Running, Rain, and Good Samaritans

I did not run in yesterday's 10k event that I thought about doing. :( I think part of me kept feeling like I'm fighting off a virus and part of me didn't want to run in the cool and wet weather that was in the forecast. So I stayed dry, until today!

As I write, it is now sunny and dry outside, as it was when I had set out to go 4 miles a couple of hours ago. But half way into my run, the wind picked up, the clouds rolled in, the thunder was heard, and a few sprinkles fell onto the earth. As I ran I thought, "this isn't too bad, I can run in this." Then it just started to pour! Hard, fast, cold and huge drops bolting down like pellets. Within seconds I was completely drenched and I wasn't having any more fun. I knew if it continued like this, I'd have to cut my run short and head on home. It wasn't slowing down. I decided to head home, but had about a mile to go. Just then a car slowed down and I heard, "Do you want us to take you home?" Of course, I knew these kind Christian folks and so without delay I jumped in their car and they brought me home.

God had brought some Good Samaritans my way! I was grateful! He has brought them to my aid before. Like the time my ankle rolled and I fell. I sat on the ground, took off my left shoe and watched my ankle swell up. I sat there thinking, "How am I going to get home? As I began taking a couple of limping steps, God sent a Good Samaritan my way. My cousin's husband saw my pathetic limp, my bloody knees and slowing down in his car, yelled out the window, "Get in, I'll take you home." And to home I was safely taken. Then there was the time I was completing a triathlon. Just into the bike course, my water bottle fell out of it's holder as I went over some rail road tracks. Thinking that I did not have time to stop because the clock was ticking, off I road with about 17 miles to go in the heat. At about mile 10, I started to get pretty thirsty. Not only did I have about 8 more miles to ride, but I had to run a 5K after that! Water stations were not offered during the bike leg of the race. I wasn't sure if I could wait until the run leg of the race either. Hmm ... it was an interesting situation. As I peddled up a large hill, another biker road up next to me, saw my certain struggle and asked me, "How's it going?" I told him I had dropped my water bottle in the beginning of the bike course and without apprehension, he reached down and grabbed one of the two water bottles he was carrying on his bike and said, "Here have one of mine, you're going to need this." I reached out, grabbed the water from his hand, and off he sped. I never saw him again. I held the water bottle in my hand and prayed, "Thank you, Lord, for this water. Please don't let it have any bad germs in it!" And I gulped down the water, given to me by a complete stranger, who had become, my Good Samaritan! My husband and children greeted me at the finish line and when I told them what had happened we set off to look for my Good Samaritan. We never found him and to this day, my kids think he was an angel. Hmm ...could be! Without a doubt, my Jesus watches out for me when I run! I am certain of it.

Anyway, when I got home, I decided to finish my run with another 2 miles inside on the treadmill. My shoes were wet and heavy and I thought it might be slippery, but I finished without falling! It was an interesting running day. But I got in my 4 and had the pleasure of "running" into another Good Samaritan who had come to my rescue.

"But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion ...went to him ...and took care of him." Luke 10:33-34