Hold on to the Basket

     A few days ago my wife returned home to share her latest adventure at Kroger. As she began to tear up I was already preparing to go confront some rude checker or maybe put a GPS tracker on the person who had hurt her feelings.  As I listened further I discovered that the tears were from watching an elderly mother push her basket out of the store while her grown "special needs" daughter clung to the cart.  The mom looked tired not just from age, but probably also due to years of caregiving to her daughter.  My wife wondered just how many times over the years that the daughter had heard her mom say,"Now hold on to the basket". It had obviously sunk in.

     These kind of scenes always tug at our hearts because we have a "special needs" daughter who is only 9 years old.  From time to time we allow ourselves to look into the future and imagine what our retirement years might be like when our Sweet Caroline is an adult. We know God will provide our needs in all situations, but some days the task seems large.  As the Kroger story finished I was quickly taken back a few years to a trip to Sam's Club.  I have always loved shopping at that massive warehouse. I get excited not only with the size of the store, but with the fact that I can purchase office supplies and milk in the same place followed by lunch at the deli.  It was just Caroline and me on this trip.  Caroline's delay in speech was very obvious at that time and she maybe had about 15 total words in her vocabulary.  Caroline had been to Sam's numerous times and gotten a bit bolder in trying to wander away from the basket with each trip.

     "Hold on to the basket Caroline", I would tell her repeatedly. I made it to the bakery section and she wanted to look at all of the birthday cakes on display.  In the brief moments that I studied which loaf of bread would offer the most savings I turned to see that Caroline was out of view. I quickly scanned the bakery area and saw no sign of her.  I noticed an entry to a restricted worker area, but nobody had seen a small child wandering around. I began to feel my heart race a little faster as I jogged from aisle to aisle and could not find my daughter.  I worked my way from the back to the front and after 5 minutes of searching I ended up at the exit door and asked security if they had seen any small children pass by.  They said nobody matching Caroline's description had been by.  I asked them to check every kid that moved their direction to see if they could spot her.  I don't panic easily but I had never lost a child for this length of time.  I was already wondering how I would explain this to my wife.  How could I have been so careless with our weakest and most vulnerable little one?  God help me!!!!

As I ran back towards the refrigeration section on this 10 minute search I finally spotted a nice lady just standing in place holding Caroline's hand. Her face said she recognized that she had a lost child and was determining her next course of action. Caroline looked quite confused as to why her dad would have disappeared from her for so long. As I drew closer Caroline used one of her few words and exclaimed, "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaddddddddd"!!!!  A baseball sized lump grew in my throat.  I was unable to even thank the "angel" lady who took the time to stand there with my girl until her Dad showed up.  I swept Caroline up in my arms and went to a private corner of the store and began to sob as I kissed those sweet cheeks a million times.  One passerby asked if everything was OK and I said, "They are now"!  Caroline seemed puzzled by my tears as she stroked my hair and asked, "OK, OK"?  I have never forgotten that experience and can't begin to count how many times I have told Caroline to hold on to the basket every time we make a trip to a store.

As I continue to grow daily in my walk with Jesus I realize more and more of just how many times I tend to wander off from His Guidance because I see something flashy that catches my eye.  I don't intend to wander away, but there are just so many things pulling me from where my focus should be.  Before I know it I am several aisles away in a large warehouse type world wondering where my Dad is.  I am so thankful that Jesus continues to pursue all of us the way I chased down Caroline in that store.  Jesus willingly leaves the 99 to go out in search for the ONE!!  Those reunions are just as wonderful as when I held Caroline in the corner.  The sign of maturity in our spiritual walk is when we finally learn to "hold on to the basket" because if we do , Jesus will always lead us HOME.  That's exactly where I want to be!!

The Helper

I have become a runner.  This is a big deal for me because I don't enjoy running.  The reasons for becoming a runner will have to come in an entirely different blog.  At first I only ran with one of my four daughters close by with a cell phone set to dial 911 immediately.  As my stamina and distance grew I became a bit more confident going alone.  I have no desire to become a serious racer or train for mega-athlons. I will never pull a Forest Gump and run from one ocean to another.  I am beginning to finally enjoy myself though.

I had decided that a 5K distance was good for me and slowly worked toward that goal of 3.1 miles.  I wasn't interested in speed as much as simply not dying!  I had finally gotten to the day where I would run a 5K in my neighborhood and was nervously excited.  As I laced up the shoes my 8 year old, Sarah asked if she could run with me.  I just snickered and told her she would never be able to keep up with me.  As I saw her countenance drop I quickly retreated and said, "Sarah you can run as far as you like with me and then just stop if you get too far behind." She beamed and we headed to the driveway for stretching.

I don't think she even lasted to our mailbox before she stopped and scampered back into the yard. I quickly moved on and began asking God for strength to pull this off.  I made it half of the way and came back by the house with no sign of anyone.  My legs began to ache as I ran those last streets.  I began to think about quitting early and trying again the next day. Something kept moving those legs forward. The last half mile is in the cove by my house.  As I drew close to the final leg I saw my sweet Sarah waiting for me by the road. As I turned into the cove she started running with me! Suddenly I felt this incredible burst of energy.  I got a "second wind" as Sarah tried hard to keep up.  As I sprinted towards the finish line she was right beside me. I did it!!  I just ran a 5K. I squeezed Sarah's cheeks and said, "Thank you. What a great helper you were to me."

As I cooled down I began thinking about my Christian walk. I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was nine. Never got into too much trouble even through college. Went to church and just tried to be a good person. By the time I got married my so called Christian walk didn't look much different from everyone else's worldly walk. God led my wife and I to a wonderful church where we began to grow in our faith and understanding of what God wanted for our lives. Through another series of events with our third daughter, God led us to our current church family where our faith deepened in new ways. Sometimes I feel like quitting in the middle of a run because I fail to see the point. Many times I have thought of quitting on God because I wasn't looking to Him for "the point".  One Sunday morning at Cornerstone Church I got the point loud and clear. It was almost as if I could see my Helper in the distance beckoning me forward.  Not only did I crawl over people to get to the altar, but the Holy Spirit began running with me!!  He has never left my side after all these years.  I got my "second Wind" and have been running with Him ever since.

I think it is far too common a habit these days that people who have been Christians all their lives begin questioning what it is all about.  People just go through the motions and feel like quitting because they see no point.  I would encourage you to press on and in and ask for your Helper to meet you for that final leg of your run.  He will show up and He will run with you.  Enjoy your run!!