Repent and Move On

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,” Acts 3:19 NIV

In a story titled “2,000 People Ran the Atlanta Marathon. Then They Found Out It Was 554 Feet Short,” published last week, it was reported that “a measurement error caused finishing times to be off by 36 to 87 seconds, including some Boston-qualifying marks.” The ATC (Atlanta Track Club) acknowledged on April 13 that the inadvertent misplacement of several cones near the 20-mile mark resulted in the course being short. The route had been measured as part of its USATF certification process weeks prior to the race, but when an unexpected race-week construction project arose, it forced ATC senior event operations manager Brantley Sherrer and his team to reconfigure sections of the course between miles 20 and 24 just a few days before the race—and just a day before the club was hosting the USATF Half Marathon Championships. The ATC was confident of the accuracy of the new marathon course—which included utilizing more space in the city’s Grant Park—but the problem arose when several cones were improperly placed during the course setup early on March 2. The snafu impacted the final finishing times of all 2,000 runners in the race, including 80 who finished in times that were faster than their age-group qualifying times for the 2026 Boston Marathon. The ATC reached out and apologized to all of the runners in the race, and offered each one a complimentary entry to any of the 35 events the club organizes annually, including next year’s Atlanta Marathon.

And, you know, while the ATC made a huge mistake, their willingness to own up to their blunder and quickly apologize to those that were affected greatly helped them recover and move on. Which is the same way we should handle the mistakes we make in our own lives. When we transgress or do wrong and come to realize that we have sinned against the Lord, we are to immediately “Repent, then, and turn to God” so that our sins may be wiped out. And then we are to go a step further and apologize and make restitution to anyone who might have been affected by our transgression, since our sins rarely only affect us. 

So, don’t hold on to unconfessed sin my friend thinking that the consequences of it will just go away. They won’t. Confess it to God and repent from it “that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” and you can move on. You’ll be so glad you did. 

Heavenly Father, thank You for reminding us that we all sin and fall short of the mark. Lord help us to see where we have failed You and when we have harmed others in the process that we might repent, apologize, and move on. It’s in your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen. 

Happy Running!