A few weeks ago I was running Ragnar Del Sol. It's a 200.5 mile relay event from Wickenburg to Tempe, AZ. Think 12 runners, two vans, three legs. It's crazy! The second leg of my run was about three miles; so totally doable. I mean, I run that distance easy a couple of times a week. The thing is that I don't run hills. I don't run at night. And I don't like running when I don't know where I'm going. Yet, here I was at 4 a.m. running on the side of the road through the desert near Cave Creek.
Have you ever found yourself running or lost in the wilderness?
It's a strange feeling, to say the least. On one hand you want to keep moving and on the other you want to stop and wait for someone to pick you up. Like the road that I was running on, often times God has laid a path for us to follow in life. That does not mean that God has predetermined every single step or decision we take or make. It does mean that God is with us and wants to help us get to where we are going. Sometimes in order to help us get wherever we are going, we have to feel and experience being lost. If we don't know what being lost is like, how will we ever know what being found is like?
Some 36 minutes later (yeah, I know, I was slow!), I finished my darkness-filled run, made it to the exchange, and passed the baton to the next runner who took their turn in the dark wilderness of the Arizona desert. What did I find when I got to Cave Creek? A group of cheer leaders, water, food, and a sense of peace knowing that I was no longer lost.
Our lives are like relays. We go, go, go and eventually we reach a point where we stop and revel in what we've done or we take a break from what is wearing us out. Sometimes, if we're lucky, they are one in the same. I like relays because there is a beginning and an end. But I definitely prefer the going to the stopping because I have less time to think about why I am going as I move compared to when I am being still and reflecting on what I've done or what I'm about to do.
How are you feeling this Lent? How is the wandering and resting in the wilderness going this year?
