JENNY BAKER

It’s now been five days since my epic comeback into the world of running. Two half-marathons in 6 days was a pretty lofty goal. It seemed more reasonable before I had little Luci. It was fun and memorable and I do feel a sense of accomplishment. I’m also experiencing another feeling. Selflessness. There are big moments in each of our lives when things are not and can not be about our own needs, wants or desires. These moments are the hardest when I have skin in the game, when I am affected as deeply as the other person and yet am challenged to put self aside and uphold the other. The race on Saturday was the most difficult I’ve had. I’ve run 32 mile races, competed in triathlons and participated in ridiculous events and yet Saturday was the most difficult because it wasn’t about me. It was about Dad raising money for Haitians. It was about getting Dad across that finish line as fast and healthy as possible. This meant that in every moment of the race my pain and my frustration with an apparent lack of cooperation by my body, had to be ignored and replaced with positive encouragement and a giving of self. At mile three of the Indy race, I was afraid I wasn’t going to make it. I hurt like never before. I knew I couldn’t let fear creep in. I knew Dad needed a strong encourager, someone to remind him he could do and remind him to hydrate! At mile 6 Dad asked how I was. I was dying. In fact I felt like my insides were gonna fall out (another joyous after-math of childbirth). At that moment I had to make the choice to push beyond my pain and be a servant to him. Paul says in Ephesians that God strengthens us through His spirit. Selflessness requires a strength that comes not from our flesh but from the Holy Spirit himself. Paul, in his very dark moment of being imprisoned, beaten and persecuted was able to rely on this same strength from the Spirit, in order to be an encouragement to other believers. I like to eat when I run. Shoot, I like to eat when I don’t run. When you’re running long distances it’s important to keep your calories up and to do that I eat jellybeans. When we got to certain race points, it was important for me to eat. But it was also important to keep Dad going. For me this meant forgoing a pack of food I wanted in order to keep up with Dad and remind him of his nutrition. (I have to stop to get my jellybeans out…multi-tasking isn’t that easy when running!) There are moments when our needs can’t come first and can’t be met. There are moments in life when someone else’s needs are more important than our own. It doesn’t mean our needs go away, it means they must become less important. I find when I’m not walking closely with God my needs begin to take priority. I begin to justify why it’s more important for me to have what I want rather than serve someone else. We finished the race and passed more people than we expected. I didn’t die. I was uncomfortable for a moment. Okay, a little more than a moment. I hurt a little for the next few days. But when I found out how many people we passed and how much money we’ll be able to use to provide medical care, clean water and other necessities to the hurting people of Haiti, I was happy to hurt. I know giving money sometimes hurts. I know we make commitments and then other things come up. We pledged money and then found out Franklin’s pay was getting cut by 30%. And yet when we live by the Spirit’s strength, we rise above our own pain. My prayer for us all is that we may become servants, even slaves to Christ and one another. I pray as we begin to write the checks to fulfill our pledges, we rejoice in the pain that serving brings. The bible says that suffering leads to perseverance, perseverance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not fail. What you’re providing to the people of Haiti brings hope. Being a servant, in spite of suffering produces something beautiful. We need only look to the cross for our proof.