Thoughts in June…
Blog post from Paul Harris, core leadership team
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It is 4 months before the Cardiff half marathon, the 8-10 people from the Church who intend to run the 13 miles to raise funds for Christians Against Poverty are beginning to get quite competitive.
My own training has been progressing slowly for 2 months or so until Sunday13th June.
I decided to get a lift to Ferndale which is 5 miles away from my home. I set off on the (mostly downhill journey) and it was going well, to the extent that I decided I may even manage a personal best time over the 5 mile distance. However before I clocked up my first mile I get a pain in my calf, suspecting it was the early stages of cramp I stop running, stop my watch and stretch the calf. The pain continues, I’m over 4 miles from the house – no Mobile phone.
My only option is to risk causing further damage by continuing gently (slower than normal) along my route, until I see a guardian angel in the form of Lisa Codd, driving her Renault Scenic towards Ferndale. I flag down the car and ask if I could use her phone to call for a lift. But instead she offered to give me a lift home.
While I have been feeling sorry for myself over this sporting injury, wondering how long I’ll be out of action and more importantly how much progress my competitors will make I remembered the following story:
An old story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, “This is good!”
One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off.
Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, “This is good!” To which the king replied, “No, this is NOT good!” and proceeded to send his friend to jail.
About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake. As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone that was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.
As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend. “You were right,” he said, “it was good that my thumb was blown off.”
And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened. “And so I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this.” “No,” his friend replied, “This is good!” “What do you mean, ‘This is good’? How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?”
“If I had NOT been in jail, I would have been with you.”
Situations may not always seem pleasant while we are in them, but the promise of God is clear. If we love Him and live our lives according to His precepts, even that which seems to be bleak and hopeless will be turned by God for His glory and our benefit.
Genesis 50:20 (NIV) – - – “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
They say that every cloud has a silver lining. Even better than a sliver lining is a promise from God.
“And we know that all things work together for good of them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 at 19:15 and is filed under Blog Posts, Blog Posts.
