Baby Giraffes Can Run Well

I’m an early riser but not an early-morning runner.  You may be laughing in agreement because you know the struggle of running first thing in the morning.  Or you may be laughing because you do not, and will not, run at any part of the day!  Either way, you can humor me and agree that while it’s good to cross something like physical fitness off your list for the day it’s extremely difficult to actually enjoy it when it’s dark outside and our bodies are a bit stiff and rigid from a good night’s sleep.

But once in a while I have to decide…do I want to get a run or ride in today?  If the answer is “Yes” then sometimes it calls for getting up at O’dark-thirty and asking the legs to get moving.  And that’s what I did while my wife and I were at her college reunion.  With the day looking pretty full of remembering and rewinding I knew that if running was going to be part of the plan then I would have to get out the door of our hotel nice and early.

My alarm went off and after a quick coffee I moseyed out the door and into the new day that was really just an extension of the night.  It was dark but the air was crisp and I started to get my stride going in a way that somewhat resembled running.

There were very few cars out on the road and the drivers that were out probably thought they saw a baby giraffe learning to run as I tried to get my legs and arms moving into a complementary pattern.  Efficient running strides take the better part of a day in my mind, so I was cramming all of my waking up in a few hundred yards of Pennsylvania rural roads.

In my mind I thought I would try to outrun the darkness.  I couldn’t see my feet very well and I was using the moon to light up the road ahead of me.  If I ran until the sun rose than everything would be hunky-dory.  I’d just have to stay out long enough for that to happen. 

The road took me straight east and I could see the sun start to poke up above the endless rolling hills.  I was about 4-miles in when the sun finally cleared the horizon and I saw the fog-filled fields start to clear.  I also just entered into the town of Grove City and decided that I would take a small detour and run a loop there before I ventured back to our hotel.

Three turns later I had covered an additional mile but also positioned myself with the sun over my shoulder.  Between the sun’s new placement  and my excitement of heading back to my wife I really started feeling good.  Gone were the disjointed strides and awkward steps.  In their place was a quick, snappy, pace where my feet popped off the ground.  I stood upright and leaned forward.  My watch kept showing a pace that grew faster and faster.  All of this felt wonderful, even though it was still pretty early in the day.  All I had to do was commit to running in the dark, change my direction, and put the sun in the right spot!

Did you read that?  Even if you don’t fancy yourself a runner can you relate to wanting to get out of the darkness?  Have you ever felt like a spot you were in was a real downer?  Dark?  Depressing?  Not the spot that had light and life?  Have you felt like sin, shame, doubt, and despair made up your days rather than anything resembling light?   We all experience darkness of varying lengths and degrees.  It’s part of life on earth and our human nature.   But what if an early morning run helps us get through life in a fallen world?

It only took a step to start running on my early morning jog.  I could have easily slept in and not even tried to get up and moving.   That initial acceptance of an invitation to run set into motion many more steps that lead to me seeing the sun rise for the day.  I started in the dark but didn’t want to stay there because I had a curiosity and desire for something better than taking steps without seeing where they would land!

Once the sun did pop out for the day, I made a decision that I wanted to make some adjustments so that the sun was over me.  I didn’t want to stay on the course that darkness set.  I needed to get back to my sweet, caring wife so I returned on the same road but with a new perspective and spring to my step, all because the sun was now over me and lighting up the return trip.

After my decision to run in the dark, and my couple of adjustments to my route, I settled into a stride where the sun directed my steps.  I was no longer looking for light but simply putting one foot in front of the other in the presence of light.  Those strides were the best strides of the whole run.  I might have started in the dark, but I wanted to run in the light and there was nothing like it that I had experienced beforehand.

You may not be a runner, but I’d encourage you to take a step if you are feeling like you are living in the dark.  Even if it’s one step…take it!  Take that step to look for the light that Jesus offers.  Go down the road and look for Him.  He’s not hidden, He has risen like the sun for each and every one of us.   

When you see Him expect to have to change directions, you don’t want your history, your past, or your dark circumstances to set your direction.  You can’t be directed by those and expect a new you if you continue on that path.  You want HIM to set your course!  And when you make those turns and you feel His presence on you, over you, and in you keep on taking those steps.  Let Him strengthen you, guide you, protect you, and develop you as you run your race.  You may have started running in the dark but it won’t end there. 

Maybe there is something to those dark, early-morning runs.