Running, Rain, and Candle-Light Nights

When we drove to RFIS the other night the flood waters rushing by the roadside reminded me of pulled taffy, a rich terracotta-colored confection stretching and folding thickly over and under obstacles, pouring off banks in a ropey stream. It was beautifully mesmerising in a dangerous kind of way. The rains splashed down upon the bedlam of traffic that clotted and flowed more chaotically than usual. People and cars competed for puddle and stream-free space.

There has been a major malfunction of a power substation transformer that has left us dealing with regular power cuts all week. Our evenings have been quiet and candle-lit, flickering and hot, bereft of fan-whipped breezes. Cooking and homework in the fragile candle light is both strained and soft. 

I'm at the end of week two in training for a 5k. General thoughts and feelings include the following: running with inelegant strides around a soggy soccer field, feeling misting rains cooling my red-faced exertion, muscles flaring fire with each heavy footfall, pushing back the accusing thoughts hurdling insults and lies, striving, straining forward towards the strong, leaving behind the whiny feeble.

In the midst of running, rain, and candle-light nights may this song echo and reverberate within my soul:

                         "Holy Spirit"

There's nothing worth more that will ever come close
No thing can compare, You're our living hope
Your presence, Lord

I've tasted and seen of the sweetest of loves
Where my heart becomes free and my shame is undone
Your presence, Lord

Holy Spirit, You are welcome here
Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere
Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for
To be overcome by Your presence, Lord

I've tasted and seen, of the sweetest of loves
Where my heart becomes free, and my shame is undone
By Your presence, Lord

Let us become more aware of Your presence
Let us experience the glory of Your goodness


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