You cannot miss Katie Mathews if she is around because she has a loud voice and a big smile. She certainly made the campus ministry office more pleasant as she worked for it. Our casual conversations last two years had prepared us to deepen our spiritual relationship.
One day we sat down with two cups of tea in my room. It was her attempt to drink tea for the first time in her life. Classical green tea was served with Korean music. The tea might open her up to something bigger and deeper than her. Our conversation and the teatime were a grace-filled time in which we found that God was with us and He had a special plan for her.
As she had prepared for her graduation from John Carroll where she found life-long supports and friends, it was a new beginning that she had to take with what she had learned from John Carroll. No one would think she become a radio jockey in South Dakota as a JVC. I knew it would be a life-lesson to teach her how to let the Holy Spirit lead and let herself be as she is.
When I met her a couple of weeks ago, which might be our last encounter for a while, I said to her, “Two things will keep you well—to pray and to run.” Praying might be as hard as running, which she wouldn’t know until she let her desires, things, people including herself go. I am happy to be a part of her life journey that has been exhilarating like running a marathon.
Katie Mathews is the sixteenth Christ.