For many months prior to the birth of my ninth child I
walked nearly every day with my walking buddy, my then 10 year old daughter
Natalie. We would go to same greenbelt
area near our local community college and walk the same 1.85 mile loop. Despite her somewhat shorter legs she always
kept in step with me, and towards the end was a great encouragement. We saw all different kinds of people on our
walks but no one as faithful as the older, black lady who runs in a skirt.
After my baby was born I had an extended break from
exercising but recently my husband and I have started jogging on this same
route. This morning we were doing our walk/jog/run
routine and about half way into it my husband told me, “Stacy, we need to go
back.” I thought, “Why, we are only half
way done?” Turns out the pocket he had
put our van key into had a hole in it!
So we began the long trek back to the van searching the ground the
entire way. Walking slowly side-by-side,
we scanned every inch of sidewalk and grass heading back the way we came. As we walked I saw the woman who runs in the
skirt. I began telling Doug how
dedicated she was, that I had seen her out there running for many, many months,
and she seemed to just sort of be a fixture on that greenbelt. A few steps later, there she was, we were
face to face.
She smiled this incredibly infectious smile and began
speaking to me. Now this is a very rare occurrence
on the greenbelt because everyone is very serious and very dedicated to their
exercise routine and speaking to another exerciser is, well, quite unheard
of! In this lilting Jamaican accent she
implored, “Can I please give you this little pamphlet? It’s just something I love to share with
people to tell them about my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Gushing, like I have been known to do when I
find a great product or bargain that I just HAVE to share with others, she
continued, “He is just so precious and He has forgiven me of sin, this pamphlet
will tell you about Him, and sin, and repentance, and eternal life. These are all things I’ve found to be very
important and I just want to share them with you.” She handed me the little rumpled paper and
was off.
Doug and I just sort of stood there smiling. The key didn’t matter. The now abandoned workout didn’t matter. The time didn’t matter. We had just been touched by the Holy
Spirit. We felt God’s presence on the
greenbelt in that moment. The woman who
runs in the skirt had obeyed the Spirit’s prompting and we were the recipients
of a great blessing. Not that we don’t
know God’s love or His power or His great Salvation, but we saw Acts 1:8 in
action. We were blessed and we were convicted.
How often do I feel the prompting of the Spirit but do not
act upon it? How often am I so busy or
caught up in my routine that I don’t hear it at all? The prayer of my heart is that I will be
FILLED to OVERFLOWING with the Holy Spirit.
I want to, as Galatians 5 says, keep in step with the Spirit. As I ran with Doug this morning, I noticed
that keeping in step with someone requires constant attention. When we walked or jogged or ran I had to
notice where I was in relation to him so we didn’t trip each other up. When we lost the key we had to walk side by
side and scan the ground together looking for it. If either of us didn’t pay attention to the
other we would not end up walking together, we would not “keep in step” with
each other. Keeping in step with the
Spirit requires dying to our sinful nature, yielding to the Holy Spirit,
allowing His fruit to grow in our lives, and constantly being attentive to His
speaking and prompting in our hearts.
Galatians 5:22-24
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness
and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who
belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions
and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step
with the Spirit.
(p.s. For those that need to know, Doug did find the key and
we did make it home safely.)
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