She chased after them.

wonder whether you have ever observed something that appeared to be fairly ordinary, but then God speaks powerfully into it and takes you from the initial image onto a whole new journey of discovery.

While serving on a YoungLife camp during half term I was able to serve alongside a bunch of phenomenal ‘missionaries’ from Georgia, USA. On the last day of camp one of the leaders had to chase after a young person who had taken the opportunity to leave site. Everyone was safe and the young person was back with us fairly swiftly, thanks to the commitment, and sprinting ability, of leader Liv. But the image of Liv running after a young person stayed with me and had quite a profound effect on me. There was something about the instant choice to ‘go after’ the young person, something about this being willing, while tired, frustrated and unsure, to still run. Now obviously the young person was under our care and so I understand that any leader would have chosen to act in someway. But this was Liv continuing to invest in a young person she had spent 4 days with, this was Liv continuing to tell a young person ‘Jesus loves you’ in the way she is treated, this was Liv proclaiming value and worth over this young person, this was Liv saying “I am not giving up on you!”

I wonder whether we all have moments when we want to ‘run away’? Times when things just get too much and we are unable to navigate a way forward. It is in these times we need someone to remind us that we are worth, it is in these times we need to know someone is for us, but more than that, we want someone to fight for us, cheer for us, chase after us.

I was searching for scripture about running and stumbled across these verses from 2 Samuel.

“Ahimaaz son of Zadok again said to Joab, ‘Come what may, please let me run behind the Cushite.’ But Joab replied, ‘My son, why do you want to go? You don’t have any news that will bring you a reward.’ He said, ‘Come what may, I want to run.’ So Joab said, ‘Run!’ Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite.” 2 Samuel 18:22-23

A guy called Ahimaaz wants to take the good news of the victory back to the king, but isn’t allowed to go, and someone else is sent. But still Ahimaaz wants to run, he says with utter conviction “come what may, I want to run!” The reward wasn’t of interest to Ahimaaz, the urgency of the message was what matters. Choosing to run was a reflex, it was a passionate response to the mission, it was an expression of what mattered most.

Liv and Ahimaaz have a lot in common, they do not care about the reward, they care about the mission, they care about people, they care so much they are willing to run to share the good news.

“I want to run” almost needs to be the battle cry of youth leaders in this next season! For many it has been their cry for years, and they may be exhausted, but that hasn’t stopped them wanting to keep running.

I’m so encouraged by Liv’s attitude, it was the end of camp, she had tried and tried with this young person, and yet something in her said “run!” I want this fire in my gut, I want this willingness to keep going, I want to choose to ‘run after’ whoever God places before me that finds their path so challenging they long to escape.

According to research one of the reasons people run away is because they feel invisible, they feel no one is interested in them. Running away can also be a response to some sort of stress or threat. All of us have within us an “ability”; it’s called ‘fight, flight or freeze’. It is a reaction to something difficult we are facing and we haven’t yet gained the ability to navigate the situation, or we have become overwhelmed, or more often, maybe we have no one to walk through it with us and we feel unsafe and alone. It is always worth examining why our ‘fight, flight or freeze’ response has been activated, and then consider how you can constructively work through the causes, and hopefully, solutions.

Now obviously I am not a psychologist, I’m just musing and I’m just thinking about my friend Liv and her choice to pursue a young person who ran. My conclusions are pretty straightforward really – at some point in the future that young person will remember that Liv chased after them, they will remember and ask why? Our hope always is for young people to realise we place huge worth on them, that we want to be there for them, we ‘see’ them and we want to walk with them as they navigate life.

“Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up!”

Young people need us to never give up, whether we crawl, walk or run, just don’t stop pursuing young people will the truth that they are loved, they are of worth and they are seen.