alaska run

by Linda Hokit
 
     They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus Himself came up and walked with them…
Luke 24:14-15 (NIV)
 
     I used to be a runner. Then God made me a person who is now happy to walk alongside others. It was quite the transition to stop running road races after more than 20 years. As difficult as it was, I am now a person who is happy to walk for pleasure and renewal. More than that, God transformed me from a competitor to a servant who now sees Him on each adventure.
 
     It’s not always easy to make transitions and sometimes it takes time to happily join in the change. Let me share a few precious stories about how that happened for me.
 
     I was an athlete in my young years never happier than when I was running. It makes sense that I would participate in team sports all through my school years. Then I went to college and that changed.  God had many lessons for me in preparation for the call to fulltime service He eventually offered me. I learned a great deal in those years about how God speaks and leads.
 
     On one particular day I was reading the newspaper and learned there was a lady in her 70’s who had just started running. She did it because her doctor told her quite bluntly that she could wait to die or get up and find something to live for. Yikes! So, she had become a runner and an inspiration to me. I immediately started running for the pleasure of it. Looking back, I was motivated and inspired by a person who had found a purpose and set out to accomplish it.
 
     Over the years I began running road races and soon selected the ones I would run by the cause they were seeking to support. As time went on, I realized I was running most often for those affected by health conditions like heart disease and cancer. As I grew in the Lord, I began to use my preparation for those races as time for fellowship with the Lord not just as opportunities to increase my race time. As I began to minister through my church, my running times became prayer walks. It was joyous and yet still a bit short sighted. Soon I learned that God had more in store.
 
     As time went on, running became more and more difficult for me for so many reasons. God began to move me from a runner to a walker. I would go to races that allowed walkers and would catch myself sneaking in a mile or two of running! Then one day I was standing at the back of the pack of walkers waiting for the runners to get on the course. Thousands of runners in the Heart Run were spread out running down the hill for all they were worth.
 
     Then my image of the crowds changed. I suddenly burst out in tears. It was like Christ looking over the city of Jerusalem weeping because they were sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36) I realized I now had a purpose. I determined that from that point on I would prayer walk the races I took part in watching ever so carefully for God to lead me to those I should walk along side that day. It did not take long before I had confirmation I was on the right track. There was a ministry center for students near the course and a pastor there was playing Amazing Grace on an alpine horn as all the race participants came by.
 
     Then, as my fellow walkers and I turned the corner onto the course that day, I saw the hospital. I remembered that one of our pastors was in the hospital because of a heart problem. God then gave me one more confirmation that He has been working in our midst. After cheering people along, walking with some, watching for people in need of help, etc. I went home to change.  Then I turned my bib over and wrote a note to the pastor and set out to hand deliver it.
 
     However, when I got to the hospital, he was not in his room. Just before I was going to drop the bib and leave, his wife came in and told me he had gone to minister to another patient.  A year before he had survived a bear attack. It just so happened there was a young man in the hospital that day who had also been attached. I must say it is rare for people to survive a bear attack.  And yet, God had worked things out so there were two survivors in the hospital at the same time!  As I left the hospital, I prayed for their conversation. A few months later I was able to see the pastor and heard how God worked through the visit he made and how encouraging the bid note had been.
 
     Over the course of about three years, I worked to refine the opportunities I had to minister while walking. Then one day God gave me  the opportunity to be all in with the transition from competitor to minister. I was again planning to walk, and yes maybe to run a bit during the Alaska Run for Women. However, I woke up on race day with a headache and really wasn’t sure I would make the race. But God impressed me to give it a try. The event had added a one-mile walk that started later than the full-length race. I made it just as they let the walkers onto the short-course.
 
     I first came up on a group of Red Hat Ladies and thought that group might be my ministry for the day, but I realized I should press on. Soon, I met a lady who was on staff at a church. She was recovering from knee replacement! The joy we had as we walked was unparalleled. And yet I knew there was more to do. I pressed on and saw a lady by herself on a bridge just looking in the river. I knew she was my appointment. I walked up and simply stood next to her for the longest time. Soon we were talking and she shared she was walking in memory of her sister-in-law. Her sister-in-law’s name was Linda.
 
     As we walked, I realized I had the skills to speak with her in her grief. We finished the race holding hands pointing to Linda in heaven. My new friend smiled and walked away having completed the course God inspired her walk. Since then, I have been happily walking hoping I will find the God-inspired appointment He has for me each time.
 
     We are all on a walk with our Father. He has already laid the course we will walk and if we are looking, we will see Him pulling up alongside us on the journey.