My adrenaline was definitely still rushing when I came out of the finish chute at the State cross country meet. My teammates and I thought that we ran pretty strong and congratulated each other on sticking together as a pack. But we suddenly found out that our team really had run strong—strong enough for the WIAA Girls Division 2 title. It’s hard to put the feeling we had into words. I’ll just say it was extremely exciting and probably one of the best days of my life.

Eventually though, I got to wondering, “If I find this much joy from an earthly victory, why don’t I get this feeling more often? Why don’t I get this excited every Sunday in church, or whenever I hear God’s Word?” Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t enjoy our blessings here on earth, but surely the good news of salvation is much more to be happy about than a simple earthly championship.

After we won State, I wanted to share my good news. I told my grandparents, my friends, and my neighbors. Whenever the opportunity arose, the natural thing for me was to tell people. So once again, I started to think, “Why don’t I always share my faith the way I shared my team’s success story? Shouldn’t I be far more eager to share the gospel story with my neighbors, friends, and relatives who don’t know Jesus as their Savior?”

The truth is, my faith isn’t as strong as I’d like it to be. I now realize that I hadn’t been putting God first in my life all the time. And whatever pushes God outof that number one spot—be it friends, family, sports, money, grades, or whatever—can let you down. Friends can betray you, grades can drop, you could get injured, money never seems to be enough, and even family members can turn their backs on you. God, however, never lets you down. God will be with you through anything and everything when you trust and believe in him.

I think I’m learning to trust God more and more in my life. I’m getting back in the habit of praying before I go to bed at night and also more throughout the day. I pray that I will be more enthusiastic about sharing my faith with others, including my dad.

God does give me opportunities. Recently my little sister was sick on Sunday and missed church. A couple of days later she was cheerleading for a basketball game and my dad, who isn’t Christian, went to pick her up. My mom mentioned that there was church that night and I encouraged him to go, but in reality we weren’t expecting anything. Usually my dad will come to church for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, but not much more. We hope and pray that the Holy Spirit is at work in my father’s life, so we share our faith.