Footprints.

For the past few days, I've been working on a blog post about my upcoming NYC run and how it connects with my friends' fledgling church, St. Lydia's. I hope to have that post up later today. First, though, I need to offer a little background information, in the form of this story:

Regular readers of this blog have heard plenty about my friend Katie:

Katie and I after the VA Wine Country Half-Marathon, June 2011.

Katie was my classmate in the Pastoral Counseling department at Loyola and my partner in the "Marathon for Murray" fundraiser. Katie is also the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. Like me, she grew up heavily involved in the Christian church. Thus, over the course of our lives, we have both become very familiar with the following "poem":

According to Wikipedia, the true origins and authorship of "Footprints" is unclear, but it may date back as far as the 1870's. Since then, enterprising Christians have found ways to slap this text on just about every kind of  product imaginable: framed plaques, quilts, pillows, jewelry, tote bags, mouse pads, mugs- the list goes on and on. I'm sure I've received at least 5 "Footprints"-themed gifts in my life, and I would wager that the majority of Christians (and plenty of non-Christians) can say the same thing. Whether they liked it or not, pretty much all of my Pastoral Counseling classmates knew this poem by heart.

Case in point:

Last Fall, a few weeks before our marathon, Katie and I were sitting in adjacent seats in Psychological Testing class. The topic of class that day was intelligence tests, and our professor was showing us sample items from a number of different tests. One of the tests featured a series of "spot the difference" puzzles. For example:

Got it? Look at the legs.

The whole class was having a great time studying the pictures and calling out the answers. The puzzles got progressively harder, until we got to one that stumped us all for a minute or two. Both sides of the picture showed two people- a man and a woman- walking along a beach. When none of us could spot the difference, the professor gave us a hint: "Look at the footprints." We looked. Sure enough, in the second picture, the man's footprints had disappeared. As soon as I got the answer, I yelled out "It was then that He carried her!" Immediately, the class split between people laughing hysterically and people who looked angry because I got to the joke first.

The week before the marathon, Katie and I exchanged little gifts as good luck charms. What did she get me? See below:

Look closely at the coin on the bottom left: On one side, it has a picture of footprints; on the other, it says "It was then that I carried you."

Nothing like a good "Footprints" joke to carry you through a hard class or a hard race!