Of Amazing Races……..

Of Amazing Races……..

 I can Clearly remember the last time I watched T.V with my mouth wide open, rooting for a team, holding my breath, trying to imagine what it would feel like if I was in the position of whoever I was watching was in…. and NO!,….. I’m not talking about the English premier league!,(although it comes pretty close to this),  what I’m talking about is ….the advent of  reality T.V , which is as close as it gets to living a  modern day TRUE Cinderella type of story. I mean in this world there not too many ‘happily ever after’s’, but there’s just something beautiful when you see pairs embarking on a race together, screaming their heads off each other, tempers running high, adrenaline pumping, victories and defeats……course changing mistakes….and streaks of good luck and miracles…that might just get you going to the next leg of the race. Yes my friend…that’s what ‘The Amazing Race’ is all about.

Kinda like the ‘Amazing race ‘called ‘LIFE’ that we live out each day. Perhaps the competition is of a much slower pace…the prize not necessarily worth the coveted US 1,000,000. If anything the stakes are much higher, only sometimes we are not aware just how high…….

Just like the contestants we might think that we have it all figured out, only to have a curve ball thrown right in front of our face….better still, there those instances where you know you have reached the end of the road….only to find out it was a mere bend…and alas…there is one more turn to take…one more opportunity to get to the finish line.

 The Game isn’t over till….it’s over.

Indeed…it is not. And that’s why today I would dare you to look at your life and the experiences of each new passing day as a similar wonderful endeavour. An opportunity to learn to grow….to have some adventure…to make mistakes and….to learn from them, and even if you don’t always win…at least you will know that you did not quit… you have the experience of the RACE…… And that is beyond enough.
 I’ve managed to watch season 19 of The Amazing Race’ in a day (that’s just how good it was)…..and the contestants, just like the challenges, did not disappoint. The participants profile making the race that much more interesting ……… with a couple that’s been together for more than 51 years( yes, they were friends since they were round about 11 or 13, and are now married for 40+ ) and watching them take up such a challenge around the world was nothing short of inspiring, better still their obvious chemistry and the compassion  they showered upon each other despite the blows, proved age ( as in wine), was more of a strength than a weakness.

                                                                                Ecc 9:11

44 years later, Man City  finally lifts the English Premier League Cup…The race indeed is not to the swift…., time and chance happens to them all….

 I like that any time  it’s ‘that time’ to walk away  from the race, the ‘ runners’ always have something positive to say. No matter how ‘torn’ and ‘ broken’ and ‘ disappointed they are at their loss…despite the tantrums, the aches and pains, not to mention ‘near death experiences (yes, I think walking on a rope between buildings falls in the category)…., and even with the arguments that threaten the very relationships that the players themselves are meant to be building…despite all this, they always have something positive to say about the journey ….they always have something to take from it……..and they always say they would do it again…

 Life it’self is the most wonderful fairy tale.

While  I would Love to get the chance to embark on such a journey…….truth is in my own little way…I think I am……chances are , I’ll never get to go to ’The Amazing Race’ but you and I are running in one even as we speak……..I Pray that God would make it a little bit more obvious  to us the races that we are running in, and  send us some warning signs when we take the wrong turns so that we don’t have to veer too off the road to realise that we missed the mark……most importantly we need  the Wisdom to stop focusing on the race that other people are running  and run our own…..for that has proven to be the down fall of many.

                                          New zealand wins the 2011 rugby worldcup.

 I’ll quote one of the poems they had to be recite in the competition written by  Hans Christian Anderson, a Danish author who specialized in children’s books…… he wrote in ‘The fairy tale of my life,

“To move, to breath, to fly, to float,
To gain all while you give,
To roam the roads of lands remote,
To travel is to live.”

 Whether the Journey is a physical one or Not, whether you travel in your heart or in your mind………embark on it with all your might, live to the hilt of where you are. For as Hans so aptly put it 

                                 

                                       "Every man's life is a fairy tale written by God's finger."