One of my new guiding principles for life is that I will share my story. God has done a lot in me over the last year. Some of you have had the opportunity to walk alongside and see the change in me first hand. I’ve had the chance to sit down with others of you and share. Many of you are spread all over the world which makes sitting down face to face more difficult. Over the course of the next few posts, I plan to share various parts of the story that has unfolded this year.
The most difficult part of any story, I think, is where to begin. This story begins in an unlikely place which is just like God. Sometime in the spring of 2013, one of the ladies in my life group at church talked to us about participating in a 5k obstacle course run in Galveston. I agreed, thinking it would be fun to do this with these new friends. I did some training, but I had no idea what to expect other than that I would be climbing over things and crawling through mud. The run took place September 28th. I knew 10 minutes in that I needed to have done more conditioning. My core temp was rising quickly. I was saved when we walked through a lazy river for a few minutes and I was able to dunk my whole body in the cool water.
The course was one of the most difficult physical things I have ever done, but also the most fun. This picture is worth 1000 words. It shows what I felt as I came up over a hill towards the end of the course. For the first time in years, I felt like I could accomplish anything. I was exhausted and on top of the world. I determined coming off that day that I would start running so that I would be in better shape the next time I did the course. What I didn’t know is that God was setting the stage for what was to come. Nor did I know that running would become as much a spiritual discipline as a physical one.