MILE 7.5, iPod playing a mixture of African music (in honor of Krista), sweat dripping from the brim of my hat, legs starting to feel a little heavy, when all of a sudden I hear my name being called. Maybe I am getting delirious in the middle of this half marathon. I shake it off, but then I hear it again, “PASTOR RANDY!!” I turn to see a good Christian brother from my Crescent City days (now living in Huntington Beach). He’s come out at 7:30 in the morning, fought through traffic and maneuvered through closed streets for the simple reason of yelling an encouraging word to me as I lumbered past.
He was not alone. His wife had joined him, but I missed her completely, so I stopped dead in the middle of the street and ran “against traffic to give her a hug of thanks. A cheer…a hug…a word of greeting and thanks…and I was on my way. Total time: 30 seconds tops. I was on my way, and they were on theirs. Was their trip worth it? For me it was. For in many ways they gave me the boost to keep on going. In fact, I made up the 30 seconds lost and then some, all because of an act of encouragement.
People will ask me why I run. In truth, for lots of reasons, one of them being, people like the Daley’s who get up early not knowing if they’ll find me or not, all for the simple of reason of yelling a quick word of encouragement. And they weren’t the only ones. For about an hour and a half earlier, at 6:15, there was my wife standing in the middle of Katella Avenue hoping to encourage me on. And of course, to see ones family waiting at the finish line makes worth all the effort.
Is there a lesson for us as follower of Jesus? Do I really need to spell it out? I didn’t think so. There is just this challenge: whom can you encourage today? Even if they might be running right past you.