I am thankful for work that puts food on the table. The work environment may not be perfect, but at least I do not have to contend with living on the streets which I’ve experienced for about a month back in college. It is tough to move from one place to another knowing that there’s no place to stay safe for the entire night. People who live on the streets perpetually are half asleep ready for any danger that might beset them.
I am thankful for the opportunity to run and join races, that though work is pressing I can still pursue a passion that keeps me healthy. I am thankful for the knee operation eight years back that has enabled me to walk and run normally — though one thing I can no longer do with ease is kneel, as it is excruciating for me to do so. In relation to this, I am thankful for friends who join me in prayer as I run — praying for my safety, encouraging me and even once being there for me and cheering for me at the finish line. More so, I am thankful that I can wear running shoes and I now have a few pairs to choose from for different races! There are many more countries were people still walk with one pair of shoes, were running as a form of exercise hardly exists.
I am thankful for technology — blogging and twitter where I can share my thoughts to closest friends and those interested about similar passions that I have. It has enabled me to share things that are in my heart.
I am thankful that I do not have to think about hidden bombs on the road when I run. Manila’s potholes and broken roads fail in comparison to the war torn areas of Africa were the streets are littered with garbage and death linger just around the corner. Equally more important, I am thankful that I am not tortured to death for my religious beliefs. Sometimes people do challenge and ridicule me of my so called “crutch” and I end up with saying that everybody is living on some form of crutch. So why not lean on something that governs the universe with all the beauty and madness that comes along with it?
I write these things to remind me why I run as today I joined other for the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church [I think I am a day behind though]. As I was running the course of the Pasig Marathon today and faced the most challenging and most difficult marathon I’ve faced to date [ the Botak and QC International Marathon pails nothing to this race with the number bridges, flyovers, air pollution and the stink of canals that enveloped runners on route to the finish line]; I kept reminding myself why I running and how my fellow believers in other parts of the world are fairing?
The mind’s eye wandered and thought of how other new believers in countries not open to Christianity live in daily fear of their lives. In many Muslim countries, it could cost them their lives. In some, it would cost them their loss of social status and recognition in society. For others, the shame and abandonment of their families is the most difficult thing to face. So how does one pray for people like them who profess faith in an invisible God that sent Jesus to save them? How does one pray for strength when even I can’t seem to muster enough strength to share my own faith at times as my own carnal desires tend to speak otherwise of what I believe in?
Moving further into prayer, I then think of fellow believers who run and pray in war torn areas. Not only is safety a concern, but they need to dodge the hidden land mines as well on the roads as death is literally just around the corner easily welcoming them into the shadowlands. How does one gather for studying the Bible and mutual encouragement when the government is watching their backs, monitoring emails and even their text messages in order to find out where they are? As much as technology has advanced to help people communicate and get closer, it has also been cannibalized by the powers that be to make people fall into a deeper state of fear and desolation in some parts of the world.
I think of pastors in these areas where hostility towards the Gospel is a norm. Most are ready to die for what they believe in and many have already died, with no reports being publicized in popular media networks because their lives mean nothing unless you happen to be someone like Mother Theresa. Many have died for Christianity in this modern age and the only memory that we have of them are the seeds planted in the hearts of those who are thinking of becoming a follow of Christ. Some bloom into following the fold to face the harsh realities of their new found faith — alone and with only the prayers of the saints their only source of comfort aside from that of the Holy Spirit.
Many people who profess Christianity and has grown up with it tend to forget these things. Using Yancey’s words — they flame briefly at the start of their faith. But where’s the lasting passion for it? Just like running — how far will passion take to make one prepare for a marathon, an ultramarathon and keep running for the rest of their lives? Similarly, there are still many people out there who also believe in what we believe in, but their beliefs are put to the test almost on a daily basis — while for most of us the best prayer that we muster each day is said before meals that tends to be repetitive and void of any meaning and true action of devotion.
I have nothing more to share here except that we need to keep on praying for fellow believers out there. We may not see them face to face, but believe that our cumulative prayers and cry reach out to God like incense. It rises to heaven and is heard like the sound of thunder. We may never know how it could even make a difference, but believing that whatever we prayed for will be answered makes a difference.
Prayer does not mean that it would put an end to the suffering. The best it can give is the assurance that our fellow brethren will be given the strength to fight and at least die for what they believe in. Sometimes we think that death is final. Truth is, death is just the beginning for others. Think of it as a seed — it dies when it embraces the soil but in its wake, new life begins. Join with me then in this journey to continue praying for believers out there.
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