Featured #TellHisStory Author: David Rupert (And a Book Giveaway)
#TellHisStory Storytellers Series
Story has the power to change the world, one paragraph at a time. I desire for this space to be a way to spread the message of great storytellers in our midst. That’s why I invite an author here every week to share a story with us.
This week’s featured storyteller is David Rupert, co-author of Make a Difference: Growth in Leadership.
Be sure to come back Wednesday to link your own stories and photos with us in the #TellHisStory community.
NOWHERE ELSE TO GO
By David Rupert
I wasn’t going to take it anymore.
I grabbed my backpack, took an apple from the bowl on the table, pocketed two of my favorite Hot Wheels and marched out the house. I was eight and I was a childhood runaway.
I made it all the way to the Dutra’s house where they had a secret hide-out in the back yard. I sat down and rested. It was a quick stop, a layover, a resting point before I made my final dash to freedom. It had been a long journey so far, and I had a long ways to go. It was just eight houses away, but it was a first step away from my problems.
The day was warm and the emotions were strong, and before you know it, I had fallen asleep, the excitement of being a runaway overcoming me. Mrs. Dutra woke me, seeing my tear-stained face. “Just go home,” she said.
What was I thinking? Where would I sleep? What would I eat? What would I wear? I burst through and I told my Mom I had run away and I was sorry and I wouldn’t do it again. She smiled and pushed some cookies and Kool Aid toward me. “Welcome home.”
When you want to run
Running away sounded like it’s a great big adventure but in the end, it was a big flop. Every time I’ve run away since, I’ve had the premise of rebellion and adventure and finding something better. It’s the ultimate escape when things don’t go my way. I hear the urge to drop everything and go. But it never fails to fail me.
I see runaways every day and I want to tell them to just go home. When the marriage rumbles, and words are minced by emotion and actions are misread by every whim. Run.
When things at work are difficult and the boss is demanding and no one understands. Run.
When the church doesn’t pay any attention to my ideas and the music gets loud or the preacher doesn’t honor some deep seated belief. Run.
When the friendship needs a little more work and it’s not all fun and games and there’s more bandages needed than I have. Run.
And I run from God too. When the hard sayings teachings make me wobble, the internal self against the eternal truth should be an easy choice. But it isn’t. Running from truth doesn’t make it any less true.
I pack my knapsack and announce that I’m leaving. But it never lasts. Maybe for a couple of hours, or days, or weeks. At one point in my life it was for an entire year. But before long, the call for home is too loud.
Earnestly, tenderly
There was an insurrection against Jesus outlined in one of the Gospel teachings. When the masses realized that he wasn’t going to be a meal ticket, they left in droves. Jesus turned to the disciples and asked, “Will you leave too?” They looked around and said, “Where else would we go?”
”Where can I flee from your presence?” asked King David. To know you cannot run is both frightening and comforting. I want to hide, but I desperately want to be found.
And he still finds a way to minister to my heart, even when I run. He rains manna while I wander in my desert. He prepares a banquet table while I’m still slopping pigs. He whispers to me while I shiver under the broom tree. He teaches me in the belly of the whale. He cooks breakfast for me after I return to my nets.
Now that I’ve seen the Promised Land through the haze of mystery, I cannot forget that this is my home. There’s nowhere else I want to go.
BOOK GIVEAWAY
David Rupert is my fellow editor at The High Calling, preparing the Weekly Calling newsletter. He also blogs at www.RedLetterBelievers.com. David just released a unique leadership book where he collaborated with researcher Dr. Larry Little to write, Make a Difference: Growth in Leadership. He’ll give away a copy to one commenter on this post.
To enter the giveaway:
Tell us about a time when you ran away? Was it all you thought it would be?
Or just let us know in the comments that you’d like to be entered for a chance to win.
We’ll notify the winner at noon on Friday.
Jerrica Mattrone from David’s home church, Red Rocks Church, sings often about our tendency to run, and to be found. Her song, “The Rescue,” is featured in the video below. The song can be downloaded from iTunes.
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I appreciate this, David. It speaks to me in this very moment, even as all week I have wrestled with the want to run. Thank you for this.
And we have made running so easy in our culture! Glad you are thinking about digging in. It’s worth the battle!
I ran once and it took me places that seem like dreams now…by God’s grace. And I stopped and surrendered to being caught…best move I ever made.
Interesting that you stopped just so you could get “caught”. You should tell that story!
I recognize the urge to run. Slowly I am learning to
I recognize the urge to run. Slowly I am learning to turn to God instead. So I don’t have to wrestle alone. And blessedly God is forever waiting for me. Great post, David. And would love to read your new book too. Thanks, David! Thanks, Jennifer! Blessings to both of you!
Love this, especially the image of God raining manna in our wilderness and preparing breakfast while we’re out with our nets. The only time I was seriously tempted to run away from home was when I was 15, my parents’ marriage was falling apart, and I just found out my mom was seeing another man. We lived in a very small town (less than 100 people, one stop sign, our house was “the house on the second hill”), and I remember looking out from the top of the hill and wanting to run away from it all. Besides the fact that I had nowhere to go and no way to get anywhere, I had four younger siblings, and the need to care for and watch out for them curbed my desire to run. The outgrowth of all of that was when my mother left my father, we moved to a city where, long story short, God miraculously arranged for me to go to a Christian school where I heard the gospel and came to know Him.
I do have a tendency to want to run instead of facing difficult situations and still prefer to try to get out of them than through them, but God has proven faithful over and over again to help me face them with His grace.
It’s very easy to run once you have some income and a good car! Lots of people do it when the going gets rough. And the problem is that we have willing runaways on the other side who are cheering us on and welcoming us. I had a friend who went to his parents after a fight with his wife to spend the night. His mom sent back out, “Go home and make things right with that pretty little wife.” I’ve thought about the times I’ve harbored “runaways.” What’s the right mix between mercy and love?
Sir David – this speaks loud and TruthClear to me this very day. Thanks so much for not only sharing your childhood story, but His thoughts on the matter too.
Blessings.
Darlene, thank you for the encouragement. When I see your name I think of your handle, “countrygirl.” Isnt it true that some people escape to the country to try to get away from it all. Other people escape to the city. The problem is we drag our problems with us.
Oh yes, oh yes. Where else would we go?? Love this piece of wisdom.
Thank you, David. I thought about running the other day. Didn’t. Now, where’s my Kool Aid and cookies? (actually, keep the Kool Aid. yuck!)
I used to think Kool Aid was the best.
David,
Congrats on your book 🙂 This sentence hit hard:”I want to hide, but I desperately want to be found.” Funny, but I wrote about something like that today on my blog, but I didn’t realize it until I read your sentence. Thanks for sharing wisdom.
We are mixed up, aren’t we? I want to be a man, but then I want to be a boy at times. I want to step up to my responsibilites, but then I want to shirk. I want to be a leader, but then I want to linger.
Thanks Jennifer. You always have a way of sharing what’s true and real and doing it with beauty. I am a consultant with ViBella Jewelry. Please like my page and share it so I can help reach more and more women with the heart of ViBella. Thank you! https://www.facebook.com/VibellaJewelryByDebbieKeady
Read this on my phone the other day, but I hate typing comments using that tiny little keyboard. I think this is one of my favorite things of yours I’ve read, David.
When have I run away? Seems like I always am. Yet Christ keeps wooing me back. So comforting to know, he’ll never let me wander from Him completely. He loves me too much.
Good to see you over here.
Thanks Nancy. Yeah, running sounds cool until you have to spend the first night on your own — cold, alone, and frightening.
Reminds me of one time when I was about 7 yrs old. I can’t remember, now, what I was even upset about. But I remember packing a lunch and a few survival essentials (pocket knife, fishing line, hooks, etc.) and heading for the woods.
I honestly have no idea how long I was actually gone. It seemd like all day. Long enough to eat my sandwiches and get hungry again. Long enough to have gotten worn out and taken a nap (probably more emotional wearniness than physical, though I didn’t know that at the time).
At any rate, after a while I calmed down enough to realize I wanted to be home, and long enough to figure everyone was probably missing me and feeling really bad about how badly they’d treated me.
I came running in the back door, screen door slamming behind me, excitedly yelling, “Mama, I’m home!”
To which Mama replied, “Oh, were you gone?”
What a let-down! All that trouble and they didn’t even know I was gone, or that I’d been offended!
I must say, it was a pretty good lesson in the need for communication…
Ha! You and I could have been good childhood friends.
I am so passive aggressive, I think my point is being made and then I’m just ignored.
I got so mad once when I was a kid that I announced I was running away from home. I was probably 8 or 9. Mom calmly asked me to pause long enough that she could memorize what I was wearing so she’d know how to describe me to the police when she filed a missing persons report. I managed not to laugh, but that took the wind out of my sails. I walked all the way around the block, just to save face.
You’re mom was wickedly shrewd! What a great way to cool your jets