First of all, a quick shout out to my good friends at Pius X High School on your feast day today. You are the flagship school of the Lincoln Diocese, and God just continues to bless you for all you are doing for Him. May you continue to lead kids to Christ and may you always lift each other up in your shared ministry. I praise God for what the school has meant to me personally and to my family.
This is Claude. I mentioned him in yesterday’s post, as the 20 year old who saw me at the end of yesterday’s run and invited me to run with him today. We met at 6:30 am and without much interaction he took off down the road. What you need to understand about me is that even if I have been up and walking around for several hours, I still like to walk for about the first ten minutes before stopping to stretch and THEN, if I feel like it, I might start to run for a few minutes before walking again. For the rest of the allotted time I alternate between running and walking. There is just no way that I take off running, let alone first thing in the morning.
So a few minutes in and running down a long hill, all I could think about was when, not if, my legs would give out. The only question I really had was whether it would be my tight quads, my already-sore hamstrings, or my frail Achilles tendons that would tear first. I think it is also worth noting that Kibeho is at a slightly higher elevation than Denver, so it’s not like I am getting anywhere near the oxygen I need.
Pride followed me to Rwanda. Rather than waving an immediate white flag, I just kept going and going, waiting for my imminent demise. I didn’t want this young punk to think that I couldn’t hang. To my surprise, nothing snapped. It wasn’t until a long uphill that I finally was able to gasp, “I need to walk.” Claude was most gracious. An unexpected blessing was that he showed me a new route, with a spectacular view of the sunrise.
The rest of the way we ran the straights and downhills, and maybe half the uphills. Otherwise we walked. As we went, we chatted (me between gasps) and I found out that he had attended The Children’s Academy and in fact was taught by Annie Lesnar (who has a new last name that I cannot remember) and he was able to name the entire Lesnar family! What a small world.
For the readers who do not know, the Lesnar family lives in Worthington, MN, and Annie’s sister Kate started the entire Abana Foundation as a freshman in high school when she golfed 100 holes in one day and raised $10,000 for a school in Kibeho.
I will end today’s post with a request for prayers. Each day this week I have been interviewing secondary students who have received scholarships from the Abana Foundation. It has been a joy to visit with them and hear their stories. I shared some pictures and brief stories in Monday’s post.
Today while waiting her turn, one student took a phone call and was visibly upset after. Basa (the teacher) saw that she was upset and took her outside while I interviewed the young lady ahead of her. The two came back in before I finished the other interview. When it was time to visit with Rachel she was poised and collected, smiled and laughed, and willingly answered my questions. I always give an opportunity to ask questions of me (either about myself or about America) and she asked some very thoughtful questions.
After Rachel left, Basa explained that the call was from her mother and that her father was drunk and was going to sell all of their food in order to buy more beer. Her mom had locked herself in the house (where the food is stored) and her older brother who lives nearby was on his way over to help protect their mother.
We never know what kids today–whether in Rwanda or America–are dealing with. They can look all sunshine and roses on the outside, while feeling scared and sad on the inside. Please say an extra prayer for Rachel. When she left The Children’s Academy today who knows what was waiting for her at home. Let’s also resolve to be instruments of God’s light and love to ALL we encounter, remembering that we never know what is going on inside.
God bless us all.