Running For My Life

By Lopez Lomong

An incredible story about a world class runner and his journey from being kidnapped by rebel soldiers in war-torn Sudan to becoming an Olympian for the United States of America.

Below are my notes and key hi-lighted passages from Running For My Life by Lopez Lomong. (Italics = quotes from the book. Bold = my personal notes)

  • Lopez was taken from his family at church one day by rebel soldiers. He was taken to a rebel camp and kept as prisoner.

  • “I still did not fully grasp the fact that my life - the life of racing my dad to our farm and playing with my brothers and sister and going to church under the trees every Sunday - was over.”

  • Escaping: “The guards kept talking and laughing, and I kept crawling. No one said it, but we all knew the guards would open fire on us if they found us trying to escape. We did not care. I would rather die trying to escape than to sit and wait for death to come find me inside that prison hut.”

  • At some point, we stop being afraid, we surrender the outcome and make a break for it. Whatever “it” is. For Lopez, it was his life.

  • “But when I ran, I was in control of my life. I ran for me. None of us had shoes, yet running barefoot connected me to the ground under my feet. It was as though the path under my feet and I became one. Running became my therapy.”

  • “You cannot sit and wish for something that is never going to happen, or you will lose your mind. No, you must focus on the here and now. Do your chores, Go to school, keep your mind busy. The past is gone, It will not come back. You must live this day.”

  • “Survival was the name of the game in this camp. But I wanted to thrive, not just survive.”

  • “It’s hard to describe what came over me in that moment. Second Corinthians 5:17 says that if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. All the old things have passed away and everything is made new. That verse came true for me that night. I was a new boy with a new name. IN the Bible, Jesus often changed the names of his disciples. He changed Simon’s name to Peter and Saul’s name to Paul. Now he changed my name from Lopepe to Joseph.”

  • “Joseph did not sit around feeling sorry for himself, instead he went to work. He worked hard and proved himself trustworthy, that his owner put his entire household under Joseph’s care. After he was thrown in prison, the chief jailer did the same thing. He knew Joseph was a hard worker who always kept his word. This is who I am. I am Joseph. A follower of Jesus, trustworthy and hardworking. I am no longer a lost boy. I am brand new.

  • Joseph Lomong demonstrated a powerful trait in that he was able to separate his identity from the past experiences he had. Lopez did not allow his trials to limit or determine the direction of his life. He had a monumental moment when he accepted a new identity and new purpose. Many people who go through far less trials are unable to make this distinction and move on with their lives.

  • “God himself had brought me to Kakuma. I always thought he must have had a reason for bringing me here. Now I had it. Now I knew where my destiny lay. Michael Johnson opened a wider world to me. By God’s Grace, I would get there.

  • Another trait Joseph demonstrates is the ability to see sufferings a doorway into reconciliation. While in a refugee camp in Kenya, Lopez was able to watch on TV the Olympics and Michael Johnson which gave him a vision for his future. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” - Genesis 50:20

  • “The moment the church service ended, I went back to my tent to pray. “Father, I cannot write anything that stands out from all the other boys in this camp. But I trust you. If you want me in America, I know you will lift up my essay and make it stand out. You will take me to America, not this essay.”

  • “Knowing God was in control was the only thing that allowed me to stop fixating on the bin and go back to my tent as church ended.”

  • I knew I wrote the best essay I could possibly write. My friends and I translated it into English as best we could. I could do nothing more. The rest was up to God.”

  • We’re at our best when we do the best we can, and leave the outcome up to God.

  • “One day I will run in the Olympics. Until this moment, the Olympics had always been a far off dream. Fran nailed it down for me. Running for the USA was no longer a dream. It was my goal, and I would give all I had to reach it.”

  • “The thing about dreams, though, is they usually sound crazy to everyone but you. All it takes is one other person to buy into them to keep you going.”

  • “Inside I wore a huge grin. How could I not smile? Although this was the biggest race of my life up to this point, I did not run for my life. I ran that race a long time ago when I took off in the night with my three angels. We knew the rebel soldiers might open fire at any moment, which made us run even faster.”

  • “Today I ran for pure, absolute joy. My past set me free to enjoy the present moment, and I planned to enjoy it to the fullest. No man ever felt so blessed by God as I did in that moment.”

  • “None of this made me feel great pressure as I lined up for the 1,500 meter final. Pressure is trying to make a UN food allotment stretch for thirty days. Pressure is watching friends die of malaria and wondering who in the camp will be next. Pressure is writing an essay that will determine your entire future in a language you do not know. A footrace, even a championship race, did not make me feel pressure.”

  • “I walked down the track, beaming with pride. God had brought me so far, through war, through eating garbage and running to forget about my empty stomach. No matter what I went through, God was always with me. He had always had this moment planned for me through both the good times and the bad, from the killing fields in Sudan to these Olympic games and back again.”

  • Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you”, says the LORD, “they are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” These words sounded like God wrote them specifically for me. I lived through disaster. I lived through hardship and death. Yet God never left me. He changed me from Lopez the lost boy to Joseph. And just like Joseph in the Bible, he took what was once intended for evil and transformed it into good.”