I didn't have a long athletic career in my HS years at Flaget, but I still remember the lessons I learned... during that brief time of my life.
In the quiet place of my mind... I can still hear the voice of coaches repeating clichés that must have been drilled into THEM... One of them I learned from our track coach...Brother Kirby Boone.
We practiced on an old cinder track at our field house down at 45th and Greenwood in the West End of Louisville. I can still hear Brother Kirby yelling, “Get the monkey off your back!” Maybe some of your coaches used that one..
I never was a sprinter way too many slow twitch muscles for that. My event was the mile, 4 laps around that old 1/4 mile cinder track... At the end of every practice all the milers had to run a mile for time. After running 3 laps Brother Kirby would be standing on the last curve screaming “Get the monkey off your back!”
As I went by Brother Kirby I always thought that's easy for you to say. Looking back, I'm sure Brother kirby had a coach holler the same thing at him sometime in his life.
After you make the turn...can see the finish line but it seems so far away your lungs are burning... you can't suck in enough oxygen your body's telling you it sure would be nice to ease up...to coast in... But you know you can't do that... even though it feels like you have a monkey or maybe a small gorilla on your back.
THAT time when you feel your worst... that's the time you have to pick up the pace... we knew that Brother Kirby's exhortations to dig down & sprint that last 1/4 lap was what we had to do...No matter how much it hurt To be the best milers we could be.
In a different way... Jesus is exhorting us to get the monkey off our backs today. He says...If someone forces you to go 1 mile, don't stop there...go a 2d mile. When the rest of society is saying, “slow down and coast; Walk if you need to” Jesus is saying, “Dig in and give that extra effort.” Get the monkey off your back go that 2d mile.
When you think about being a Christian in that context, you might say Christianity's a SECOND MILE religion. For a miler sprinting that last 1/4 mile with your lungs burning and legs aching is waht makes you the best miler you can be... For a Christian living in the 2d mile makes you the best Christian you can be...
So just what is this living in the 2d mile anyway? To love your neighbor's the 1st mile, to love your enemy's the 2d mile. To bless those who bless you's the 1st mile, to bless those who curse you's the 2d mile. To do good to those who do good to you's the 1st mile to do good to those who hate you's the 2d mile. Praying for those who pray for you's the 1st mile praying for those who despise you's the 2d mile.
In track, being a miler is rigourous and demanding, but rewarding being a Christian is also rigorous and demanding but the rewards are great... When WE call ourselves Christians it should be with a certain pride but also a certain humbleness...Because it isn't easy.
Christ not only taught living in the second mile...He lived it Wasn't Jesus eating with Zacchaeus the tax collector... A man hated by everone in town...living in the 2d mile Wasn't Jesus touching the leper and healing the woman unclean woman who touched his cloak...living in the 2d mile
When you think about it... isn't the radical lesson in all Jesus' parables getting the monkey off our back... living in the the 2d mile?
Now, sometimes the second mile's not appreciated. Sometimes people take advantage of us There's a story about a priest walking down the street one day Father notices a very small boy trying to ring a doorbell at a house across the street.
The boy's very small and the doorbell way too high After seeing the boy stuggling... Father crosses the street. He places his hand kindly on the child's shoulder leans over and gives the doorbell a firm ring.
Crouching down to the child's level, the Father smiles compassionately and asks, "And what NOW, my little man?" The boy moving away replies, "Now we run!"......
We can't allow unfortunate experiences to keep us from the joy of the 2d mile that Jesus promises. Our challenge is...get the monkey off our back! The the extra step it takes to be 2d mile Christians.
People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered. Love them anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight. Build it anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll probably get kicked in the teeth sometimes.
Live in the second mile. Get the monkey off your back.
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway!
Deacon Gerry
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