The Other Way
Across from my coffee shop is a middle school, and many mornings as I'm blogging, the students in the physical education class come out to the track for exercise. This morning, as I was watching, a big group came out of the side door and headed toward the track, as I'm sure they have done so many times. They walk slowly, as if marching to their doom. One came out late. Must have had trouble getting his shoes tied! Whatever the problem, he came out running, and took off down the track...the opposite way the rest of the class was walking.
Get the picture: thirty or so middle schoolers walking slowly around the track one way, while one kid (looks to be a sixth grader) takes off running with all his might around the track the other way. Even when he realized everyone else was going the other way, he kept running. Now, that's bold! Especially in middle school, where everyone wants to be just like everyone else.
Now, he probably got in trouble from the teacher, or at least corrected. Middle school is not a place where opposition (going the other way) is tolerated easily by teachers or administrators. But I'm glad he got a chance to run, at least for a little bit.
I want to be like that kid. By nature, I'm a rule follower. I was asked by a counselor one time why I was that way, and I had no answer. Is it because I was raised that way, or because of my view of God, or because I don't like to get in trouble, or something else? I honestly don't know, but generally I'll follow the rules, stay in the line, wait my turn patiently, and only take 15 items into the express lane. But every once in a while, I find myself like that kid...running in the opposite direction without caring what others think. Not just for the sake of being oppositional, but because I truly believe God is calling me in that direction. And when we know God is calling, it doesn't matter what anyone else is doing.
Of course, there have been times when I have run the other way and later realized it wasn't God calling. We all have those times. I think that's why the word for repentance in the Bible means, literally, "turning around." Going the other way. Finding our way back. Doing a 180. Not just for the sake of "not getting in trouble" but so that we can find God's pleasure again.
I think of Eric Liddell, the Scottish athlete whose decision at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris was the subject of the film "Chariots of Fire." He once said that God made him fast, and when he ran, he felt God's pleasure. Liddell gained worldwide attention not just for his swiftness, but also when he chose not to run his best race because it was held on Sunday. Most thought it was a ridiculous decision, but Liddell knew he needed to let his body rest and to honor God's command to keep the Sabbath. He listened to God's call and ran the other way from everyone else. And God honored that decision.
I want to be like him. I want to be like that kid on the track across the street. I want to run God's way and find his pleasure...even if it means running the other way, away from the crowd.
Get the picture: thirty or so middle schoolers walking slowly around the track one way, while one kid (looks to be a sixth grader) takes off running with all his might around the track the other way. Even when he realized everyone else was going the other way, he kept running. Now, that's bold! Especially in middle school, where everyone wants to be just like everyone else.
Now, he probably got in trouble from the teacher, or at least corrected. Middle school is not a place where opposition (going the other way) is tolerated easily by teachers or administrators. But I'm glad he got a chance to run, at least for a little bit.
I want to be like that kid. By nature, I'm a rule follower. I was asked by a counselor one time why I was that way, and I had no answer. Is it because I was raised that way, or because of my view of God, or because I don't like to get in trouble, or something else? I honestly don't know, but generally I'll follow the rules, stay in the line, wait my turn patiently, and only take 15 items into the express lane. But every once in a while, I find myself like that kid...running in the opposite direction without caring what others think. Not just for the sake of being oppositional, but because I truly believe God is calling me in that direction. And when we know God is calling, it doesn't matter what anyone else is doing.
Of course, there have been times when I have run the other way and later realized it wasn't God calling. We all have those times. I think that's why the word for repentance in the Bible means, literally, "turning around." Going the other way. Finding our way back. Doing a 180. Not just for the sake of "not getting in trouble" but so that we can find God's pleasure again.
I think of Eric Liddell, the Scottish athlete whose decision at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris was the subject of the film "Chariots of Fire." He once said that God made him fast, and when he ran, he felt God's pleasure. Liddell gained worldwide attention not just for his swiftness, but also when he chose not to run his best race because it was held on Sunday. Most thought it was a ridiculous decision, but Liddell knew he needed to let his body rest and to honor God's command to keep the Sabbath. He listened to God's call and ran the other way from everyone else. And God honored that decision.
I want to be like him. I want to be like that kid on the track across the street. I want to run God's way and find his pleasure...even if it means running the other way, away from the crowd.
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| Eric Liddell, 1924 |
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