Running for Our Lives

My sister is in the Dallas Stake, and today at their stake conference a man shared a story that I thought was too good not to pass along.

This man gave a really good talk recounting his time living as a boy in Germany. He was born thirteen years prior to World War II. He told of his upbringing as a Hitler Youth and how, in his home, his parents taught him that they were not the superior race--that God loves all of his children equally (he was not Mormon at this time). He then was sent to Czechoslovakia to attend a military school.

One weekend he was ice skating on a lake, but fell in where the ice had thinned out. He fell into water up to his waist. As he lay on the cold snow, his wet clothes literally freezing to his body, a man on a sleigh approached him. He was sure that the man would put him on the sleigh, wrapping him up in the warm furs he had with him, but instead the man made him hold onto the back of the sleigh and run behind it into town, about a two or three mile run.

At the time he did not understand why he was having to run, but he later learned that running is what saved his life. Had he been wrapped up in the furs on the sleigh he would have frozen to death, but by running he kept his blood circulating, and it kept him alive.

This is much like when we pray to Heavenly Father. After we have fallen through thin ice and are freezing, our Heavenly Father has the warm furs to wrap us up in, but instead He makes us run; He makes us run to save our lives. It's hard and not fun at all, but when we finally return to Him, we will be a stronger, better person, and we will be saved. Heavenly Father makes us run to preserve our lives, to keep us moving until it's time to meet Him again.