Going the Distance - Rebecca Asplund

Like a ship slowly moving out from the safety of a harbor, she cut her lines and said goodbye. I was surprised when I heard the news, knowing what I did about the years Rebecca had devoted to club softball before arriving at King High. I figured she'd do both sports, so it was with a couple of raised eyebrows I countenanced these words:

"I've quit softball."

Her conversion was quick and with conviction. By mid-October of her freshmen year Rebecca decided she had found her love and the love was returned. Running would be her passion and joy.

We watched with equal measures of joy and admiration as this young rookie dove into the sport headfirst, learning and growing with an ambition that seemed to say "I'm going to make up for lost time."

She ran varsity that first year. And the second year. And ... well then came her third season. Beset by a host of physical issues that robbed her of strength and endurance, she suffered through a season she wouldn't want to wish on her worst enemies. The days were dark and long and the season seemed to be one protracted bludgeoning of hope.

But somehow she managed to not give up. Maybe because her personality is anchored to grace and peace. Anyone who has spent any time with her is quickly attracted to her dimpled smile, joyful laugh and eyes that twinkle like stars in a blackened sky. If it is darkest before the dawn, then perhaps it was so that the light of faith could shine brighter than ever, glimmering a path of redemption and new birth on the seas of adversity.

Having weathered the gale of that horrendous year, she finds herself in the infant months of a new life, one brightened with the wisdom born only in trial and built on the realization that for every season in life, there is a new beginning.

Unmoored, she sails purposefully again, aiming at the open ocean of opportunity and trial. No telling where she'll end up, but this much I do know. Having learned to run by faith, not by sight, she's well-equipped to handle any tempest that lies in wait out there on the horizon.