When I was prompted by the Holy Spirit--and urged on by the drummer in our band at church--to start running 5 years ago (after 47 years of relative inactivity and laziness), I had all kinds of personal reasons; but I somehow sensed that this world of running I was embarking upon was not just to accrue to my benefit alone.

From the outset, I became involved with a whole new circle of people--at races, and especially when I began coming to this website to keep my log, to get information and advice, and to connect with other runners (many of whom live in my own community and I have now met face to face).

But the Lord knew there would be other reasons why my being a runner would reap benefits for other people as well, reasons of which I had no clue beforehand:

For example, there was that occasion last year when I went out to run on a nearby trail through a wooded area where I was accosted by a woman who said her boyfriend had gone off into the woods saying he was going to commit suicide. (He had taken an overdose of pills and was already in trouble; we could hear him moaning off in the distance.)

I ran through the woods toward the sound and found him doubled over on the ground, barely conscious. The first thing I did was to lay hands on him and pray. The next thing I knew, there was a cell phone on the ground ringing a few feet from where he was--it was his cellphone, the same one he had used to call his girlfriend. So I picked it up and told the people on the other end where we were located; before too long, the police and emergency personnel arrived and carried the young man off on a stretcher. They got to him in time; he survived!

Now I don't take any credit for that episode; I was just "at the right place at the right time." If it hadn't been me, someone else could've helped by coming along in the nick of time, running or bicycling down that trail.

But see, that's my point: It's a good thing there are people who are OUT THERE ready to spring into ACTION. Otherwise, if people just stand around wringing their hands hoping someone else will come along and do something, things don't turn out so well.

And what about those video clips of people running when the twin towers fell in NYC on Sept. 11? Wouldn't it help to already be a runner if you're confronted with a catastrophe like that!?

Each day goes by, I realize more and more that--

(a) We don't know for sure what tomorrow may bring.
and
(b) Each of us does not live unto ourselves; our lives affect others.

So I keep running.

And I keep coming back to post here in Cool Running.

Strange as it may sound, when I do these things, like Eric Liddell said in the movie Chariots of Fire, "I feel God's pleasure."

Have a great, safe weekend.





http://This message has been edited by Ray Andrews (edited Jan-06-2006).