running devotions | My TEA CUPP Prayers

I run in the path of Your commands,
for You have set my heart free.
Psalm 119:32 (NKJV)

My life changed forever 40 years ago.
November 25, 1985 was a day of victory, ice and death.
This is my running story.

I was not always a runner. I was the one with the side ache walking at the tail end of the grade school PE class. I was the one who could never hope to qualify for the presidential fitness award. I was so slow! But something happened in late junior high. I discovered I had something that was needed to be a long-distance runner… perseverance. And so I left the sprinters to their fast legs and joined the distance runners. Slowly, slowly the side aches went away and I learned how to run. In high school, my coach, my team and my workout became the centerpiece of my life. I was dedicated to a fault, always running my complete workout, never cutting corners, such perfection was my religion.

When I headed to college, I wanted to continue running so I walked-on as a cross country runner at Iowa State University. Twice a day I met with my coaches and team for workouts, running dozens of miles a week. I was the slowest one. When the team did 1000 meter repeats, I would finish my 1000 meters just when they were leaving for their next 1000 meters. I would run up and down the hills crying at the end of the line, but I kept running. And the miles paid off by spring of my freshman year when I ran a 38 minute 10K! I kept on running for my coaches and my team, they were like a family to me, they were my church, until that November day of my sophomore year…

The sidewalks in Ames, Iowa were glazed with ice as my teammates and I ran our afternoon workout. We were on our own this day because our coaches and faster teammates were at the National meet in Wisconsin. We thought of them as we jogged along, mostly in the grass because the walks were so slick. After running together as a team twice a day for months, we felt a strong connection to our teammates at the National meet, even though we weren’t there. As we dutifully completed our workout in the fading light of this November afternoon, we hoped to hear news of their victory at Nationals.

Instead, what interrupted the TV shows that evening was news of a tragedy. I lived at home with my family still, and was watching TV in our basement with my brother, before diving into another evening of homework. Part way through our favorite show, newscasters broke in with a special news announcement:

“A plane has plummeted from the icy skies and crashed in a yard in Des Moines, Iowa. It was one of three planes returning with the ISU athletes after a second place finish at the National Cross Country meet.”

I ran screaming up the stairs, unable to believe such awful news. I called my teammates at the dormitory who had just heard the news also. We decided to meet at the Student Union chapel for prayer, an amazing act for a public university team. We met and cried and prayed, not knowing who was on the plane that had crashed, and me not truly understanding the ONE to whom we prayed.

The next day we were called together for a meeting with the athletic department. There we embraced our teammates who remained, and there we heard the news of who was lost. That single accident took the lives of seven dear people, and changed the lives of all those who knew them: My two coaches, three teammates, athletic trainer, and pilot were taken from this world. The grief was heart-wrenching for their families, and for those of us who lived like a family on the cross country team.

Classes were cancelled at the University for a day when a memorial service was held for the athletes. Our team marched in our gold uniforms and sat together in misery in the ISU Coliseum. One girl on our team named Dawn gave the memorial for her friend Sheryl. Before the thousands gathered there, Dawn spoke of how Sheryl was a Christian and is in heaven now, and that if Sheryl had the choice she wouldn’t come back to earth, even if she could. As I listened with tears spilling from my eyes, I just didn’t understand such faith. Why wouldn’t Sheryl want to come back?

In the days that followed I tried to continue my running workouts along the streets of Ames, Iowa, but could barely lift my legs. How could I go on without my coach and teammates? I questioned, “Why, God? Why?” Since God allowed my coaches and teammates to be taken away from me, I ran away from Him, in search of peace elsewhere, in food, in poor relationships. Yet those gave no comfort.

By the fall two years after the accident, I had wrecked both my parents’ cars, my bike was stolen, my life was a mess. One morning on my way to class, I stopped by the chapel of the church where I grew up. I got down on my knees and poured out my heart to God, asking Him to help me through the mess I had made of my life. For half an hour I prayed and prayed in that empty church. When I left the chapel, my heart was lighter, even though I did not know what God was going to do.

Soon after this prayerful episode, my roommate was invited to attend the Baptist Student Union and she brought me along. It was in the weekly testimonies and singing, that I got to know the Savior of my soul, and my forever friend, Jesus Christ. My quest was over – I learned…

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Acts 4:12 (NKJV)

This was truly a miracle from God. Jesus gave me the peace and comfort for which I’d been searching. He washed away all my sins and mistakes. He took my broken soul and healed me.

I traded…
My stop watch for the cross of Christ,
My will for God’s will,
My earthly coaches for a heavenly Father who will never leave me nor forsake me,
My workouts for daily devotions in God’s Word,
And so God’s Word has become my life…

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2

…forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14

And, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me…the task of testifying the gospel of God’s grace.
Acts 20:24

Today’s TEA CUPP: I want to invite you to make Jesus your Savior, too. If you haven’t prayed the sinner’s prayer, please pray with me right now…Dear Jesus, I want to be in your family. I want to be Your child and be washed clean from all the bad things I’ve done in my life, all the times I didn’t listen to You, all the times I went my own way. Please scrub away all my selfishness and pride and_______ and everything else I’ve done that is not of You. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and be with me each day. Help me walk on Your straight and narrow path. I believe You are my Savior who died for my sins. I believe You rose again and are preparing a place for me in heaven. I believe You are the only Way, the only Lord, the only God. Please help me live as Your child from this moment forward. Thank you for loving me and dying for me and letting me be in Your family. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Perhaps you’d like to write out your testimony to share with others, too. I keep printed copies in my purse to give to people at the grocery store or doctor appointments. God bless you, dear one!

…Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
2 Corinthians 6:2 (NKJV)

And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the LORD
Shall be saved…
Joel 2:32 (NKJV)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:16-17 (NKJV)

For You have delivered my soul from death.
Have You not kept my feet from falling,
That I may walk before God
In the light of the living? Psalm 56:13 (NKJV)

This post from September 20, 2017 has been on my mind this past week. One week ago today I had another experience with my face on the ground, but this time I was face to face with the cement. Today, with a fractured knee cap, sprained hand, and mild concussion, and no ability to run, I long for just the pebble pocks in my hands! Thank you for praying for Jesus to heal me speedily! That the bones He has broken may rejoice!

Unless the Lord had been my help,
My soul would soon have settled in silence.
If I say, “My foot slips,”
Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up. Psalm 94:17-18 (NKJV)

Pebble Pocks in My Palms

When you walk, your steps will not be hindered,
And when you run, you will not stumble. Proverbs 4:12 (NKJV)

Why was my nose in the dirt? Lying face down on the gravel road with pebble marks in my hands and knees, I wondered, “What happened?” Just a split second before I was running and praying for my neighbors. How had my feet slipped? My shocked body just wanted to lie in the dust, but my brain told me to get up. So, I pulled my bruised flesh off the rocky ground and hobbled home.

Having a good cry on the sofa was a welcome idea, but then I remembered my busy schedule and this was my only chance to go running. So, with band-aid help from my dear husband and youngest son, I was soon out the door and running again, this time on the smooth highway, managing to squeeze in five miles before breakfast.

Still, a week after my running fall, I could feel the pebble pocks in my palms and see the bruises on my legs, a reminder of God picking me up. I know it could have been so much worse, as friends have been through broken arms, fingers, legs, ankles, and concussions this year. But God let me feel it in my hands to remind me of his Son Who also has marks in His hands. His marks proclaim how He died for the sins of all the world.

Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” John 20:27 (NKJV)

Today’s TEA CUPP: Jesus died for you, my friend. He has nail holes in His hands to remind us of His sacrificial death on the cross. All who believe in Jesus are saved and will live forever with Him in heaven. Today, let Jesus pick you up from wherever you have fallen. Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

For You have delivered my soul from death,
My eyes from tears,
And my feet from falling.
I will walk before the Lord
In the land of the living. Psalm 116:8-9 (NKJV)

Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice. Psalm 51:8 (NKJV)

Cast your burden on the Lord,
And He shall sustain you;
He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. Psalm 55:22 (NKJV)

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
My steps had nearly slipped. Psalm 73:2 (NKJV)

In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone. Psalm 91:12 (NKJV)

You pushed me violently, that I might fall,
But the Lord helped me. Psalm 118:13 (NKJV)

Give glory to the Lord your God
Before He causes darkness,
And before your feet stumble
On the dark mountains… Jeremiah 13:16 (NKJV)

…I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters,
In a straight way in which they shall not stumble;… Jeremiah 31:9 (NKJV)

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” John 11:9–10 (NKJV)

The Lord upholds all who fall,
And raises up all who are bowed down. Psalm 145:14 (NKVJ)

These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. John 16:1 (NKJV)