A journal entry from Saturday, my last adventure day in Bocas before heading to Panama City to wrap up the race:

As I was laying on the beach, I looked over to my left to see two blonde babies running down the sand towards the ocean, one in blue and one in white. I watched as the little girl in blue ran slightly faster than the one in white. But though she was running ahead, about every five seconds she would turn around and reach for the others hand or wave her on. I watched as they made it to the water. The girl in the blue ran straight into the ocean, while the one in white went in with a bit more hesitation while being passionately cheered on by her friend. When they had both made it into the ocean they joyfully splashed and played together. 

After they made it to the water I jumped up from my towel and ran across the hot sand to grab this journal. Now here I am sitting in the sand, suddenly inspired to write about how the race has changed my life. I have been asked this question and couldn't seem to figure out how to articulate my answer; but then I watched those girls. What changed my life is exactly what I witnessed watching them. Community! Being friends with people who are fearlessly running to the deep end with the Father. People who; not matter if I may be running at a slower pace than them, cheer me on full heartedly. They push me and happily reach for my hand, encouraging me to go into the oceans depths with the Lord. 

That's it! That's really what changed my life. I think I was pressuring myself to have a crazy deep answer to that question, something that brought people to tears and left them speechless; but I actually think that the simplicity of what I just wrote is so much better than that. People told me that this trip would change my life, and it has in so many more ways, some ways bigger than this one, but this is the thing that I wasn't expecting to have such an impact on me. I didn't know the beauty and importance of having a community of people who run with you the way those girls were running because I had never seen it! Now I know exactly what the Lord intended for when He designed friendships, when He called us to live in community, and I don't think I would have been able to fully grasp that vision if it weren't for the race. 

A little glimpse into the pages of my journal! Thanks for reading!