Psalm 73.21-22 when my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory
I went on a run yesterday. The route is a shorter distance for me, hilly but quite beautiful after you pass the first mile marker. As I was running I couldn’t help but think how much this run resembled my current life journey over the past few months.
I hit a patch of crab apples, tiny crab apples resembling large berries. My trusty dog and I ran over them and let me tell you, nothing feels more awesome than crushing dozens of crab apples under your feet as you run. It’s this amazing sensation, I almost felt like the crab apples gave me springs and made me bounce higher. In my mind these crab apples resembled all of the shit, yes shit, that Satan has thrown my way and how I’ve just had to run right over it. I wanted to hide from it, take time outs and turn and run in the other direction but in order to get where I needed to go I had to stomp on the shit Satan was throwing at me and just get through it. While awful, sometimes running through it made me feel empowered because he wasn’t winning.
Shortly after I finished “Crab Apple Lane” I ran into something much more disgusting; I saw what appeared to be the intestine of an animal spread out across the sidewalk. I had no desire to run on top of or anywhere near this internal body function! But I withheld my vomit and jumped overtop, grateful that my dog paid no attention to it. The intestine reminded me of the ugly things in life that I’ve had to face. I don’t necessarily have to stare at it but I can’t get away from it and I have to cross it when I come to it if I want to move forward.
Finally I came to the part of my run that I like to call heaven. It’s this little upward hill that has trees on both sides making a natural canopy of leaves over the sidewalk; in the autumn you can only imagine the color! Brilliant, breathtaking and making every step worth it, I always feel so alive and in touch with my Creator when I reach this part of my journey. Stomping over Satan’s lies, hindrances and madness followed by facing the ugliness in my life that I’ve had to come face to face with will all be rewarded one day when I am held in my Father’s arms in that wonderful place we call heaven.
I have been in battle and the battle is not over but thank God Almighty that the battle belongs to the Lord!
