Day 51 Didn’t see it comin’

On Saturday, I was scheduled to run 16 miles, which was my longest yet.  The training program is designed to push you just a little bit further each week.  I marked out the distance on the computer, noting that there were several drinking fountains on the way.  I shoved two baby snickers into the teeny tiny pocket of my running shorts, kissed my husband as he left for his office, and headed out.  It was a down and out course, meaning that I ran eight miles out and then turned around.  There were not as many runners on the path as I would have expected since the Chicago Marathon is coming up in just a few weeks.

And then when I reached the turnaround point, I realized why there were so few people enjoying the morning.  I felt a few raindrops, and then I looked up into the sky.  There was a thick black line moving towards me, and I was headed right into it.  Just maybe they are only heavy clouds, I tried to delude myself.  The wind picked up.  It started raining harder.  I gulped down my last snickers and jammed my ipod into that teeny tiny pocket with the hope that it wouldn’t fry by getting wet.  And the deluge began.  I had no choice.  I was seven and a half miles from home, and it was pouring.  I ran.  And yes, I thought, what in the world was I thinking when I signed up for this?  It rained hard for six miles.  I was soaked.  And now, two days later, my shoes are still damp.  But I ran.  And maybe next week, it won’t be so hard.

Throughout Scripture, God reveals His deliverance.  But He also reveals His strength.  Sometimes He will deliver you by pulling you right out of a situation, often just in the nick of time.  But sometimes it is in His plan for us to learn of His strength.  It is when we are in the deepest places that we realize the difference that God makes in our lives.  It is His strength that brings me through, not mine.   And as Stephen Curtis Chapman says in his song, “He is God, and I am not.”  Fear blinds us to the reality of God.  And where my dependence on God ends, the beginning of my fear begins.  He is there, even in midst of the storm.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea.  Psalm 46. 1-2