Running Tethered To Jesus, By Lou Beard And Alex Banwell.

It has been a joy for Lou and I to write this week’s devotional together.

Lou:
One day at the beach when I was about seven years old, Mum, my two aunties and I set off on a race. To make it fair, they closed their eyes. Yes, the beach was completely empty! It’s a good thing too, as two of them ran towards the sea, while the other ran towards the sand dunes. Amazingly I ran in a straight line. I had no fear and trusted that if they said it was clear, it was.

Thirty years later I decided I might like to try running again. I have a good friend whose hobby is running, in fact she’s taken part in several marathons and half marathons. I’ve walked with her many times over the years. As I’m blind, I’ve taken her arm for her to guide me. I feel when she goes up or down steps, turns left or right, or steps onto a different kind of surface without her even having to tell me. When you are running, the correct way to be guided is by a tether. So, once I got over the feeling of being like a dog on a lead, I decided to give it a go! We used a piece of ribbon. We each had an end tied around our hand. I then had to take my faith in my friend to the next level! I had to rely on her verbal directions as well as trusting she was looking where I was running. Running doesn’t come naturally to me, so eventually I got up the courage and we set off. I felt like I was running through mid air!!! Everything was unknown and completely scary! I wanted to stop and say, no, I can’t do this! But I kept on. Instead my fear came out in hilarious laughter! We ran for a minute or so, then stopped. I’d done it! Or rather we’d done it! I hadn’t fallen down a hole or ran into a tree. My friend had kept me safe. We tried several more times during that afternoon. Each time got a little easier. She had to work harder to correct me on a sloping path, as I found it hard to keep in a straight line, but we made it!

Alex:
When Lou shared these 2 experiences, I felt they illustrated a few important faith lessons. After all, when we first come to know the Lord, we are told we begin walking by faith. Prior to that, I guess we’re in the same position Lou’s mother and her 2 aunts were that day on the beach. We run aimlessly and blindly, not confident in where we’re going, and heading straight into impending danger.

AS blind people, I think we learn something about faith from an early age. WE have to trust others to be our eyes. This is why Lou, in contrast to her relatives, could run straight. She was confident in the instructions that had been given to her, and was also more accustomed to running blind. What to them was a new experience, to her, was nothing out of the ordinary.

In my early childhood, I was usually guided by the hand, or by holding someone’s arm. I still remember the first time my grandmother encouraged me to run alone along the lawn in front of her house, assuring me that she was watching me, and wouldn’t let me fall or run into anything. I trusted her implicitly, an ran my heart out, enjoying the sense of freedom it gave me.

For Christians, Jesus is that voice of direction. If we are listening for his guidance, we can be sure he will not let us run into harm’s way, so we can walk with confidence along the road he has mapped out before us. In Hebrews 12, it says: “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” (Hebrews 12: 1-2). Life is likened here to a race, which is where Lou’s experience of running with her friend comes in.

Walking with people is easy for a blind person, because we are being closely guided by taking someone’s arm, but running is a whole different thing, as Lou illustrated with her explanation of holding onto the ribbon. When we first come to know Jesus, I think it’s a bit like taking hold of someone’s arm and going for a walk. The Lord keeps us very close, mainly because we are newborn babies, and in need of constant watching and care. A mother of a toddler holds her hand while crossing the road. It would be careless for her to do otherwise, and it’s the same for Jesus with us. He knows we will face danger, because we have an enemy, so he takes us by the hand, and guides us along the path.

However, as we grow in our faith journey, and become more accustomed to walking with Jesus, I believe he moves us on, and rather than holding our hands, he allows us that bit more freedom, like Lou had when she was holding onto the rope. It’s all part of how he grows us in maturity. Hopefully, by now, we have learned his ways, so we won’t be tempted to stray away. However, it can feel a little scary at first, when we’ve been used to that close intimacy, just as it did for Lou the first time she ran using the ribbon. We feel more vulnerable. If we fall, will the Lord still be there to steady us? We can feel we’re running our race through mid air, and we can doubt the solid ground beneath our feet.

Lou said she relied on verbal instructions from her friend. Our Lord has also given us verbal instructions about how to run this race called life, and they can all be found in our Bibles. The Bible is called the sword of the Spirit, and we need to learn how to use our swords accurately. So, when our journey feels tough and our faith is weakened, our Bibles should be the first things we reach for. If God doesn’t seem to be giving clear directions, then perhaps we should just stop, and take some time to listen. We are sometimes too eager to rush headlong into things, when we haven’t accurately discerned his will. Yes, it’s harder than it was at first when he held us closely by the hand, but he’s still there. He’s still got hold of the ribbon, and he’s wanting us to exercise our faith muscles. He’s wanting us to take our faith to that next level, just as Lou did when she trusted her friend was going to keep hold of that tether.

There is always the temptation to still stop and say: “No, I can’t do this!” At these times, we are like little ones, begging our Father to pick us up again, because walking by ourselves is just too hard, but sometimes, he allows us to push through that pain barrier, because we’ll never know what we can do unless we try. At times we will try and fail, but remember, God still has hold of the end of the ribbon. If need be, he will gently pull us back into line if we wander off the path.

Of course, if we choose to, we can cut the ribbon. God always gives us free will, but why would we want to pull away from the one who loved us enough to die for us? If we do break away, or the ribbon snaps, he won’t leave us floundering alone for long. He’s the good shepherd who leaves the 99 other sheep to come and look for the one who got lost.

Lou felt elation when she began to master running with a tether, and that’s exactly what we feel when we see growth and progress in our faith journey. If God didn’t allow us to be stretched, we’d never feel this. We would remain as infants, and we’d never be able to help others along in their walk by sharing our experiences of overcoming obstacles we never thought we could surmount.

Yes, life is a race, and sometimes, we feel it is too long, and we become tired and disheartened. At these times, we need to remember our Saviour will never let us go. We may feel we’re running alone, but he’s got the end of the rope. Listen for his voice as he directs you, and guides you around obstacles. Learn to enjoy the freedom of running unfettered, free in Christ, but yet held securely in his love. Don’t fear the times when your faith is stretched by trials, because “the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1: 2-3.)

Keep on running. Keep on growing, and keep in mind that one day, we will all reach the wonderful finish line, and run straight into our Heavenly Father’s arms.