GlocalNet

I was up at 5am this morning, running around Lake Hoa Kiem, and it was nice. I didn’t go as far as I wanted, but got in at least 3 miles and was sweating like crazy. Many of the faces I see there, I’ve seen for years. One face is that of a young boy 15 to 18. He’s a special needs young man. He can’t talk. He is somewhat paralyzed on his left side--he can’t look at you straight on, but from an angle and when he does he smiles. So, for years he’s smiled at me and waved. He runs--unsteady as I see it, but steady in his own sort of gait. He usually goes the opposite direction that I run so we pass one another and he waves. This morning as I was running I sensed someone coming up behind me and then running along beside me. It was him. I grinned at him and he grinned back--made some grunts trying to make me laugh and imitate my running style. I admire him so much. As we ran, everyone waved at him--everyone. Everyone smiled at him and thereby smiled at me, as well. At times, he’d get distracted and be looking somewhere but would then catch up. Other times, he’d go way ahead and realize I was near and slow down to run with me. Once he tried to get me to run in the middle of the road with the cars to avoid all the people on the sidewalk. I shook my head “no.” He did it anyhow. Broken, smiling, warm, running, enduring, endearing--he was all these things to me and everyone else on the lake. Such a broken person. Such a beautiful person.

I thought of the Holy Spirit as I was running. I’m just like that broken young man. Yet, I’m not alone. The Spirit is with me. Sometimes I run off, but I always come back. Sometimes I get distracted, but I always come back. Sometimes I look for a short cut, and it winds up being dangerous, but the Spirit protects me even in my “risky business” and I always come back. The Holy Spirit doesn’t mind that I run weird or have flaws. He sees them all, and He actually winds up using them to His advantage.

If the Spirit is with us, then the Spirit is with us and if He’s not, it’s not because He’s left but because we’ve put distance. However, if we belong to Christ, one thing is for certain, we will be coming back. It’s the only way we can survive the run.