Thoughts on the Run - Part 2
18 Jun 2021
During this recent COVID (HA) rollback, I was working from home most days. Wanting to lose some weight gained from WFH, I started to run again… I have enjoyed running in the past, just to keep fit and have often used this time to talk with my God, hence this series ‘Thots on the Run’.
I must confess sometimes my conversations with God are filled with thanksgiving, other times, they sound more like an endless list of complaints. There are even times when I find myself venting my frustrations to God on the run.
Recently, I found myself committing my anxieties of this season to God whilst running. When is this global pandemic coming under control? There is so much suffering across the world, surely our loving, merciful God can intervene to alleviate this pain and deliver us from this dreaded virus.
“What is Your divine purpose for this reset button?” I reasoned with Him that this is not just a pause, but a full-on shut down and reset. “Are You trying to remind us of our years of neglect and irresponsibility towards the environment?” I questioned.
As I was firing my questions to the Almighty above, something caught my eye on my running route, as it converged into a bike path. A sign on the pathway to remind me to look-out for bicycles!
In my tiredness, with my eyes cast on the ground, this sign is reminding me to lift my eyes up and look out for other users sharing this pathway.
Often we are looking out for adverse situations in life, with the intention to avoid its pitfalls. “Look out for this, look out for that”, we teach our children.
We all know, no matter how much risk mitigation we are educated for, we cannot eradicate all risks in life.
It dawned on me that I needed to do more than looking out for bad things. I need to lift my eyes up, to look up, look up to the source of all good things, our God.
This revelation immediately lighten my spirit and my feet. I finished the run with a clearer perspective on the road ahead. We all need to help each other look up in our community, above our current challenges, above our seemingly impossible circumstances, to our Lord Jesus.
Heb 12:2-3 exalts us “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Let us not grow weary and lose heart. Let us be confident that our Lord who began the good work in you carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Let us start each day by fixing our eyes on the author and perfecter of our faith.
By Chua Kok Wan, Executive Director
Prison Fellowship Singapore
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