Running Well to the End

22 May 2011

Dear Phyllis,

In September 1961, Don Hoke invited me over for lunch one day. He was concerned about me and wanted to discuss my plans for the future. I was facing a release from the Air Force, and had two roads lying in front of me – to stay on in Japan serving the Lord, or return to the states for more education, get married, join a mission, and come back. I told him I was considering going to the University of Arabia, where Paul went (Gal. 1:17,18) . This was alarming to Don. He asked, “Do you know any graduates?”

“Yes, a few.”

“Where are they today?”

“Most of them are in the ditch.”

“What makes you think you will be any different?”

Then Don said two things to me that had a profound impact. Firstly, he said, “What you are suggesting may be the will of God. But it is a radical departure from the conventional route. Therefore the burden of proof is upon you to prove that this is the course He wants you to take” And secondly,“FEW RUN WELL TO THE END. Many start out well, but few run well to the end.”

That afternoon was a monumental moment of my life. In the subsequent months the Lord more than dramatically confirmed that it was His will for me to stay in Japan. That was one of the clearest times of guidance of my life; and the next year was one of the most productive year of my life.

From Yokota I went directly to Karuizawa for language study. The first few months I was there I got in with Joe Carroll, who took me on as his disciple. For the next two years Joe was my closest friend. And shortly after arriving in Karuizawa, I was asked to teach in the Bibles school. This was a very efficient system the Lord used to give me an education. Somehow we have lost the Lord's instruction concerning receiving.The spiritual law is, “give and it shall be given you” (Lk. 6:38). It was by peaching and teaching that the Lord taught me the Scripture. I have never sat in a class in Bible school as a student, but I have stood in several as a teacher. And the Lord has given me a better education than anything offered in any school I know.

Don Hoke's second statement that afternoon has been a flashing light in my life ever since. I purposed that afternoon that whatever road I took, the one thing I desperately wanted out of life was to finish well. In any race, everyone looks the same in the starting blocks. When the gun goes off the field is still pretty much the same. But it would be ludicrous to imagine any athlete starting out well, and then after running 100 meters to suddenly stop to talk to someone in the crowd. It isn't the first 200 meters that counts, but where you are at the finish line. Over the years that thought has stood and been a warning light to me, as I have had to redirect and determine, “Keep it up, boy. Let's finish well.”

If there is anything to learn from saints who have gone before us and run well, it is a strong incentive to emulate their example. As a young believer I was greatly challenged by the testimonies I read in many missionary biographies. And then when I began to fellowship with senior missionaries, there was a strong desire born within me, “Lord, please let me be like that.” When I read the life of Hudson Taylor, JO Frazier, Brother Andrew, etc. something in my heart burned with a great desire to follow their footsteps. I thought it would be the privilege of a lifetime to be able to experience 1/10th of what they had with the Lord, and the record they achieved. It is usually the example of some great athlete that inspires any young man to give himself to be like that star in a sport. If anything should incite us to run a race it should be the testimony of those who have done so exceedingly well.

Alas, it is this that has made Christian life in our day the very opposite of running a race. The great study is, in both in our religious teaching and practical life, to find out how to make the best of both worlds, and how to enjoy as much as possible of the wealth and pleasure and the honour which this world offers. With many Christians if their conversion ever was an entering through a straight gate, their life since never was in any sense a laying aside of everything that might hinder their spiritual growth. They never heeded the word, 'He that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be My disciple.'”

The very concept that the Christian life might be anything like a race is almost absurd today. It doesn't take a great deal of spiritual exposition to suggest what a race is like. To anyone showing up for a race with a large bag of golf clubs slung over his shoulder, we would politely suggest, “I'm sorry sir, but you are at the wrong event. No one shows up for a race with a bowling ball in his pocket. The name of the game is to get a light as possible. We might easily raise some eyebrows of concern if we suggested that Christians today should have an attitude of someone in a race. That would call for some radical rethinking that might bring a warning of going too far. But let's be serious for a minute. Is the Christian life a race or isn't it? If it really is, it might be highly necessary that we periodically take an inventory or what is helping us and what is a weight.

As for the sin that doth so easily beset us, the only thing that can be said about that is that we must occasionally re-examine our life and be honest where we are drawing the line. It is highly possible to live a Christian life with an unacceptable acceptance of secret sin. Many Christians think they are getting by with it, but they can forget about growing in grace and going on very far with God. That ain't the way to run a race.

For those running a race they must set aside a lot of other things. For the time being they must give themselves to doing only one thing. For someone running the Boston Marathon they must put off a lot of other things that they would like to do. To run the Boston Marathon that would take tremendous concentration of purpose. It would require tremendous training. It would demand a strict diet. It would mean putting everything else on the back burner. And there is only one way anyone could run the Boston Marathon. That is one step at a time. The Christian life is not making a decision for Jesus and then go on to do something else. There must be a new decision for Jesus every single morning. Daily dedication is imperative

And you have got to keep going in the same direction. You can't run 5 km in one direction, and then run 1 km sideways to personal pleasure – or even worse – 2 km backwards towards the world. You must keep on course.

I fear when the writer of Hebrews wrote to the Christians of his day and said “being compassed about by such a cloud of witnesses”; if he saw the scene today, he would think there are a very few who are actually running a race, and a great cloud of witnesses standing on the sidelines watching.

That was 50 years ago Don Hoke hit me slam between the eyes with that challenge FEW RUN WELL TO THE END. I have done a lot of limping to get this far, but I do want to have my head down, pouring on the coal the last lap of the race.

Excuse me, Phyllis, but I have got to tie my shoe and get on with the race.

bill

Hoke's Running to the End

The Book of Bill- Letters to PB for the Nation of Believers

22 May 2011

 Dear Phyllis,

In September 1961, Don Hoke invited me over for lunch one day. He was concerned about me and wanted to discuss my plans for the future. I was facing a release from the Air Force, and had two roads lying in front of me – to stay on in Japan serving the Lord, or return to the states for more education, get married, join a mission, and come back. I told him I was considering going to the University of Arabia, where Paul went (Gal. 1:17,18) . This was alarming to Don. He asked, “Do you know any graduates?”

“Yes, a few.”

“Where are they today?”

“Most of them are in the ditch.”

“What makes you think you will be any different?”

Then Don said two things to me that had a profound impact. Firstly, he said, “What you are suggesting may be the will of God. But it is a radical departure from the conventional route. Therefore the burden of proof is upon you to prove that this is the course He wants you to take” And secondly,“FEW RUN WELL TO THE END. Many start out well, but few run well to the end.”

That afternoon was a monumental moment of my life. In the subsequent months the Lord more than dramatically confirmed that it was His will for me to stay in Japan. That was one of the clearest times of guidance of my life; and the next year was one of the most productive year of my life.

From Yokota I went directly to Karuizawa for language study. The first few months I was there I got in with Joe Carroll, who took me on as his disciple. For the next two years Joe was my closest friend. And shortly after arriving in Karuizawa, I was asked to teach in the Bibles school. This was a very efficient system the Lord used to give me an education. Somehow we have lost the Lord's instruction concerning receiving.The spiritual law is, “give and it shall be given you” (Lk. 6:38). It was by preaching and teaching that the Lord taught me the Scripture. I have never sat in a class in Bible school as a student, but I have stood in several as a teacher. And the Lord has given me a better education than anything offered in any school I know.

Don Hoke's second statement that afternoon has been a flashing light in my life ever since. I purposed that afternoon that whatever road I took, the one thing I desperately wanted out of life was to finish well. In any race, everyone looks the same in the starting blocks. When the gun goes off the field is still pretty much the same. But it would be ludicrous to imagine any athlete starting out well, and then after running 100 meters to suddenly stop to talk to someone in the crowd. It isn't the first 200 meters that counts, but where you are at the finish line. Over the years that thought has stood and been a warning light to me, as I have had to redirect and determine, “Keep it up, boy. Let's finish well.”

If there is anything to learn from saints who have gone before us and run well, it is a strong incentive to emulate their example. As a young believer I was greatly challenged by the testimonies I read in many missionary biographies. And then when I began to fellowship with senior missionaries, there was a strong desire born within me, “Lord, please let me be like that.” When I read the life of Hudson Taylor, JO Frazier, Brother Andrew, etc. something in my heart burned with a great desire to follow their footsteps. I thought it would be the privilege of a lifetime to be able to experience 1/10th of what they had with the Lord, and the record they achieved. It is usually the example of some great athlete that inspires any young man to give himself to be like that star in a sport. If anything should incite us to run a race it should be the testimony of those who have done so exceedingly well.

Alas, it is this that has made Christian life in our day the very opposite of running a race. The great study is, in both in our religious teaching and practical life, to find out how to make the best of both worlds, and how to enjoy as much as possible of the wealth and pleasure and the honour which this world offers. With many Christians if their conversion ever was an entering through a straight gate, their life since never was in any sense a laying aside of everything that might hinder their spiritual growth. They never heeded the word, 'He that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be My disciple.'”

The very concept that the Christian life might be anything like a race is almost absurd today. It doesn't take a great deal of spiritual exposition to suggest what a race is like. To anyone showing up for a race with a large bag of golf clubs slung over his shoulder, we would politely suggest, “I'm sorry sir, but you are at the wrong event. No one shows up for a race with a bowling ball in his pocket. The name of the game is to get a light as possible. We might easily raise some eyebrows of concern if we suggested that Christians today should have an attitude of someone in a race. That would call for some radical rethinking that might bring a warning of going too far. But let's be serious for a minute. Is the Christian life a race or isn't it? If it really is, it might be highly necessary that we periodically take an inventory or what is helping us and what is a weight.

As for the sin that doth so easily beset us, the only thing that can be said about that is that we must occasionally re-examine our life and be honest where we are drawing the line. It is highly possible to live a Christian life with an unacceptable acceptance of secret sin. Many Christians think they are getting by with it, but they can forget about growing in grace and going on very far with God. That ain't the way to run a race.

For those running a race they must set aside a lot of other things. For the time being they must give themselves to doing only one thing. For someone running the Boston Marathon they must put off a lot of other things that they would like to do. To run the Boston Marathon that would take tremendous concentration of purpose. It would require tremendous training. It would demand a strict diet. It would mean putting everything else on the back burner. And there is only one way anyone could run the Boston Marathon. That is one step at a time. The Christian life is not making a decision for Jesus and then go on to do something else. There must be a new decision for Jesus every single morning. Daily dedication is imperative

And you have got to keep going in the same direction. You can't run 5 km in one direction, and then run 1 km sideways to personal pleasure – or even worse – 2 km backwards towards the world. You must keep on course.

 I fear when the writer of Hebrews wrote to the Christians of his day and said “being compassed about by such a cloud of witnesses”; if he saw the scene today, he would think there are a very few who are actually running a race, and a great cloud of witnesses standing on the sidelines watching.

That was 50 years ago Don Hoke hit me slam between the eyes with that challenge FEW RUN WELL TO THE END. I have done a lot of limping to get this far, but I do want to have my head down, pouring on the coal the last lap of the race.

Excuse me, Phyllis, but I have got to tie my shoe and get on with the race.

bill