Once upon a
time, long ago, I got suckered into running a half marathon. For those of you
who have trained for a race, you know that it takes a lot of training to be
successful. People usually start months beforehand to prepare for the big day. Although
it is possible for some people to run the full marathon with little preparation,
they are usually suffering the next couple of days. The last month of life has
felt a bit like a marathon for me. I’ll share just the highlights from the
journey.
Christmas
was only a month ago?!?!? That sounded weird in my head when I wrote that. It
seems like an eternity ago. It was quite a pleasant day spent with friends and
“family”. My ND family spent the day visiting, sledding, and riding in a
one-ox-open sleigh. Although it was nothing fancy, it was probably one of my
favorite Christmases to date. That weekend after Christmas I frantically packed
up my little bunk house, loaded my car, and headed east to meet up with some
friends who were driving to GYC (a youth conference). Early Sunday morning we
headed east in hopes of getting ahead of the coming blizzard. As it happened,
we didn’t actually beat the storm, rather we stayed in it almost the entire
day. Praise the Lord the only setback was a temporary parking job in the ditch!
As our two-vehicle caravan neared Louisville two days later, we parted ways. I
made a quick trip to Ohio to unload some of my belongings while the bus made
its way to The Ark Encounter. GYC was a big blessing, not only for the
spiritual revival, but also for the chance to see some friends. I returned to
Ohio to get ready for the next phase of life.
Monday,
January 13, 2020, almost 7 years exactly since I moved to Belize, I moved to
Colombia. The trip was fine; no incidents to report. In conjunction with MOVE
(the school where I worked in Belize) we planned to have a summit for
missionaries. I have never really used this word to describe an event like
this, but basically it was a time to inspire and equip missionaries who are out
in the field now. Although it required many sleepless nights and stressful
days, I am thankful for the blessing it was to us all. I look forward to being
reunited with all my new friends when we go to heaven if I don’t get to see
them before Jesus comes back.
Sometimes
it is hard to know why certain things happen, but I have to trust that God has
a better plan even if things seem to go in a different direction than I
planned. Thursday morning, the day after the summit, the MOVE group was going
to be heading to the airport at 4 am. I woke up to make sure I could say
goodbye to them. My other friend, Yaneth, was planning to leave at 5:30 to get
a bus to the city. I didn’t have my alarm set, but I happened to wake up right
about that time. As I got out of bed, I noticed that Yaneth was just about to
start walking down the hill to town. I asked her if she knew how to get to the
bus, but she didn’t seem 100% sure. I told her I would walk down the driveway a
bit until I could show her exactly where to go. It was such a pleasure to walk
and talk with her since I had been so busy the previous few days. We made it to
the paved road where I could send her along her way. I gave her one more hug
then turned back home with Sirena, our dog. Sirena wanted to continue to follow
Yaneth and not return home with me. We tried and tried to get her to come back
with me but she only wanted to accompany Yaneth. Suddenly, we heard a motorbike
coming around the corner. The paved road is very narrow and curvy; it is hard
to see someone coming around the corner. Since it was still dark out, I made
sure to move to the far side of the road so that the motorbike wouldn’t hit me
on the inside of the corner. Turns out that another motorbike was coming from
the other direction. Sirena went to chase the moto on the far side of the road
and ran right in front of the moto on my side. The driver hit her square in the
side and crashed, throwing both the driver and the passenger to the ground! I
quickly ran over to two people on the ground. The boy who was driving got up
quickly, but the girl with him was only shouting, “My back, my back hurts”. I
knew she couldn’t stay in the middle of the road because the traffic would run
us over since we were still on a curve. I moved her as best I could to the side
where the water drains. Not knowing if she had serious damage (neither were
wearing helmets) I stabilized her head and had Yaneth call back home to my
friend, Oscar, who is an EMT. As we waited for Oscar to arrive, I started
talking to her to get her to calm down. I told her who I was and about the
summit. I asked her questions to make sure she was staying with me. Finally,
Oscar arrived with his medical supplies. He did an assessment of her and asked
her various questions. He found that nothing seemed to be broken, but advised
her to go to the hospital to get a final checkout. We prayed with her and
Yaneth got her contact information. I don’t know what happened after that, but
I’m sure she had lots of questions following this little accident: why me? who
is this gringa? what is she doing in my country? why did she stay to help me? In
reality, I will probably never see that girl again on earth, but I pray that
perhaps because of our encounter she can get to know God and we can meet in
heaven. When I got home, I could not find Sirena. I knew she had to be hurt,
but unfortunately she had not run home. After worship, three of us went out
looking for her. We called her name repeatedly but still had no sign of her
presence. As I was wandering up and down the driveway calling her name, looking
in the brush, I could only imagine Jesus looking for one of His lost sheep. I
have only known Sirena for a few days now, yet I didn’t want to give up
searching for her. I can’t even imagine what God must feel for someone He
created who is lost. It must break His heart to know that He can show His sheep
the way, yet the sheep decide to stay lost. It is my prayer that in the midst
of all the busyness of life we never forget that we are here to be His
witnesses.
Blessings,
Katie
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