Our biennial theme reminds us to “Follow Jesus…Walk The Path!” On the surface this seems like such an easy request to pass on to the reader; however, this statement conveys many different challenges.

Rev. Gregory Seltz, speaker of The Lutheran Hour tells us about a young woman back in 1952, Florence Chadwick, who challenged a 21 mile swim off the coast of Southern California to Catalina Island. If she finished this incredible task she would be the first woman to do so. She faced icy cold water with fog so heavy it was difficult to see the boats surrounding her. In the boats were men armed with guns to keep the sharks away from the swimmer. Fifteen hours went by and the icy cold water had defeated her. Even after her trainer coached and encouraged her to continue saying that they were near the island, she asked to be taken out of the water. She almost made it, her journey was only a half mile away but she gave up, beaten and defeated. When the news media interviewed her she proclaimed no excuses for herself, only stating that if she could have seen the land she might have made it all the way.

We do not always see the end result when we walk the path marked out for us. We cannot always see the goal for challenges can get in the way.  However we have the encouragement, coaching and power from God to persevere. We can boldly move forward to the future with the power of our faith in Christ Jesus.

We don’t know if Florence thought of asking God for help in completing the task put before her, but we as Lutheran Women in Mission ask God for help with the challenges every day and trust He is always there leading us in the right direction. We cannot be beaten or defeated when we “Follow Jesus…Walk The Path!”

Serving Him together,

MaryLynn Huntwork

WA-AK District President