A Slice of Him in Us: Katie Lederer

To write about my experience with the World Race and not write about each and every incredible soul on my team, I would not be expressing my experience authentically. 

I have spent the last seven months of my life in intimate relationship with five women, five women that have shown me a taste of what life in the kingdom is like, five women that have held my hand when I hurt and cheered me on when I smiled. Five women that taught me authenticity, honesty, humility, service, care and unconditional love. 

I could write novels about these women and the impact and beauty that they bring to my life, unfortunately, a blog for each unique and beautiful woman will have to do. 

….

Katie Lederer 

From even early days on the race, Katie has been a beacon of light and peace to everyone around her. I vividly remember a day in Gainesville at the AIM campus were I was blown away by her patience and atmosphere of understanding. 

It had been a hot and stressful day, we had tired ourselves out from sessions all morning and just a difficult day for everyone physically and emotionally. We were asked to do some sort of activity with everyone, it had taken longer than expected, the instructions were unclear, the room was hot and everyone was speaking over each other. Personally, I was overwhelmed with annoyance and bitterness, looking around me for someone that felt the same way to affirm my annoyance.  I thought that everyone there must be just as flustered as I was. Then, I remember looking at Katie and being blown away. She was patiently waiting with a smile and positive attitude, like all those factors did’t bother her at all. She used her position of tranquility to help and encourage others. She proceeded in kindness and selflessness. 

This small moment is a poor reflection of a fraction of the selflessness that this woman exudes. 

That day, her atmosphere of purity and peace inspired me to follow in her footsteps and she continues to inspire me everyday. 

Katie is a woman of purity. Purity in the sense of purity of heart, she seeks to understand others earnestly and loves others hard. 

She carries a beautiful image of the Lord’s freedom, she knows her worth in the Lord and doesn’t chase after human attention.  Instead, she lives her life in a posture of acceptance, acceptance of herself and acceptance of everyone around her. 

When there are tasks, chores and the dirty little jobs to be done, Katie is the first to raise her hand. I have never seen that woman not volunteering to do selfless acts for everyone else, in addition, I’ve never seen her complain once about it. 

When I am at the end of my wire during work, I often think about this one day in Pensacola, Florida, when we were working with Samaritan’s purse. The day before, Katie had been stung by a wasp while hammering a roof and her arm had swelled pretty severely. The sting had become really swollen and painful with an allergic reaction so we had taken a Benadryl to stop some of the pain. We were on this woman’s roof working for about 6 hours at this point, in the hot sun all day, exhausted from the hard work. The drowsiness from the Benadryl plus the heat and sun exhaustion had been weighing on Katie, yet she was still up there, drilling away in absolute exhaustion. In fact, we spent the whole day laughing harder than I’ve ever laughed, maybe partly from the sun exhaustion. Katie didn’t complain once.

Her work ethic is admirable and she is in a continual state of servitude, whether that’s drilling holes into a roof or holding someone’s hand while they cry.

Katie is a woman of intentionality. When you are having a bad day, she is the first to notice and pull you aside to check in on you. I have never once felt unseen by her, because she has the Lord’s ability to truly see people and love them unconditionally. 

When I think about Katie Lederer, I think of home. I think of strength and kindness, bundled together in a beautiful reflection of the Lord’s love. 

To know Katie Lederer, is to love her. I could genuinely write novels about this woman but my words will always fail in expressing the love of this woman. I pray that everyone would be able to meet and know Katie and her unique, beautiful and special self. 

Thank you Jesus, for blessing my life with Katie Lederer, you really made her a good one.