I like to think of myself as a runner. I enjoy running, I have trained a few times for various running events and I buy quality running shoes. The love for this sport began when I came as an intern to the Honor Academy in 2007. I had a mentor who trained for a marathon and I was inspired and hooked.

The Lord has taught me a lot since then through four years of running. Lessons like, “the power of endurance and perseverance” and “finding strength in the Lord and not the flesh”. However, recently the Lord has shown me the power of discipleship. I came back to the Honor Academy in the fall of 2010 to be a dorm director after a 13 month time at home and my first day back I went for a run. I ran by the dorms that I had lived in for two years, the woods I had camped in and the fields I had met with the Lord in. It wasn’t a week since being back before I began making friends with the girls in my hall who enjoyed running. We would talk about it together, they would ask questions, and they even started inviting me to go on runs with them.

As I began to see how easily my interest in running was bringing connection between me and others I began to ask myself, “How often does my love for the Word draw others to spend time in the Word?” or “What if my goals in my relationship with the Lord became their goals?”

When I think about the way Jesus discipled peopled I am encouraged to see how naturally he lived life with them. He ate with them, he talked with them, and he traveled with them. He “brought them along” if you will. John 1:43 says, “The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” How easy it is for me to put on my tennis shoes and say to a girl who lives down the hall, “Come run with me.” How deeply she needs me to spend time in the Word, intercede in prayer, and passionately pursue Jesus and say to her, “come with me.”

I am thankful that I have the opportunity to do both here at the Honor Academy. Living life and loving Christ are one and the same. How desperately this generation needs men and women who will say, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” I am so grateful that I have been discipled by godly men and women! I am equally grateful for the privilege and grace to the do the same for others.

- Corrie Trotter serves as a dorm director for the women of Upstairs Carey Hall

I love my girls!

Tori Varnell Dallas D half marathon & Karina Vanderflier Dallas D full marathon April 10, 2011