To Run the Race

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

(7:24am) The Revolutionary War had ended that very day 224 years previously. Perhaps they should visit a veteran’s cemetery, Collette thought. Although there were no soldier’s graves from that era, anywhere near, that she could think of.

Meanwhile, Collette heard through a blog that it seemed likely Amy Humble (a 21 year old graduated MBU student, who had visited Greece over the summer, played the hand bells, was also Reformed, and once directed (at age 11 or so) a little girls play of “Felicity” (the American girl) with Mercy as Annabelle, Bing as Father, Carrie as Felicity, and Eve as Elizabeth), was getting married and moving to Louisville. It was amazing the plans one heard of day to day.

Tuesday afternoon, Carrie had dressed up Rose in a pair of smart jeans, Carrie’s brown racing shoes, an olive green top, a necklace of coffee-colored beads and another of a leather chord with a bird feather pendant. And Carrie crimped her hair into a great poof, though a classy poof. And Rose was sent off to choir looking quite cool – the only word for it.

And in the evening, OLeif and Collette drove over to Target where Collette found a card with colored buttons pasted to the front in a bunch of drawn balloons with a silver envelope, for Diana’s birthday.

Wednesday morning was spent (around tutoring) – Carrie and Rose putting together outfits for the wedding. There was a veritable fashion show as they matched various shades of blacks and boots and handkerchief hems. Finally, they managed to settle on two elegant wardrobes at a quarter till twelve.

Meanwhile, the death count was up to 79,000 from the earthquake in Pakistan and Hurricane Wilma was the most violent storm in recorded history, whirling at a reckless 175 miles per hour over the Atlantic towards Florida and Mexico. And a damn threatened to burst in New England, although the situation was apparently under control by Wednesday morning. Natural disasters… No wonder there were people who thought the world was finally coming to a close, every year.

In domestic news, Collette made plans to send Joe and Rose to Missouri Baptist University the following fall. And Carrie had called the previous afternoon to check up on things. She was to attend a convention in Kansas City in two weekends and was quite busy. They would unfortunately, not cross paths over Thanksgiving, as Collette would be in Texas the exact time that Diana was in Saint Louis. But there was Christmas to look forward to. And the rest of the afternoon was spent looking for missing library books and Joe pulled up the enormous cardboard box which housed his new stereo system; Linnea jumped inside the box for awhile. Carrie prepared sliced hotdogs with Velvets in crescent rolls for lunch and talked to Elizabeth on the phone about Egypt, (which apparently was back on).

“Yeah,” Collette heard Carrie tell Elizabeth, “this girl who might go with us got, like, a purple heart or something, for carrying this injured guy down a mountain, or something.”

Meanwhile, Linnea and Collette bopped one of her birthday balloons back and forth across the kitchen. And Collette read a bit of a blog from a young fifteen year old – Asia Minor – a best friend of Samantha Bee’s, whose parents were in the youth group of Diana’s and Collette’s first church, Immanuel. According to her latest post, she had received 100% on her Latin test and had sneaked into the kitchen for some leftover crab from her sister’s birthday party…

“You’re a good wickel!” Rose was known to say throughout the day – her latest odd saying. But most often it was, “You’re a bad wickel!” – whatever that was…

Everyone was getting excited about the trip up to Iowa. Joe cleaned the camper and Rose, the van – with vacuum and smelling salts, etc. Mom called reminders to the ladies from church about the candle party Mrs. Tecumseh was holding at the house the following Tuesday evening. And all was a flurry. And on the way home, Collette drove past the brilliant yellow-gold of the trees outside the apartments – beautiful.

And Saint Louis held its breath for the sixth game against the Houston Astros, to determine who would play the White Sox in the World Series. The Cardinals stood at 2 to the Astros’ 3. That night would determine the next step.

Trust – to have the faith of a child was something that Collette loved to hold on to. To glorify God and enjoy Him forever – it was something Collette loved to be reminded of. For then, nothing was impossible or too difficult. It was all about Christ and running the race.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

• Hebrews 12:1