Stumblin' Dowm

The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with His hand. – Psalm 37:23-24

I’ve mentioned before that my husband, Dan likes to challenge himself through ultra-endurance races.  This summer he’s going to run the Leadville 100 for the 6^th time.  The race is nicknamed The Race Across the Sky because much of its 100-mile course is above 10,000 ft. in elevation.  He had planned to run it with his brother, Chris, but Chris badly injured his hip in training, so Dan’s going to go it alone. 

Dan announced at dinner last week that, because Chris is out, he’d like us to step in and help “pace” him for the last 40 miles of the race.  When he assigned each of us our mileage, rebellion erupted among the teenagers.  I’m slated to pace him through the middle-of-the-night leg that takes him the last 20 miles to the finish line. What?!  

Since the farthest I’ve run so far this summer is 6 miles, this morning I went out to start “training” for a race that’s only three weeks away.  I plodded, yes plodded, down a rocky trail for a while, feeling pretty good, until my left ankle rolled on a slanted rock.  A lightning bolt of pain shot up my leg and under my foot as I fell to the ground.  “Oh my…..grrrrrr”!  I hopped on one foot to a nearby stream, tore off my shoe and sock, and plunged my throbbing ankle into the cool mountain water.  

My first thought, don’t tell Dan, was “well at lest I don’t have to run in Leadville now.”  As the pain began to subside and I stared at the water flowing by, I began to think about how God picks us up when we stumble.  I couldn’t remember where in the Bible He makes this promise, but I knew it was there.  So sitting there alone with one-foot dangling in the cold water numbing the pain, I thanked God for picking me up so many times when I’ve stumbled in the past.

When was the last time you stumbled into disappointment or despair?  Sometimes, we are the reason we stumble.  Other times, it’s because we followed someone else’s lead.  A common theme, though, is that we’ve stumbled because we’ve stepped “out of bounds” off of God’s path.  

Thankfully, God wants to use our mistakes and miscalculations for His good.  He is always there to reach down to us and help us up, no matter what mistakes we’ve made or how often we’ve made them.  We are never too far from His reach.  

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