yesterday, me, becca, my brother and our friend stephanie conquered the warrior dash. daniel and stephanie left me and becca in their wake and helped welcome us across the finish line when we finished, but we finished nevertheless! the obstacles that were placed throughout this 3.5 mile race ranged from easy to pretty darn hard. the worst by far had to be the water ones! from traversing through a 100 foot area of waist deep water, to jumping over multiple tree trunks floating on top of the water, those water obstacles seemed to stick with you and weigh you down even after you had long moved on from them.
it's like that outside of fun-run challenges sometimes too. we're all moving toward a finish line, and there are a lot of things that are thrown in the way that hamper us. sometimes, those things stick with you long after you overcome them. maybe the loss of a loved one? maybe an addiction to alcohol, drugs or pornography? not everything can be as easily overcome as a bad hair day, but just as i had becca as my running partner, we don't have to face these obstacles alone.
God has already promised us victory (1 Cor 15:57), that we can overcome whatever is thrown in our way (Dan 6:16) and that his ultimate grace is there for us (2 Cor 12:9) when we need it. that should definitely cool your nerves and pump you up for the next leg of the race. i hate borrowing from paul so explicitly like i have, but he pretty much nailed it when he compared living to a race. i don't think paul had in mind some of the obstacles in his race like tires, a rope wall, flaming hills and cargo nets, but then again, i don't think he imagined some of the trials we face in our day to day business either. feel better about your struggles though knowing that God loves you and wants to help. his promises are clear, and he's just waiting to hear from you that you need him to make it to the finish line.