Running and Bringing Someone With You
Ricky, a friend of mine here in the Mobile area, joined me yesterday for my run. Ricky's been wanting to get back in shape and he said I was making him feel guilty so he came to the park to join me for a run. Understand, Ricky isn't new to running. He used to run about six miles a day, so he's got some experience under his belt. But this is also only his second time to run in a long time. My goal for the day was another 30-minute run. These two factors played a role in yesterday's run.
The first part of the run took us through and out of the woods to the turn around point where we headed back uphill. I passed Ricky on the way back up getting to the trail head way before Ricky. I kept waiting and waiting. Then it hit me - I could take off and meet up with Ricky somewhere down the trail or I could wait and bring someone along with me. Since the point of the run was to run was to keep moving for a length of time and not a specific distance I decided to wait on Ricky and run with him instead of running and waiting. What ultimately hit me was the thought that I could bring someone along with me.
As I was pondering my decision I realized that many had done that with me. Two of those include Gene and Stacey. When it came to running, many times they were well prepared to go longer distances at faster paces, but chose to hang with me. By the way, thanks guys. But it's not just about running. Both of these men did the same thing for me in ministry. Many times they invited me to join them in something and take me with them rather than going out ahead of me and hoping I would catch up.
I'll never forget some of the of times that Gene invited me to go with him. One of those times I'll never forget was to hear Bill Hybells at First Baptist Euless, Texas. Another was to go with him to hear Dr. Kenneth Hemphill at an associational lunch - this event is re-told in Gene's book, Jesus on Leadership: Becoming a Servant Leader. And one others was when Gene invited me to join him when he was asked to present Jesus on Leadership to a group of ministers at an associational meeting in east Texas. There are more, but those are three specific times that Gene took me along with him.
Stacey has done the same thing. What I know about student ministry came from being invited to be a part of something Stacey was doing. It wasn't like Stacey didn't know that I didn't know much about student ministry. I mean, the only thing I knew to do was to hang out with them. That was pretty much it when it came to student ministry. But Stacey brought me along with him and allowed me to watch him and learn from him. Even to this day, I still have a hard time keeping up with him. Even so, I've been invited to invest in students on the slopes of Colorado, riding on buses, hanging at the beach in Florida, and during crazy events like "It's a Cheesy Christmas."
Yesterday's run even included a little walking time so Ricky could catch his breath and finish strong. We still ended up doing a 30-minute run. I just didn't do it alone.
Thanks Ricky for running with me. Thanks Gene for seeing something in me. And thanks Stacey for allowing me to tag along. Thank you both for bringing me along with you and investing in me.
Mike
The first part of the run took us through and out of the woods to the turn around point where we headed back uphill. I passed Ricky on the way back up getting to the trail head way before Ricky. I kept waiting and waiting. Then it hit me - I could take off and meet up with Ricky somewhere down the trail or I could wait and bring someone along with me. Since the point of the run was to run was to keep moving for a length of time and not a specific distance I decided to wait on Ricky and run with him instead of running and waiting. What ultimately hit me was the thought that I could bring someone along with me.
As I was pondering my decision I realized that many had done that with me. Two of those include Gene and Stacey. When it came to running, many times they were well prepared to go longer distances at faster paces, but chose to hang with me. By the way, thanks guys. But it's not just about running. Both of these men did the same thing for me in ministry. Many times they invited me to join them in something and take me with them rather than going out ahead of me and hoping I would catch up.
I'll never forget some of the of times that Gene invited me to go with him. One of those times I'll never forget was to hear Bill Hybells at First Baptist Euless, Texas. Another was to go with him to hear Dr. Kenneth Hemphill at an associational lunch - this event is re-told in Gene's book, Jesus on Leadership: Becoming a Servant Leader. And one others was when Gene invited me to join him when he was asked to present Jesus on Leadership to a group of ministers at an associational meeting in east Texas. There are more, but those are three specific times that Gene took me along with him.
Stacey has done the same thing. What I know about student ministry came from being invited to be a part of something Stacey was doing. It wasn't like Stacey didn't know that I didn't know much about student ministry. I mean, the only thing I knew to do was to hang out with them. That was pretty much it when it came to student ministry. But Stacey brought me along with him and allowed me to watch him and learn from him. Even to this day, I still have a hard time keeping up with him. Even so, I've been invited to invest in students on the slopes of Colorado, riding on buses, hanging at the beach in Florida, and during crazy events like "It's a Cheesy Christmas."
Yesterday's run even included a little walking time so Ricky could catch his breath and finish strong. We still ended up doing a 30-minute run. I just didn't do it alone.
Thanks Ricky for running with me. Thanks Gene for seeing something in me. And thanks Stacey for allowing me to tag along. Thank you both for bringing me along with you and investing in me.
Mike
Comments
I've had people "run" with me as well, both physically and spiritually. I have also had the opportunity to pass it on. I started running with Brian about six years ago. We would meet at 5:45 a.m. and run for thirty minutes. A month into our regimine I asked if he had ever thought of reading the Bible. He said "yeah, but I don't know where to start. I have picked it up but I've never been able to stick with it". We started meeting 30 minutes earlier for some tmie in the word before running. Six years later he still communes with the Lord every day!
Keep running with folks Mike! it pays dividends for all concerned.
Daniel (from Clarksville)
Stace - I will never forget those days. Look forward to doing it again one day!