So I find myself with four and a half months left on the World Race, and a big part of me wants to be done. I’m tired, and I miss home. Things are hard out here. There are days when I just want to quit. I had a particularly arduous day like this recently, and I wanted to share what happened with you.
To make a long story short, I am struggling on a number of fronts at the moment and didn’t really know where to turn. It seems like this trip has simply been a string of varying challenges that are extremely difficult and painful and when I finally find healing or a sense of redemption, I seem to immediately move to a new struggle. On this particular day, I honestly didn’t know how I was going to make it to the end of the Race.
When I am frustrated or having a bad day, sometimes I enjoy doing some form of physical activity and this particular day, I decided to go for a run. I headed out in the 102-degree weather and just ran and ran. I felt like I was running away from all my problems, my team, ministry, etc. Finally when I was too tired to continue, I stopped and sat on a fallen tree at the side of the road. I sat there and begged the Lord for a revelation, and this is what he said, so clearly:
“I’ve got you. I knew you’d be here. I knew you’d be right here. This log is for you to sit on and rest. I knew you were going to be here emotionally too, and I’ve got you. Now listen, the rest of the World Race is going to be like this run you’re on. In moments, you’re going to feel amazing and in others, you will feel like you can’t do it. Listen well, Adam, because you’ll need to remember this: I promise to sustain you. You’re going to make it, and you’re going to make it running. Just to prove it to you, I’m going to help you make it back to the church, running, just like the World Race. I love you, just trust me.”
I was exhausted, but I don’t know if I’ve ever heard the Lord more clearly, so I began to run back. It was SO hot and I was extremely dehydrated. Just like He said, I began to second-guess. “Maybe I should stop and God can use that as a metaphor for how I need to rest in His presence. Maybe I should slow to a walk, I need to use my common sense here, I could get sick. There’s no way I can make it. It’s so far, and I’m so weak”. Then I would remember “I PROMISE TO SUSTAIN YOU. YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE IT, AND YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE IT RUNNING”.
I thought I was going to die at several points, but I made it back running the whole way. I timed myself on the way out and the way back. I had run very hard and fast at the beginning because I was running away. I stopped after 23 minutes. On the way back, I know I was running considerably slower because I was exhausted. I thought that maybe that meant that the second half of the remaining time on the World Race would seem longer and be harder. Inexplicably, I got back in 22 minutes and 53 seconds. I have no idea how it happened. I was running probably half the speed coming back as I did going out, and yet I made it back in less time than it took to get out. I don’t know how it happened, all I know is that I made it running, and He promised me that I’d make it all the way until July, running. Praise God for his promises and his faithfulness.
