The Coach Who Limped Every Mile

In 2019, cross-country coach Brad Holloway of Shelbyville, Indiana, watched his runner Jenna collapse at mile two of the state qualifier. She had trained all season for this race. When she stumbled on a tree root and twisted her ankle, the field surged past her. Jenna sat in the dirt, sobbing — not from pain, but from the crushing weight of a lost dream.

Coach Holloway walked onto the course. He did not yell encouragement from the sideline. He did not wave her forward. He knelt beside her, helped her stand, and said, "We finish this together." Then he walked every remaining step with her. When she winced, he winced. When she slowed, he slowed. When she crossed that finish line — dead last, in tears — he was limping too, because his own bad knee had flared with every stride. He carried her suffering in his own body.

This is the portrait Isaiah paints of the Almighty. "In all their affliction, He was afflicted." The Most High does not observe our pain from a comfortable distance. He does not shout instructions from the heavens and wait for us to figure it out. In His love and in His mercy, He drew near. He entered the suffering. The Angel of His presence saved them — not by removing the trial, but by refusing to let them walk through it alone. Every stumble, every grief, every mile of sorrow — He carried it with them.