>> Julia: Welcome to Things I Wish I Knew, the podcast from Thinking

Faith, a work of the Jesuits in Britain. I'm

Julia. I'm in my early 30s, and I used to live in a

Jesuit young adult community. We all

live hectic lives and often don't get time to reflect on

what's happening both to us and around us.

This podcast is meant to help you to take a moment, to stop

and to think about where you are or where you're going

and where your relationship with God fits into it all.

Every week, I'll meet a new guest who tells me about something they

experience which has changed their lives forever by talking about

the things they wish they'd known at the time. We'll explore the idea that

God is in all things. And we'll talk about the part that

faith plays in navigating life challenges.

Today I'm speaking to Andy, who works at his church in Nottingham.

He's a runner who experienced a head injury whilst

running a half marathon. And in this episode,

he talks about the challenges of that, but also

about enjoying something with God. For Andy, that

means running. For me and probably others, we have to find

something else. So, Andy, what does running mean

to you?

>> Andy: When it comes to running, we have quite a complex

relationship. It's something that, at, moments in my life

has been the greatest of joys, something that

I would really meet God

in. I think we can think about the different moments

that we meet God in, whether through prayer, whether through worship. For

me, being outside, and running and

that feeling of freedom, which I know a lot of people wouldn't

necessarily associate with running, but getting

to that place where you're not really thinking about it, you're

just going through the motions. I've really found that I can meet

God in that, and sense his presence as I'm

running. And I think maybe it's helped my

relationship with God at times, because

it's not about what I can get out of it. It's just about

being with him, doing something where I can just be with

him. I think that's that, for me, has been a significant

part of my relationship with running. But there have

been ups and downs, and it has been an

interesting journey.

>> Julia: And have you always enjoyed running?

>> Andy: Yeah. I think my parents would certainly

interject at this point and talk about,

me as a child running everywhere. There was this one time

on a beach in Dorset where I said to my parents, like, can

I just kind of run? I just want to run. They were like, yeah, absolutely

fine. They said that classic thing that Parents say like, as long as you can still

see us. And I just went flying down the beach

and kept going and going and going and going. And

my dad hit a point where he was like, he'd say, he reckons I was about 3/4

of a mile down the beach at this point. He's going,

I need to go and get him. He's not stopping. And I know what some people

would say, rebellious child. but it was, it

was just something me that just

loved, loved running. This, this continued beyond that and

into my childhood. So, whether it be that sports

days or inter school competitions and soon as my

school launched a running club, I was all over that and it

was like, how far can I run? How much can I do this?

and yeah, I think throughout, throughout my childhood

certainly been something that I found a lot of joy in.

>> Julia: So going m back to that moment on the beach, obviously you've just

said your dad was like, I should go get him. But how

are you feeling?

>> Andy: I mean I, I don't remember it but

what I do know is that feeling for me through

my childhood of running, it was, there's something liberating

about it. I'd probably go as far to say I was like, I felt like I was

born to run. It was something that came so naturally

to me. It felt like a thing that God had

given me, something that I was good at, but just

something that I could meet him in.

>> Julia: I was just thinking about how I'm not a natural born runner

and how I don't think God gave me that gift.

>> Andy: And I think most people do look at runners as

something might be wrong with you. Like, that's probably the question

of like, why, why do you do this?

And I get that, I get that when you embrace pain as a

key part of the activity, it's fair

to ask the question.

>> Julia: So have you therefore been running since you were a child?

>> Andy: Yes, yes, I've ran kind of in different seasons

at different amounts. But yeah, I've been running for a long

time. There was a moment which kind of threw a small

spanner into the works with that. so around the age of

14, I was running a race

and finished the race and then just got hit by this

unbelievable chest pain. And there's a doctor there on the

day and we kind of pushed it to one side, which was all good. And it

was like, carry on as you are. And then I had another

situation not long after where I just simply got up from

the dining room table and Was hit again with this chest

pain, knowing at this point something is badly wrong.

the ambulance and the paramedics turned up and took me to

hospital and they did all the different investigations

that they do. And I guess really simply what they

discovered at this stage was that, Because, I mean, at that age, I

was tall, I was like one of the biggest in my

year, and I'd grown rapidly. And what they were basically

saying to us was, okay, yes, you've had this growth, but there are parts of you

internally that haven't grown at the same rate, and you. And you're putting

them under pressure. So their advice was quite clear. It was a case

of saying, hey, maybe when you were around 18, you should have

grown and developed to a point where actually being able to re.

Engage with running and sports is going to be

okay. So facing this reality of something that

I loved so much, being pulled away

from me and trying to figure out how to navigate that.

>> Julia: And how did you react and respond to that?

>> Andy: I think initially, I think I didn't

face the reality of how much that hurt and how hard that was.

I kind of buried it and pushed it to one side and didn't

process it. And it was a case of,

yeah, there was a lot of hurt there for me. And I think. I think

instead of seeing it as, okay, well, when I'm 18, I'm going to be able to

run again. I think I just. The love of it

just kind of got pulled out for me straight away. And it was like, there's

this thing now associated with it that's. That is a

negative thing. And, yeah, I think that had a

bigger impact on me than I would have said at the time.

>> Julia: I think Also when you're 14, 15, like

three years feels like a massive, like,

gap where, like now when, like, well,

my 33 years flies by. But I remember,

like, being in School at 14, 15 and feeling like I

was going to be there forever.

>> Andy: Yeah.

>> Julia: So that's always going to have been a challenge for you as

well.

>> Andy: And in that sense, they may as well have said to me, you're never going to run

again. That's how it feels. It's like, this isn't going to happen.

>> Julia: So I'm guessing there was a lot of joy when you got to about 18 and

could start trying to run again.

>> Andy: There was. I think there was a. Certainly part of me was,

tentative in the way that I was approaching it. but I remember

going with my dad and he wanted to get me those shoes that

I could get those running shoes on again and get back out

there. And I certainly did do that. But

something was missing. And I

think because it had been pulled away, it was in the way that it had and because

I hadn't processed it and just kind of

buried it, that certainly, was still having

an impact on me. And it would be many

years, really, that it took for me to really,

really get that joy back. When we talk earlier about

the freedom that I had in running

when I started back, it didn't feel like that. And it wasn't because

running was hard and because of the pain and all

those things. it was because of the hurt of how that

it had been pulled away from me. And it was.

It was probably about. About nine years that it took

until I would say, okay, I'm actually just enjoying this again. I'm

meeting God in this and finding the freedom that it

is to run.

>> Julia: And how did you find God's presence

in running?

>> Andy: Yeah, I think it's. For me, it was. It

was finding him in a way that it wasn't going to be a place where

I was going to be making demands and requests. It wasn't going to

be a place where I was necessarily

processing all the different things that were going on life. But

a sense of what could it look like for me just to have an environment where

I just am with him. That

God wouldn't be a means to an end, but would be a person

that I could have a relationship with. And I think when you

have great friends, there's something beautiful about just

being able to be in the same place as each other, but not

necessarily say or do anything specifically, but it's

just about being together. And I think that's where I'd got

to with running, and that's where I got back to with

running around that time. It was. It was a place where I was like, I

can sense the peace and the presence of God.

And as I found joy in it, I

really believe that he found joy in me enjoying

it. And for me there was just something beautiful in that, that we

could enjoy this together. The moments in

life, the different things that bring us joy. That God can find

that joy in it with us. And I think it

really brings a different dynamic to your relationship then.

>> Julia: I definitely feel that too, that when you find joy

in something. For me, not running, but I

completely get it for you, that God is there with you and feels

that joy with you, it's definitely, definitely

his presence is felt more, I think as well.

but I Guess I often have conversations with people

about how they found God in despair. God is there

with us in all of our emotions. So then

at some point, you decided to do a half marathon.

So can you tell us about the Robin Hood Half Marathon?

>> Andy: Yeah. So I think we are going back to

2019. And at this point, I'd been running.

I got the joy back for running. And it was almost trying to

figure out, okay, well, what do I do with this now? It would be great to

achieve something. It would be great to, outwork this in a way.

And, had always been aware of growing up in Nottingham,

that there was this Robin Hood half marathon. That's not

a half marathon where you chase Robin Hood around the streets of

Nottingham. It's just the name, but it, is just a normal

half marathon race, around the streets of Nottingham. And

I heard about this, and I thought, what better way to

use this kind of newfound joy and

enjoyment that I'm finding in running? So, signed

myself up, I downloaded the training plan

and got straight into it. And I was having the time of my life, come

rain or shine, out there running, getting ready

for this race, and felt fantastic going

into it.

>> Julia: I was going to add, I'm just a little disappointed that you didn't have

the Robin Hood hats to run in, but maybe that's just

me.

>> Andy: No, it has been done. A friend of mine actually did

enter the Robin Hood Half marathon dressed as Robin

Hood, managed to get to the front of the race, and

instead of running at a sensible pace like everybody else, he

sprinted the first hundred metres. So there's this

photograph of him right at the front of the Robin

Hood Half Marathon, what looks like winning the race. What they don't

see is a couple of hundred metres later, he would be

right back with everybody else. so,

no, someone's tried it. Tried it as Robin Hood.

>> Julia: Yeah. And you definitely have to pace yourself in a half marathon.

>> Andy: It's really encouraged.

>> Julia: I think when I did a half marathon, I made that mistake. I

went a little bit too fast in my first mile. Even though I'd done

all the training and prepared myself, I just. Yeah,

so I feel sympathy for your friend.

>> Andy: Absolutely.

>> Julia: So going back to your half marathon, we got slightly

distracted. What do you remember about that day?

>> Andy: For me, it was almost, a

formality. It was like, this is just. This is going to be

fine. This is. The training's gone absolutely

brilliantly. And, I found myself finding the

pacer of, who could pace my race at, the pace that

I was looking for. And quickly a group of us has kind

of joined around this person. It was like, we all want to finish at a similar

kind of time. And, the race kicked off

and we began to run together and there was actually just a

real sense of kind of fun and banter and I

love telling stories and jokes. And so the pacer got me

every single mile telling a different story or a different, a

different joke. So there was just. I know a lot of

people wouldn't associate having that amount of fun around running, but

it really was. We were just enjoying going around the streets together

and, yeah, enjoying the race.

>> Julia: It was like you'd formed your own little community.

>> Andy: Absolutely. And I think that's one of the

things that I look back on that part of that

day and I'm like, I love that about running, that it will just bring people

together in a moment and a sense of we're doing this,

we're going to achieve this together.

>> Julia: And then what happened in the end?

>> Andy: Yeah, so I, I was coming up towards around about the

10 mile mark and I'd looked down at my

watch and had a conversation with the pacer as

well to say, hey, this is, this is it, we've not got

far to go now. We're, we're at the end. And he communicated to me, it's

pretty flat here on in. And I'd look down at my

watch and then the next thing that happened was I woke up and

I was in the back of an ambulance. And

it was a real surreal moment for me because

I think if I'd realised, if

there'd been a moment where suddenly I woke up, that

moment would make more sense. It would make more sense if that was just

a nightmare or something that had happened. But

for me, the journey of running and feeling so well

and then opening my eyes and I'm in the back of an ambulance was

incredibly confusing and scary.

And what had happened in that moment was

I'd had, whilst running a blackout. I'd gone rag

dollar and experienced a concussion

that at that point would not be diagnosed and

would go on to be something called post concussion syndrome.

which at my worst I wasn't able to

talk properly. I wouldn't have been able to tell you how old I was. I

couldn't count, I couldn't wash myself, I couldn't dress myself,

I was really in a bad way. And

this moment would be the trigger for that.

>> Julia: That sounds incredibly

scary for you, but also for family and friends as

well.

>> Andy: Absolutely. Because they, moments before

probably, about a mile before, I actually said to my friends, a

couple of friends on the side of the road, and said, hey, call ahead to my wife

and let her know that I'm going to finish at this time. I'm still with the pacer

and they can expect me, expect me soon. And I

think even though the head injury had really

impacted my ability to process, in this

moment, one of the things I was so aware of was,

okay, I don't know how I've got here, I don't know what's happened,

but they're expecting me and I'm not going to turn

up. And I was in and out of consciousness at that time,

but that thought kept coming back to me and I kept saying to them,

please just call them and let them know where I am.

And the truth was, even though I could tell I was in the back of an

ambulance, I didn't really know where I was or why I

was in there. I had no understanding. I was. The last I

remember, I was. I was fine. And the. This

fear kind of gripped me of, I've just told my family

and friends that I'm fine and I'm going to be there and

suddenly they're going to be looking for me amongst the thousands of people and

at some point come to this moment where they realise

he's not crossed the finish line, where is he? And, I knew

nobody knew where I was.

>> Julia: And I'm guessing at some point they worked, out where you were

and did they, did they meet you in the ambulance?

>> Andy: So in the end, they took me to a medical tent which

was towards the finish line, which, as a runner was

this really confusing thing because

even though I should be focusing on how ill I was at the time,

and thoughts had gone through my mind of, like, am I going to make

it? What is this? Is this. Is this the end? Is this what this feels

like? And looks like there was still also this other

crazy thought of, I'm not going to get

to finish this race. And that

already at that point was hurting me. And, it

was only then they then drive you

to what is next to the finish line, to the

medical tents. And it was there that I saw my

wife and. And there was this challenge for me of, like,

I'm here, I'm so, so close to what

I'd set out to do. and I was able to see her then.

And when you see somebody's face when you're not in a good

way, sometimes that's reassuring. And it was in

one sense, but also the shock on her face really showed

me what kind of position that I was in in that moment.

And from there they would, they would take the, the two of us,

to the hospital where they would continue further

investigations.

>> Julia: How do you start to recover from that?

>> Andy: Slowly. The physical journey

was, After about three

months I kind of got to a point where I was like, okay,

my doctor will now let me go back to work. I shouldn't have

gone back to work then in hindsight. And

so the physical journey can take a couple of years really to

overcome something like that. The

mental recovery, in, all honesty, I'm still working that

through now and I've come a long way with it and

it's been hard. But here we are,

yeah, many years on now and that's still something

that I have to, I have to continually

navigate.

>> Julia: And how did, does

God fit into that?

>> Andy: When I think about how I felt at the time lying

in the back of the ambulance, the

feeling I had was that I was all alone. It

was the most alone that I've ever

felt. But as time would go

on I would, I would get this revelation

that God was with me, that there'd be this

moment. I'd realise that as I looked

back at that moment and that memory

that the way that I was perceiving it wasn't actually right.

And that had this revelation that God was present with

me in the ambulance. I didn't necessarily

sense him as I had in some moments and do in

some moments, but that hadn't changed the reality that he was so

present in that moment. And that actually changed that

memory. That changed the way that I now look at that

picture. originally looking back at it as just me

in that ambulance, but now knowing that God was there

with me. And as I think about that, it's

incredibly reassuring. And I think it was a moment in

my life where I was almost going to be saying, okay, this, this felt

like the moment where God had abandoned me. But as

time's gone on I've realised, no, that that wasn't the case. He was

so present with me in that.

>> Julia: It reminded me of that, of the story of the

footprints, you know, where it's the guy that's looking back at

his life and he, for most of it he sees like the

two print. He's walking down a beach basically, and he has the

two sets of footprints and at the points

he goes to God, the points that were hardest, there's

only one set of footprints and it's then that

God goes, yeah, because that's when I was carrying you.

>> Andy: Right.

>> Julia: And that, that your story is just reminding

me of that, of that you, you felt alone in that moment,

but God was actually there carrying you through it.

>> Andy: Absolutely. And I think that that

sense of, of realising that just because you

feel a certain way, it doesn't mean that that is the reality.

And I think it's easy to be drawn into that feelings

based, you approach things, but when you engage with

it through faith, you can see that God is working through some of those

darkest times.

>> Julia: So how do you feel about the fact if they

had found your concussion earlier, you might

have recovered quicker?

>> Andy: I think that actually has been really

hard to journey that. There's a

lot of emotion wrapped up in that for me. Because

going back to what we've talked about earlier, my childhood

experience was I went into hospital,

I was looked after really, really well. They

diagnosed the problem and although it was going to take years,

I was on a path to recovery. I knew what I needed to

do. Suddenly I found myself in this experience on that

race day in 2019, where actually the

hospital that day was overran. They didn't have

capacity for me to look after me in the way that

that was needed. The paramedics didn't

pick up on the fact that I was presenting concussion

symptoms. had they, my journey could

have been very different. I would then have gone home into

a dark room and probably spent a few weeks

doing next to nothing but

fast forwarding my recovery time

rapidly. Instead I would actually

try and go back to work soon after not knowing

what had happened. And every single

step of that making myself worse and

worse and worse to the point where they would say, hey, no, you

need to, you need to come into hospital again

for us to figure out what's going on here. Had they figured out

what gone on originally, I wouldn't then need to be going

back into hospital, but now going back into hospital with somebody

who's now got post concussion syndrome. they are actually

some of the worst environments to be in. They're intense

environments. There are noises, there are lights. There's all these

things going on in that hospital environment that

are making things in reality worse

for you. So one of the journeys for me has

been it's been dealing with and processing that,

processing the sense that something was missed that

day. And there is absolutely a place where

it's like I need to release forgiveness and in

that so that I'm not holding that against people and

I have to trust God. That even when it feels like

mistakes were made, that he was, he was going to make sure

that I would make that recovery.

>> Julia: So we now know that there's a more happier

ending to the story. In terms of you went

back and did the race again in 2023.

What did it mean to run that race?

>> Andy: For a while I said I would never run again. I couldn't

even look at a, ah, runner as they went past me on the

side of a road. So it was, it was quite a journey.

But I think deep down I knew I had to

go again for, for myself. And

I've even had a therapist say to me, oh, no, you didn't have to,

you didn't have to. You, you don't have to run.

And so changing that language to go, no, this is something that I want

to do. And it was, it was

terrifying to think that I would have to go down those

streets again. And almost a

sense of, is it just gonna happen again? We don't, we still

don't know to this day why my body reacted that

way. And so there was a

real sense of this could happen

again. We can't say that it won't. But

for me, the

accident had felt like a full stop moment.

It felt like a moment where it was like,

for my confidence, not just for running, for, like, for

life. It was like, for me, a lot of like, hope had

been, diminished in that moment. A sense of,

m. I'm a public speaker, and suddenly I can't

string a sentence together. How on earth am I going to build

that confidence again? To stand in front of hundreds of people and be

able to communicate? So there were things that quite quickly I was

saying, I'm never going to do that again, never going to run again.

Not sure I'm going to be able to hold my job down. I'm not sure. And

there was a lot of things I was saying, full stop, end of story,

this is over. That's kind of how it felt for

me.

And I think I really,

in reading the story of Jairus, his daughter,

there's this incredible moment where,

Jairus is with Jesus. And he'd been pleading with Jesus

to come to his daughter because she was, she

was really sick. And he was

having to wait for different interruptions and different moments

along the journey of having Jesus, Jesus come and,

and meet with his daughter. And on

this journey there comes this moment where these people come out

of Jairus's house and they say, hey, Jairus, it's

bad news. your daughter is dead.

And there's this moment that they're saying, full stop,

it's over. And the story

goes on. And, Jesus ends up

going to this man's house and, he

raises this girl back to life.

And for me, this story just absolutely

incredible because I think for me, and I think

for many of us, we can relate to moments in life where

we feel like our own thoughts or somebody else thoughts are telling

us it's over, it's done, full stop, game

over. And that's how it felt for me when it came

to running. It was, it was done

and it was over. And yet in this equation, in this

story, we see that with Jesus present in that

moment, that full stop moment actually

becomes a comma, that actually the story is still

being written, that it's not, it's not over.

And I love that that story goes on. And that is the

case. We see this incredible moment where this girl

comes back to life. And I think for me,

reentering the Robin Hood half marathon

was about that. It was about recognising that that

doesn't have to be a, a full stop moment. That with

Jesus in the equation there is hope and

that there's an opportunity that the story, I can never change

what happened, but I can write a new chapter. And it was

that opportunity to go, I want to write a new chapter.

I don't want fear to be something that shapes my

life. I don't want to make decisions based off,

what I think I can and can't do. I'd rather, I

want to include Jesus in the equation and say, hey, with you,

what is possible? I started to think about my

daughter who had then entered this world. And I was like, I want

her to grow up in a world where when we have setbacks

and we talk about setbacks, this for me was like

an almighty, almighty setback. But I want

her to grow up in a world. And I was excited that one day I'd get

to tell her a story. What, what could it look like if the story didn't

end at that accident and actually another chapter

was written. And that is what went on to happen

as I reentered that race. it was

brutal. My, heart rate was

over 180 for the entire race just because

of the anxiety of being in that

environment. And, we chipped off mile

by mile. And I mean, passing the

part where I knew that I'd collapsed was, was

really, really tough for me. but a sense of God's

with me in this. He's carrying me through this.

And that moment,

crossing that finish line that day, I mean going

around the race, I never thought it was gonna happen.

moments before getting to the finish line I saw this guy and

he began to collapse. And it was

incredibly triggering for me to think. And I turned to

my brother and my friend who I was

running with and I said to them I can't do this.

Bear in mind at this point I've reran the entire race. We can see

the finish line. But such was this moment of

seeing this person collapse. It was like no, I actually, I actually

can't. And they pushed me on. We pushed

through and crossed that finish line.

And for me it wasn't just about running a half

marathon. It wasn't just about finishing

that race. It was really a moment of

seeing what God can do in a situation. For me it was saying

over my life when I hit those moments and it feels like

it's all over. Look, those full stop moments can become

calmer moments and God can continue to work in

three year.

>> Julia: Well that, that's really powerful. And the

fact you saw someone have a similar experience to

what you did as well at that finishing. I must, I m

mean I can't imagine how tough that was to, to experience.

Did you find any of that joy that

you had when you were a child, when you started running again

or are you still working on that process?

>> Andy: Yeah, it wouldn't come, it wouldn't come that day. But I think

without that day, it wasn't going to come. And

so since then I've continued running and I've actually

reran the half marathon. Now I've ran

it without that anxiety around every

single step which that alone is

liberating. But since have

continued the journey and found that joy that we talked

about earlier, again that joy of just being out in nature

and running and just knowing God is present with me

in this. We can enjoy this together. Because when I

restarted running after the accident,

I felt like ah, with every step

danger was one step closer to me. I

felt like I was being chased. It was like a fear driven

run. So to go from there and find myself

once again able to run and just

hear the sound of the birds and sense the

presence of God and be out

and find that freedom and that sense of

enjoying it again with God. I mean I never thought

that was going to be possible. That's a great miracle that's happened

in my life.

>> Julia: I have a really important question. I don't

know how old your daughter is. How old is she?

>> Andy: She's three and a bit.

>> Julia: Has she started running yet?

>> Andy: She, she does Parkrun and this is something that I've

kind of built into my routine quite a lot and she will come along to

those and she really wants to, she wants to run with

daddy but not quite yet. I've

seen people running around with buggies as well. That for

me is just a whole new different level. I

just, I'm not doing that. But when she's old enough I can't

wait to take her for a run and to let her enjoy that.

>> Julia: Yeah. Because I'm just wondering if it's genetic. Do you

like running? Because like it's genetic but

please do let us know about that as well.

So what things do you wish you knew before

it all had happened?

>> Andy: Yeah, I think and we've touched on a few of the points

but I think I wish

I understood that idea that there are going to be moments in

your life which feel like And present

you with some facts that would make you

feel like it's all over. You're going to hit moments where you

feel like there's no hope left in this

situation. I would have loved to have known

that when you hit those moments with God in the

equation there's still, there's going to be hope. I think.

I wish I maybe would have been more aware of this

idea that we're not always going to sense the presence of

God. We're not always going to know that he's there based off

a feeling. But actually in reality we're going to

know by faith that he's, he's present with us

in those moments. And yet for me

I think him being present always meant that everything

would be worked out and sorted

and go the way that I saw it. And I think through

that story I'm like the learner for me is that

actually no, I don't always know how it's going to work out or

when. And it might not be in my time frame

but to know that God is working

even when we don't see it, even when I don't

realise on day, on day that I'm making progress. God

was working in that situation when.

>> Julia: You told us about that full stop moment that you turned it into a

comma, had this real feeling of what the

disciples must have felt like when Jesus died on Good

Friday because at that point they must have thought it's all

over. Like what they'd been living for for

the last three years was done and Then obviously we

know that we had the resurrection. And so that comma is

definitely comes into place, which I'm sure

the disciples were very grateful for.

But what are you most grateful for?

>> Andy: I think, I'm really grateful that, through the story that

you share there, that there is hope because of what Jesus

did, both through his death and through his

resurrection. One of the things I love about

the powerful gospel, the good news of Jesus that you've just

shared there, I think, is that there is that

moment that we can relate to of. Yeah,

actually, there was a dark moment. There was a dark moment for those

disciples. And we can't tell the

gospel without talking about the resurrection. When we

hit these challenges, yes, people around us, we might see

that there's no hope in that. But because of Jesus, we. We

are able to experience that hope. And so I'm just so grateful for

Jesus. I'm so grateful that for

myself right now, today, I continue to put my hope in

him. I'm able to do that and have a growing

confidence that no matter what life may present,

we can keep walking this walk, running this race

with Jesus.

>> Julia: Thank you for joining us.

>> Andy: It's my pleasure.

>> Julia: Thanks for listening to Things I Wish I knew. I know this

episode is going to change the way I consider the

impact that God has in my life. When

Andy was talking about enjoying something with God, I'm now

thinking about what do I enjoy? And, how can I enjoy that with

God? How about you? We'd love to hear

how Andy's story resonated with you. And why not

also tell us if you're facing an experience you wish you knew how

to look at differently. It might just be something we can help with.

You can find out about this theme and others at

thinkingfaith.org. Thank you again for listening,

and I hope you'll be able to join me again. next time on Things I

Wish I Knew.