First of all, my squad and I made it safely to The Philippines! We are here for the month of February! My team leaves tomorrow for our ministry site…we get to take a ferry there and I am PUMPED!
Second of all, I have a little story to tell you.
I ran a 5K today. A race to end poverty here in The Philippines. Yes, this kid really did run 3.2 miles. I don’t know if you’ve seen pictures of me lately, but its really hard for people like me to run that far. Really. I am proud to say I ran from start to finish. But let me tell you, I didn’t do it on my own. My good friend and teammate Stacey Compton helped me out. See Stacey is quite the runner. She was well ahead of me, but she looked back, for just an instant, saw me huffing and puffing back there, and, for some reason, decided to turn back around and give me some words of encouragement.
I. Was. So. Glad. I was back there, legs burning, lungs burning, and wondering if I was going to live to see the finish line. Stacey ran back to me and said “You can do this. We are almost done…just a little farther!” And that was the motivation I needed to make it up the giant hill that separated me from the end of the race. She ran right next to me all the way up that hill, even though she could have made it there in half the time it took us.
That’s how we should do life. You have to KNOW that people struggle through it at times. Sometimes you might be the Stacey of the story: things are easy for you, but when you look around and see your friend fighting through something, you fight through it with them. You come alongside them, even if what they are going through seems simple, even if it seems like they should be able to do it alone. You might be the Alicia of the story. You might need someone to walk through something with you because you are not strong enough to do it on your own. And when they do, I hope you recognize the importance of it and pay it forward to someone else.
So get out there. Encourage, or let someone else encourage you. Run your 5K.
