The world race is going to stretch me in lots of ways. One of those ways is physically which is why I, encouraged by one of my sisters, decided to start walking a mile or so each day this week. Let me start this by saying that physically I would classify myself as not being particularly “in shape” but not being extremely “out of shape” either. Middle of the road. Also, you should know that live at the top of a very large hill.
So when I started walking on Sunday, it was hard, mostly because of the giant hill, but it was doable. Walking about a mile and half with my sister was enjoyable on Sunday. Walking the same route on Monday on my own was empowering. I was actually exercising on my own. I turned up the music and enjoyed the beauty around me. Another thing, when you live in the country, people pass by in trucks and wave or they stop to make sure you aren’t stranded. It reminds you of the good nature of people. The hill was a beast and at the end I was out of breath, but I was so proud that I didn’t die while walking up it.
I also had an overwhelming feeling that the journey to getting to being physically ready for the world race was going to teach me a new lesson. Maybe it was God. My assumption was that this lesson was going to be that I can do more with God or that my body is something to proud of. Both are lessons I need to learn but, like most things,when you assume to know what God is going to do, you’re usually wrong. And I was very wrong.
Tuesday started just like the two days before it. Empowered, ear buds in, music on, and ready to go. I knew I could beat this hill so my aim was to make it a full two miles today. If you don’t know, there’s a fitness test at training in October. I need to make it two miles with all my gear on in forty minutes or less. So this two mile mark was something I really needed to get to. About a mile out, I was feeling really good. I was confident that I, alone, could do this. Just me. No one else. With no help. (Do you see where this is going?)
Then I fell. I don’t mean I metaphorically fell and I lost my confidence. I literally fell. My ankle went one way, my leg a different way, and my body went down. And man, it hurt. Bloody knee, and pain in my ankle, I was alone, and a mile away from home with a giant hill to go. That hill has never looked so big. I’ll say it again. I was broken and in pain and far away from home.
That’s when God showed up. In the form of two little old ladies.
On the side of the road, I sat holding my broken lower half. I didn’t know what I was going to do so I called my mom. Because I’m twenty-three and didn’t know what else to do. That’s when these two little old ladies pulled up in a white car and offered to drive me home. Not only that but they got out of the car, and walked me to the car. They asked if I thought it was broken and needed to go to the hospital. They drove me up the hill that seconds ago looked so big and scary and completely impossible. Then they walked me to my door. As we walked around the car, one of them told me that she had just taken a fall too so she knew how I felt. The other took me to the door, and suggested I ice my ankle.
So let’s get this straight. I was on my high horse thinking I could do this whole world race thing on my own and then fell. God could have showed me how wrong I was by making me walk truly alone in pain for hours up an impossible hill. He could have sent judgmental people that told me I was stupid for walking alone, or a giant klutzy for falling. He could have made me rue the day I thought I was good enough to do this by myself. Instead he loved me. He sent me two empathetic, compassionate, loving women and said this is who I am. I am love and you need me.
Wow.
I wouldn’t have made it home on my own. I won’t make it on the World Race on my own. I need Jesus, and the love of the strangers I meet along the way. Often I think that there is so much pain in the world and its just too much. How could I do anything to help? But the lesson here is that like the world, I had pain and brokenness but God is love and empathy and compassion.
