Follow the Heels

The last place I expected to find myself after 4 punishing days and 240 miles of running was in a church. St Francis Byrness is a welcome haven for participants in the Spine Race, offering them the last opportunity for refuge before embarking upon the final 26 miles of the Pennine Way over the remote and rugged Cheviots to the finish line at Kirk Yetholm, Scotland. The Spine is considered by many to be the toughest Ultra in the UK and it was living up its reputation.

I had arrived in the village late into the night with the intention to have a much-needed nap under one of the pews but couldn’t get comfortable enough to sleep. I rose from my ineffective slumber and resolved to press on into the night. It was here that I teamed up with Kevin Bowen, who was amused to meet a vicar in a church on a the Spine Race.

My memory of what followed is patchy at best. The combination of dark skies, snow, ice, wind and clag made it very difficult to focus on the route ahead. Sleep deprivation was beginning to take hold of me, making it increasingly difficult to stay awake as we ascended The Cheviot. Despite my best efforts my brain seemed intent on powering down, and I was periodically succumbing to sleep whilst running. It was scary.

I was thankful to have Kevin with me. For what felt like hours, all I could do was focus on following Kevin’s feet in the light of my headtorch. As I battled the urge to sleep, I resolved to focus all my mental and physical reserves on those two feet going up and down in front of me. “Follow the heels” I repeated to myself each time I drifted back from semi-consciousness. “Just follow the heels, and you’ll be fine”. “Focus, Phil!”. “Follow the heels!”

It did cross my mind at one stage that Kevin might not exist, or that the vision of his heels was nothing more than a memory repeating in my mind and leading me off into the night. Nevertheless, I had no other option available to me. “Follow the heels” was my only hope of making it to the finish line.

Me at sunrise, having Kevin to thank for seeing me through the night. He pressed on from here to finish with style.

“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that it’s by fixing our eyes on Jesus that we are able to endure in the life of faith. Jesus is described as the pioneer, the model, the example, the one who goes before us and in whose footsteps we follow. Jesus even describes himself as “the way” (John 14:6), reminding us that he alone knows the path to true life. It is a comfort to know that he’s right there with us on the journey presenting each step to us as the adventure unfolds. We can entrust responsibility for the destination to him, even when - perhaps especially when - we are in a dark place.

We all prefer to be in control and know what’s happening. We love it when the clouds clear and God gives us those mountain top experiences; moments of clarity where we see God’s grand vision for our lives is unveiled before us. But more often than not, we have limited vision and can see only the heels in front of us.

Negotiating Hadrian's Wall during the Spine 24

It’s said that the ancient Jewish blessing goes, “May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi”. Meaning, may you follow you teacher so closely that you get coated by the dust that is flicked up from their sandals.

In life, though, there are forces, benign and malicious, that compete for our devotion. Perhaps we catch sight of a shiny new set of shoes before us: celebrity preachers; social influencers; captivating philosophies; political ideologies; the desires and imperfect intentions of our own hearts. Each offer the promise of new life, but like a hallucination in the night, can only lead us dangerously off course.

The phrase fix our eyes literally means to “look away to”. In other words, as disciples of Jesus we actively choose to look away from other things which might command our attention in order to fix our eyes singularly on Jesus.

I love the words of Jehoshaphat* king of Judah. As the nations conspire against him, plotting his demise, he cries out to God in a desperate prayer which concludes simply:

“We don’t know what to do but our eyes are on you” 2 Chronicles 20:12

Let that be the cry of our hearts as we pursue Faith Endurance. Let all else flow from our daily devotion to Jesus. Let us place our trust in him afresh, following his heels. Let us fix our eyes on him so that we might run with perseverance the race that he has marked out for us.

* One of my favourite biblical names. Inexplicably, Abby wouldn’t allow it on our baby names shortlist for our three boys. I like Phatty for short.

This post is part of a series of short blogs titled Faith Endurance, based on a sermon series preached at St Peter’s Morley in Spring 2024. Subscribe to get notifications each time a new blog is released.