If you want to run fast run alone,
if you want to run far,
run together.
African Proverb
By no means do I consider myself a professional runner. I am a guy who runs. Mostly trying to out run age and extra weight I find in the bottom of bag of Chex Mix. But I have run enough to find this African proverb to testify to truth.
Most times I run alone. There is a little voice in my earbud that every 5 minutes tells me how far and how fast I am going. Which triggers another voice in my head telling me to run faster. In my runs alone like this, there is no pace partner. It is me willing myself faster.
This a terrible way to run if you want to run long distances. Trust me. Because by about mile 4 of a 5 mile run, it feels like someone poured gasoline on my lungs then light a match. Running alone will might be fast, but it won’t get me far.
As I turned the corner of mile 3 yesterday in my unwitting lonely sprint, this thought it me. It is the “their” in our lives that take us where we need to go.
There is story of Jesus healing a paralyzed man in the bible. Not an odd occurence in the bible. Jesus healed lots of people in the bible and stil does. But there is one particular story that stands out.
It’s a fairly famous Jesus story. Jesus is on his teaching tour going from house to market to boat to synagogue dropping truth and love on people. Along that road Jesus had a packed house, literally packed a house with people to hear him deliver the message of the Father.
The house was sold out. In fact five friends were so desperate to get to Jesus they went topside to get to him. This was the first Wrigley Rooftop experience. These four friends dug through the thatch and lowered the fifth man who was paralyzed down in front of Jesus and the packed place.
As the mat with the man comes into view of Jesus his vision shifts to the friends. He looks back to the man. He tells the man, “Son your sins are forgiven.” Jesus forgiving sins I get, but it’s how the forgiveness came about that hurts my head.
The passage in Mark says “when Jesus saw THEIR faith…” Hold the proverbial phone one second. This man was forgiven and healed from not just his faith, but the faith of his friends.
While it throws itself against my run alone persona, it presses my need for a “their”.
We need the faith of the “their” when our faith fades. We need the prayers of the “their” when we lack words. We need to encouragement of the “their” we struggle to encourage ourself in the Lord. God designed us to run in a “THEIR” and not alone.
Which leads me to Moses. Moses stands head and shoulders above many of the men littered in scripture. He stared into the face of fire to find the voice of God. He stood up to the king of the world to set slaves free. He stuck a stick in the sea and saw waters part. We picture Moses standing alone, white hair whisking in the wind, chest puffed out with the strength of Yahweh.
But even Moses, the man of God, had a THEIR. In one of the first fights of the newly freed Hebrews, God ordered Moses to stand on the hill and hold up his hands. As long as his hands were up Gods people won. When his hands dropped, the Israelites were pushed back.
Finally some THIERS finished the fight. Aaron, Moses brother and a man named Hur held up the hands of Moses until the war was won.
I have been guilty too often of running alone. The THEIR of my life is there to hold up my hands and lower me down to Jesus. When we fail to run with a THEIR, we may run fast, but we won’t run far.
Run with your THEIR and you’ll get there.
