Wednesday, April 13, 2011

In His Presence...

So, I decided that I should write out the post that I wrote in my head whilst running a week or so back, which was actually the inspiration for starting this blog.
This past weekend, I ran a 5K with my mother and brother. What you probably don't know, is that it was my first one since my Freshman year of High School, about 5 years ago. So needless to say, I wasn't exactly in running shape. However, I was determined to do the best I could do and so I started training. I only ran three times before the race, but I accomplished so much more, in the grand scheme of things, during those three runs, than I believe I would have if I had consistently run and trained during the weeks and months leading up to it.
The first two times I ran, I did about 1 mile each time, just to get myself warmed back up to the idea. The third time I ran, the race was looming closer, so I decided to do a full loop of my neighborhood (about 3.3 miles). During this third run, I had finished about half of the loop and was coming down my second full length side of the square. As I was running, I saw something small and fast out of the corner of my eye. Not knowing what it was, I made a small hop sideways in mid-air to avoid it. As I made my hop, I realized that it was simply an English Bulldog running at full speed towards me. When he caught me, I reached down to pet him but he scurried away from me. I saw his owner rushing towards me as well and decided to help her get the dog before he had time to cover much ground. I caught the dog and returned him to his owner who promptly thanked me, to which I returned a warm "No problem!" As I jogged back to speed, I felt God tugging me toward a song on my iPod. So I switched to it; Light Up The World by Desperation Band.

This actually does deserve a paragraph of it's own as it has a big meaning for me. My first summer here in Colorado, I was invited to Desperation (a youth conference hosted by New Life Church in Colorado Springs) and I decided to go. That was the year that Desperation Band wrote this song. It become a sub-theme of the entire conference and served as just an awe-inspiring song for most any situation.
That being said, back to my run. Before the dog incident, I had noticed my legs beginning to tire and my breathing had become heavy. As I started the song, I decided to stop running for myself, and just focus on God. The next thing I knew, the song was over and I was about 100 yards from home, breathing evenly with my legs showing no signs of strain.
I know that God did that to give me a real-life example of His strength. He took me, on my last legs, about to give in and walk the rest of the way, and He carried me in His arms for about a mile. So I hope this gives you some kind of encouragement in whatever way you may need it.

Prayerfully His,
Ben Means

No comments:

Post a Comment