES
VOLUME 87 NUMBER 16/17 30 JULY 1982 •
4 MARATHON MINISTERS • by PASTOR CLEM COOK DIRECTOR, NEW GALLERY CENTRE
4 The marathon is the ultimate and most gruelling distance on the athletic calendar • — 26 miles 385 yards. It is the one event in which to finish is a triumph in itself — • Victory over the distance, not others. It is the ultimate jogging challenge, perceived I. as an attainable Everest, a peak after which the runner can say 'I have been • there'. This challenge has led to a marathon boom culminating on 9 May 1982 in the 'London Marathon', the largest marathon race in history — over 16,000 runners, international media coverage, and one million spectators lining the streets from the start in Greenwich Park to the finish on Westminster Bridge. ... Wordsworth wrote of the view from Westminster Bridge, 'Earth has not anything to show more fair'. Five South England Conference ministers endorsed that sentiment as they completed the 1982 London Marathon, aching, exhausted, • dehydrated, but elated at their achieve- ment. They averaged 4 hours 9 minutes for the 26.2 miles. Five SEC ministers, ages ranging between 26 and 36, less then one hour after successfully running the 26.2 For them it was the culmination of six to miles 1982 London Marathon in an average time of 4 hours 9 minutes, covering a cumulative distance further than from London to Nottingham, having trained over a cumulative distance further than London to New York. Ir. nine months of training, running countless Left to right Paul Wright, Bill Johnston, Clem Cook, Sven Ohman and Paul Tompkins. hundreds of miles in rain, wind, cold, 'abosnow, frost, darkness, sometimes before of running should benefit others as well. per day. He appointed himself coach of breakfast, often late at night after the They raised about £600 in sponsorships the five ministers, and prepared the • evening Bible studies and visits. The for the Hove Church Building Repair accompanying tips on marathon training. only ill-effects were a few blisters, ex- Fund, Gloucester Youth Fund, Chatham Also completing the London Marathon ' cruciatingly painful muscles for a couple Church Building Fund, and Country Life were Dr. Derald Barham of the of days, five or six toe-nails which dropped Vegetarian Restaurant and Health Store, Stanborough Park church who raised over off Bill Johnston's toes — and five badly a laymen's venture projected for £200 for the Watford Treatment Centre swollen heads! The quick physical London's West End, hopefully at the New for Spastic Children, and Ron Scholes of recovery of the five ministers caused one Gallery. the Barnsley church who raised over £400 wife to remark; 'It must be the Adventist The SEC Youth Department achieved for the Stanborough School. 1 way of life.' free publicity by providing the ministers Pastor David West of Southampton `Pure air, sunlight, abstemiousness, with 'Adventist Youth' T-shirts. Many a joined the marathoning ministers a month rest, exercise, proper diet, the use of spectator was heard shouting, 'Keep going earlier when he completed the Gosport • water, trust in divine power — these are the "Adventist Youth"! You can make it!' and Fareham Marathon. true remedies.' The Ministry of Healing, The motivation and inspiration to begin Six days after the London Marathon the .4.9age 127. The marathon ministers feel training for the London Marathon came Sabbath School lesson was entitled 'The that their running is an important part of from Pastor David Hughes, until recently Race to Glory', highlighting the Pauline ..4.,,the elements of healthful living. Their the Lewisham and Deptford church analogy between running a race and the consensus is that, since beginning to run, pastor. He ran his first marathon at the age Christian life. The ministers were k, they have had less sickness, more energy, of 55 in 1976, and has run four since in an uniquely placed to illumine the lesson clearer minds, less stress, and, as a result, average time of 3 hours 45 minutes. Pastor study with their own experience earlier are able to work more effectively for God. Hughes, who looks fifteen years younger that week. The pastors decided that all their miles than his 62 years, still runs 7 to 10 miles Continued on page 2 '19118,11.71rPor" '
Continued from page 1 They had felt the strong temptation in the months of training to give up, to take it 4iis NEWS in pictures easy, to drop out, as injury, bad weather and work pressure discouraged them. And • in the actual race, despite having persevered through the months of training and despite the closeness of the finish, the weariness and pain after 'hitting the wall' 4 between 18 to 20 miles made the temptation to quit as strong as it ever had been in training. But the elation, satisfaction and exhilaration experienced after finishing made all the training and pain seem as nothing. They are sure the second coming of Christ will be like that., All the waiting, hardship and struggle of the Christian life will seem as nothing • . compared with the glory of that day. Tor I reckon that the sufferings of this ht present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us' (Romans 8:18). `Therefore, since we are surrounded by r such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the- - sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us' (Hebrews 12:1, NIV).