About 18 months, I began training for my first running race ever……a Ten Miler. I didn’t begin training with the goal of finishing the race, rather I just figured I’d keep up with my training runs and see how it went. As the fall progressed into winter and then into early spring, I realized I had lasted through the cold, dark mornings of winter……not because of a goal to finish the race but because when my body ached and I just wanted to cry stop, “one foot in front of the other” became my mantra. This was during the same period of time that my husband and I were being compelled to have a better understanding of historical, biblical Christianity by investigating the practices and beliefs of the early Christian church. I didn’t know where our reading and study would land us just as I didn’t know if I would ever really see the finish line of my Ten Miler. All I knew was that I had to keep moving and that a little forward motion at a time might eventually get me to the finish. The apostle Paul exhorts us to”run in such a way as to get the prize”. Many days for me, that meant baby steps of faith while not understanding the Lord’s plan for us. I began to sense that the biggest “run” for which I was training had nothing to do with my physical body but with my heart; and I was stunned when that run became a swim…..across the Tiber River and directly to the doors of the Roman Catholic Church. The past 12 months have been full of confusion, resistance, fear, loneliness, joy, awe, amazement, and finally PEACE. Lord willing, I and our 4 daughters will be received into the Roman Catholic Church at Easter Vigil on April 7, 2007. It cannot get here soon enough.
