In a follow up to a story posted earlier this week detailing how three elite runners were led off course causing them to lose their lead and, subsequently, their fishing place, the BBC reported the following yesterday:
Three athletes who were led off course when leading the US half marathon championship will receive compensation after ultimately finishing well outside the top three.
Organisers of the event in Atlanta said that police assigned to mark out the route had to respond to an emergency call, which led to confusion from the lead vehicle.
Jess McClain, who was comfortably leading the women's race, was taken off the main course, along with her closest challengers Ednah Kurgat and Emma Hurley.
The race was won by Molly Born, who had been more than a minute behind, while McClain finished ninth, with Hurley coming 12th and Kurgat in 13th.
The Atlanta Track Club said on Tuesday it will award first-place prize money to McClain while Hurley and Kurgat will split the combined winnings for second and third place as they were shoulder-to-shoulder when they left the route.
"We are responsible for the integrity of these championships," the club said in a statement.
"We regret that Jess McClain, Emma Grace Hurley and Ednah Kurgat were impacted by this incident and were unable to be recognised as the top three finishers reflective of their performance on the course."
And, you know, in the same way these runners were compensated for their loss after they went off course, the Lord has a way of compensating us, or restoring things we have lost by going off course, when we repent and turn to Him as well.
Three athletes who were led off course when leading the US half marathon championship will receive compensation after ultimately finishing well outside the top three.
Organisers of the event in Atlanta said that police assigned to mark out the route had to respond to an emergency call, which led to confusion from the lead vehicle.
Jess McClain, who was comfortably leading the women's race, was taken off the main course, along with her closest challengers Ednah Kurgat and Emma Hurley.
The race was won by Molly Born, who had been more than a minute behind, while McClain finished ninth, with Hurley coming 12th and Kurgat in 13th.
The Atlanta Track Club said on Tuesday it will award first-place prize money to McClain while Hurley and Kurgat will split the combined winnings for second and third place as they were shoulder-to-shoulder when they left the route.
"We are responsible for the integrity of these championships," the club said in a statement.
"We regret that Jess McClain, Emma Grace Hurley and Ednah Kurgat were impacted by this incident and were unable to be recognised as the top three finishers reflective of their performance on the course."
And, you know, in the same way these runners were compensated for their loss after they went off course, the Lord has a way of compensating us, or restoring things we have lost by going off course, when we repent and turn to Him as well.
This was something we see in Joel 2, which describes an impending, devastating "Day of the Lord"—symbolized by a relentless, army-like plague of locusts—as divine judgment for sin. It called for national repentance for the nation of Judah through fasting and sincere, heartfelt sorrow. Upon their repentance, God promised restoration, relief from the army, and the future pouring out of His Spirit.
And you can be sure that God held true to his promise when He restored to them what was taken away in chastisement—even though, when the locusts did their work, it looked complete and final. But God promised that He could even compensate for and repair “the years that the swarming locust has eaten” and that's exactly what He did... because God always keeps His promises. Amazing right?
What does that compensation look like for us? Well... Charles Spurgeon explains it like this, "You cannot have back your time; but there is a strange and wonderful way in which God can give back to you the wasted blessings, the unripened fruits of years over which you mourned. The fruits of wasted years may yet be yours." That means that no matter how you might have messed up or wasted your beginning years, that's not the end of your story! You and I may not get back the years we lost but we can make our remaining years count! And God can make them bountiful!
So if you're looking back with sadness and regret at the time you wasted by going off course for one reason or another today, stop and look up my friend. You can't get back even one minute by lamenting over the past. But what you can do is return to Christ, and look toward to the future instead, trusting God's promise to make the rest of your life full, fruitful and productive.
Heavenly Father, thank You for promising to redeem the time we may not have used as we should have. Compel us to lay our regrets and sadness at Your feet God, knowing they only serve to keep us from being who You want us to be today. Let us exchange them for the joy Your promise brings and look to the future with hope. It's in your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen.
Happy Running!!!
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