Jogging is a very common “pastime� for my teammates and I
while we’ve been on the World Race.
It is an easy exercise to do anywhere in the world…all you need is a
good pair of running shoes and a road.
A couple of days ago I took off on an afternoon job, just like any other
day, but on this particular afternoon I had three different people run
along-side me for at least five minutes each. It’s not that uncommon to have people run with you for 30
seconds or for a few kids to stick with you until you hit a steep hill. However, to have more than one instance
where they keep running with you for any amount of time is rare.
The first guy was probably about 20 years old, had just
finished school for the day and was returning to his home. He probably ran with me for about 10
minutes until we had to part ways.
He said that he just wanted to run and encourage me/support me while I
was running. At one point we were
running up a pretty big hill and I was about to stop and walk, BUT I remembered
that I had just told him that I like to run and that I do it almost
everyday. As stubborn as I am,
there was no way that I was quitting then!
As I was on the downhill, last leg of my run and was
exhausted, two more girls decided (obviously as a joke) to see if they could
run with “the mzungu� (the white person).
They were giggling and acting silly for about a minute until they began
to realize how difficult it was to continue running. I began asking them questions and telling them that this
kind of exercise was good for their bodies and their heart. After a couple more minutes I
asked if they were tired and one of the girls said, “I am almost dying.� This made me laugh a little bit.
I finally made it back to our guesthouse, but over the past
couple of days have been thinking about accountability. Today, I connected accountability with
that jog. That guy and those two
girls “spurred me on in my run, even though they probably didn’t realize
it. I would have stopped to walk
if it wasn’t for the first guy. I
might have quit so close to the “finish line� had the two girls not come along!
Just like this, we need people who are going to encourage us
in “the race,� in life so that we don’t quit when we come to difficult things
in our lives like that hill. We
also need friends to remind us to keep going in “the end� when we feel like
we’ve already done enough.
Accountability is important as we go through life. Let’s help each other out when we get
to those huge, steep hills instead of racing each other to the top or watching
each other quit or roll back down the hill!
