Just Don’t Stop

                I ran (okay, honestly, walked half of) my first 5k this week. As I trudged up a long and steep incline (a 325ft. gain…) my only thought was to just not stop. I kept walking, wiping raindrops out of my eyes, and putting one foot in front of the other. I finished without stopping.

                Today, several days away, and no longer sore—I’m starting to see the application of that race for where I’m at in life. Not simply because I have to “keep walking” but because the last two years have been a lot like the course of the race—steep and difficult in the beginning—feeling like I’ll never make it through the twists and incline of re-entry, grief of so many family and friends dying, entering a crazy busy year of school, friendships changing—but I had to keep walking knowing the hill of those things wouldn’t last forever. Life has a way of leveling out—there is calm after the storm. Additionally, just like I didn’t run the race alone—I was a part of my church team—Team Taproot—I haven’t been on this journey alone either. I’ve had supportive friends, family, and mentors walking this journey with me. It’s seemed impossible, like the incline would never stop, like I would never be able to set to level ground, to be able to look back at how far I climbed—for the hard walk to be hindsight.

                But just like that hill, the hard times may be rollin’ but they don’t last forever. Today, in the middle of my two week break from school, I was having coffee with a friend and surprised myself by saying that “I can’t expect my walk (with Jesus) to look the same after what I went through (in 2012) and it shouldn’t”. Life-changes change life. Relationships ebb and flow, people and seasons change. I can’t expect what “worked” in the past to work now. You walk/run differently on an incline than you do on the plateau. Admittedly, it’s been a very dry and dark season. Life’s gotten busy, I’ve let what others think become too important to me. I’ve drifted, doubted—but I haven’t stopped walking. So as I keep walking, I change my pace, my perspective, and persevere in faith that the race of life takes a lifetime—I don’t have to run the whole way—I just can’t stop til He calls me home.