Jim Au:  

Life I thank God for this life and every experience which helps me to understand why He made me and what is worth living and dying for. School years, I was so focused on doing well and getting good grades. And yes, I did well. Somewhere in the mid-1990s, I came to understand just how focused I was on all that stuff (most of which I forgot anyways), and how little focused I was on the people around me. My journey since then has been breaking the mold and relearning or rebuilding just about everything in my life, especially the priority of people. There are two threads that run through everything in my life. One is skating. I was enamored with Eric Heiden's performances in the 1980 Olympics. Following college, I began a (life-long) pursuit of speed skating well. Over these years, whenever I have been skating, it has been a kind of gauge of my hope and vision for life. In one difficult period of my life, I lost my skates altogether (they were in the basement, so it's a miracle I ever found them). Since finding them, I have struggled both with skating and with relationships, but I am working at both nonetheless. People tell me I am making some progress in both areas. (In 2005, I wrote a story of my life from the perspective of speed skating; it's in our family website myoasisonline <dot> net, under Articles & Stories). The other thread is my relationship with God. The spiritual journey as far as I am consciously aware of it began in 1973 when Jesus Christ became my savior. He was always there, but there were so many times when my faith was practically-speaking on the shelf. Throughout the most difficult periods in my life, it has always been the tender grace of God and Jesus' companionship that got me through. Lately, I recognize that God has brought along other people who help, guide, instruct and even ...Expand for more