Article March 12, 2007 Issue

'MY ONLY REASON for racing'

BY BUNI JEANNE LANE

NOTHING CAN PREVENT you from expressing God and using the talents He gives to all His children. Not even a diagnosis of ill health. I'm grateful to have learned this through an active life of teaching swimming, dance, gymnastics, and other sports.

As a young child, I'd often been told that I was a "china doll," delicate and a bit frail. I didn't like thinking of myself this way, and had learned in Christian Science Sunday School that I didn't have to accept any limitations on my physical capabilities. I took comfort in Christ Jesus' words, "I can of mine own self do nothing" (John 5:30), which helped me see the need to rely on God. I also often thought about another passage in the Bible that highlighted this idea: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Phil. 4:13).

I began competitive swimming with the goal of expressing God to the very best of my ability. Even though I was smaller than most of the other swimmers, I knew that as God's reflection, I naturally expressed strength and endurance. When I was a teenager, I was asked to join a highly-ranked swim team. I knew this step would require a lot of practice time and hard work. But I was willing to do it in order to compete at a more advanced level.

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