DESERT GRACE

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After the 2005 Sahara marathon, Gerard Hoppe, of Belfast, Northern Ireland, who belongs to an evangelical Christian Fellowship Church in Belfast, shared his thoughts about God and prayer via e-mail. Gerry's love for God and his concern for the Saharawis inspired him to run this marathon—his first.

"My God is an awesome God," wrote Gerry, "a God who pours out His spirit on the earth today. ... [From this experience in the Sahara] I gained a greater perspective of the Father-Heart of God for His people, the Saharawi, and other nations of the world."

It's no surprise, considering Gerry's love for God and others, that this verse from Jeremiah is one of his favorites: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end" (29:11).

Prayer, to Gerry, "is the means of opening the gates of heaven and allowing the Holy Spirit to bring healing, comfort, grace, mercy, hope, forgiveness" and change. While running the Sahara marathon—in high winds that layered everyone with crusts of sand—Gerry wrote that his prayers were "words to be carried on the wind to touch lives unknown ... proclaiming, 'Your Kingdom, Your name, and Your throne will last forever,' and [a call for] God's compassion and provision for the Saharawi. I sang songs of praise, worship, and acknowledgment of what my God has done for me and my family, and friends."

When Gerry first arrived in the Saharawi camp, Abraheim, his host, welcomed him with the words, "You are part of my family." And after the race, Gerry was still covered with thick sand, like a mask all over, when Abraheim called him over. He asked Gerry to kneel down and hold out his hands. With grace and joy Abraheim then washed Gerry's hands, his hair—which was "not a pretty sight, caked with sand"—then his arms. And Abraheim even took off Gerry's socks and washed his feet and legs. Abraheim gave Gerry his own towel, and as if all that wasn't enough, he washed Gerry's socks. It was that grace, that essence of "servant-hood, humility, and fatherhood" Gerry said he felt poured over him, that touched him deeply, "a memory I will cherish for a long time to come—no, it will last a lifetime."

Gerry wrote that it made him think of the ancient Israelites' 40 years in the desert, and he wondered about those fathers washing the feet of loved ones. "It reminded me," he added, "of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. How much it spoke to me of my call to serve others, to be selfless."

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