Help my unbelief!

I’ve now done four runs during this lockdown! I’m quite pleased with myself since I don’t really run. Swim, yes. Bike, yes. Golf, yes. Football, yes. Run, no. As I said it’s a dodgy knee from a football injury! But, in this strange time, I’m running. And I’m getting better you’ll be pleased to know. The first run was about running all the way and finishing. The second was, “can I do this again?” The third, well for a moment I actually felt like I was running! And the fourth my fastest time yet (I know that because the watch on my arm told me it was “New Record!”) I’m beginning to believe in myself. Beginning to believe I can do this and I can improve. I’m beginning to trust my body (the knee seems fine so far). Perhaps at the start it was a case of: “I used to do this sometimes, but can I do it now? Help my unbelief!” There’s story in Marks’s Gospel where a man brings his son to the disciples and they can’t heal him. Jesus arrives and asks the father to bring him the son. When Jesus tells the man everything is possible for those who believe, the father responds: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.” (Mark 9 v 24) It would be easy to understand this as a statement that if I believe in Jesus 100% then it will happen. And we do that kind of thing all the time don’t we? We think that if we can conjure enough faith, if we can believe enough, then God can work. But we fail mostly don’t we? Or we somehow can’t make ourselves believe anymore! Well maybe that’s because this is not so much about believing with our head, but about trusting God with our heart for who he is. So when the father says, “I do believe; help my unbelief” he’s actually asking Jesus to help him trust more fully. After all he’s going to give his son into Jesus’ hands. I am learning to trust my body more with every run. Maybe in this time of uncertainty, this strange time, we might find ourselves saying what the father said to Jesus: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.” And that’s a great ting to be able to say as we find our through this new landscape.