Sixteen-year-old Josh is a junior at Andover (Minnesota) High School.
He was running a 5K race on Sept. 16 in a field of 261 competitors.
With the race less than half done, the 6-foot-5-inch runner heard a scream and saw a runner he didn't know crumpled against a fence -- holding a profusely bleeding ankle.
The injured athlete was 5-foot-5-inch Mark Paulauskas, a
freshman at Lakeville South High. Here is Mark's account: "He just picked
me up without saying anything and started carrying me and trying to calm me
down. He said, 'It's going to be OK. I'm going to get you to your coaches.' ...
I think it's amazing."
Sure enough, with his own coach trying to figure out why
Josh hadn't passed the halfway mark, he spotted him. "I was wondering what
was going on, why was he so far back," said Scott Clark. "Then I see
Josh.
He's got the kid in his arms."
Josh Ripley carried Mark about a quarter mile! He handed
him off to his coaches and family and then -- dead last in the field of runners
now -- sped off to resume his race. He passed 50 kids to finish 211th out of
261 runners. No excuses. No disappointment. No
explanation. He just finished what he had started -- only to be asked by one
teammate why he had fallen so far behind. "He just humbly says, 'Oh, I
picked up a kid,' " said sophomore Simeon Toronto. "And I'm like,
'Dude, you just picked up a kid and carried him?' That's incredible!" Then
added Toronto: "It was just so typical Josh."
I love that kid! And while most of the news reports I
tracked down cited this as a supreme example of sportsmanship and compassion
among athletes, I think they missed the real force at work in Josh's action. The details make it pretty clear that it was the unfolding
of a very practical faith that Josh embraces. He does volunteer work at Living Word Christian Center
and -- by both Mark and Josh's account -- prayed over Mark as he ran with him
in his arms. He prayed for Mark's pain to stop and for him to be all right. He
even asked Mark's permission before he started the prayer! And Josh seemed
honestly bemused by all the attention being paid to him later.
He insists he did "nothing special" -- but said
he was just thankful God let him be there for someone who needed help.
Mark's ankle needed 20 stitches to close the gash some
runner's spikes accidentally created. Blessedly, there were no damaged
ligaments or tendons. He should recover fully, after he gets out of a walking
boot and off his crutches.
Josh has reminded me again that there are wonderful
people out there who are always doing kind and good things with no expectation
of being noticed or rewarded. Great kids who aren't threatening teachers or
doing drugs. People whose faith is not a banner or excuse, but a daily lived
reality.
I just love that kid! Don't you? And I want to be more
like him.
In the same way,
let your light shine before others, that they may
see your good
deeds and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16NIV).
---------
(c) 2011 Used by permission. From Rubel Shelly <rshelly@rc.edu>'s
"FAX of Life" printed each Tuesday. See Faith Matters for
previous issues of the "FAX of Life."
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