Eloping: The Clinical Term

I’ve often mentioned my work in past posts. We recently welcomed a new resident to the house, which, if I’m doing my addition correctly means we now have three residents. Unlike my good friends, Lacey and Bill, the newest man, let’s call him Jonah, can walk. Actually, he has no trouble walking at all. Sometimes he walks when we’d prefer he not… like at 11:00pm when the rest of the world is sleeping.

Jonah grows quite anxious when he can’t control his surroundings. Often the word, “no” sets him off. If you say, “no” to him, he’ll start to nod quickly and say “yes” over and over again. He communicates in sign language and short phrases, so his hands vent his frustration, he starts to pace, and he sweats so much that his hair drips. Eventually, he backs away and marches out the door.  Previously, this has upset me. I’ve been clueless as to how to convince him to return home. Recently, though, I had a breakthrough. 

The other day I went out for a run.  I’ve been known to run everywhere, at all hours of the night. If I’m on vacation, I explore new terrain. If it’s 2:00am and I can’t sleep, I strap on the shoes, figuring that no one else will be out…because wandering the streets at that time would be stupid.

Jonah left the house around 9:30pm yesterday. I grabbed my phone and followed him out, angry. After awhile, the anger subsided and boredom set in. I have no patience for boredom. If you flip through the gospels, you won’t find Jesus bored… quiet, yes, alone, yes, but bored? No. So I wandered over to Jonah and began to talk. He told me to go, then turned his back to me. I walked around to face him. He turned his back. I walked around him again, still talking. He laid down in the parking lot and rested his head on a curb.  I sat on the curb.  He covered his eyes with his hands so I couldn’t see him. I asked him if he was trying to get a tan.

Jesus love is perfect. There’s no way to express this without sounding cliché, so I won’t try. According to C.S. Lewis, “Hell is when the Lord gives us exactly what we want.” Naturally, I don’t want what the Lord wants for me. He makes a request, and I sit on the curb, demanding freedom to do as I please.

Jonah spread his arms out on the cement as if to make a snow angel. He nodded his head and began to smile. “Jonah, this is your problem! This is why you’re so white! You do all your tanning at night when the sun is down. If you want to get tan, you need to lay out during the day!” He stayed still. After a few moments he smiled again and nodded his head, “Yea, me.”

Fortunately for most of us, the Lord is patient, and persistent. We can run from Him time and time again, and He waits. We probably do things that make just about as much sense as tanning at night. We loaf around and waste time, and then we run further.

After awhile, my tone grew more serious, “Jonah, are we friends?”  He sat up, looked at me, and nodded. Then he stood up and walked back to the house. I watched him walking from the curb. I’m constantly running from Jesus’ love… and His love is perfect. How much more would Jonah run from my completely flawed attempt at love?    

So after work, I strap on my shoes and head out to run. He asks me to love people, especially the people that I myself would prefer not to love. Then He waits for my response.