Week 3 devotional
Mike Geide
In the first week we spoke on “New Beginnings” … reflecting on God’s will for “New Beginnings” within St. Mark as well as within our own lives. In particular, we pondered Ven. Bruno Lanteri’s Latin phrase “Nunc Coepi [now I begin]” … something that he uttered everytime he failed to do God’s will and was required to start anew.
In the second week we spoke on Fortitude – the virtue of doing the morally right thing with constancy despite temptations or obstacles. Even though we will fall, we willfully get back up and begin again … how do we begin … we just do the next right thing that God puts before us.
For those who weren’t here last week, we have bracelets with the Latin phrase “Nunc Coepi [now I begin]” on one-side and how do you begin, you “do the next right thing” on the other side.
The next right thing can be like taking a step onto the next stepping stone in the dark … we can’t see or understand the whole path, just the step in-front of us. Even worse, there will be forks to false paths or dead-ends; the only way to successfully navigate our journey is to have a guide. The theme for this week is Trust … Faith is our belief system; whereas Trust is action. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Trust as “(1A) assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something; (1B) one in which confidence is placed; and (2A) dependence on someone or something for something in the future (see Hope)” … pulling out the action-words here; when we trust, we are putting our reliance, our confidence; our dependence and hope in someone or something. To successfully do the next right thing, we are required to put our faith and our trust in Jesus to be our guide. We must actively give Jesus our hand in the dark, and actively take the steps that he directs us to take.
There is a beautiful story that I read this week – it showed up in real-life extraordinary stories that I read to Silas at bedtime. The story is about a 4th grade kid in Arkansas named Rebel Hays … Rebel had participated in a few local fun runs and through his cousins he learned of Paul, a blind student at West Fork High School who was interested in running cross country but needed a running guide … even though Rebel was only in 4th grade and West Fork was in a different school district, requiring his family to drive him a distance .. he volunteered to help as a running guide for Paul. This meant Rebel had give up his free time, commute across town, and commit to training at the high school level with Paul … that is a lot to give, especially as a fourth grader. As a running guide Rebel has two jobs: he has to run the pace of the blind runner while talking and guiding him through obstacles, turns and packs of runners. It’s almost double the work and is definitely harder than running your own race. To stay together, the two hold opposite ends of a three-foot rope. The two work together and encourage each other constantly working to beat their personal best time in races. As a guide, Rebel’s name never appears on the list of runners or as part of the results … it is just Paul’s. Rebel is now in 5th grade and Paul in 10th; they have forged an amazing bond and have a current personal best 5K (3.1mi) time of 19:46 (~6:20 pace), and beyond that, they have worked to encourage and inspire other visually impaired runners.
I find this story so beautiful, these two kids connected by a 3-foot rope, running over uneven ground at full-speed, one of the runners completely blind and putting his trust in the other to guide him. In our lives we are called to be like both kids in this story … as Paul was, to accomplish things greater than we are capable of, we must put our trust in Jesus and those guides He gifts to us; and as Rebel did, there will be times that we are called to give of ourselves, our skills, talents, and abilities to guide others in need.
Imagine what it would be like to run your run today completely blind-folded … how scary and dangerous that would be (please don’t do this!). Then, imagine giving Jesus the end of a 3-foot piece of rope and saying, “Jesus I put my trust in you; lead and I will follow” … imagine Jesus leading you around obstacles and whispering words of encouragement during your life’s journey. As we run today, ponder Trust. Whom do you trust and use as a guide in your life; when and how? Are there portions of my journey that I’m running blind-folded and without a guide? Am I being called to be a guide for others? Remember, trust is an action - we are putting our reliance, our confidence; our dependence and hope in someone or something … let that be Jesus … give him your rope.
