That's Crazy

Talk about an endurance test… I, along with three friends, cycled across Canada. Not once but twice. I turned 60 on the first ride. When I told a friend that I was considering this, he said, “That’s crazy!” He may have even said, “You’re crazy.” Just so you know I’m not totally crazy, and these sixty-day endurance challenges were both charity rides.

When I said yes to the challenge, I had never done more than a day’s ride and didn’t even have a decent road bike. I quickly engaged with a training program. Training is really a willful choice to put yourself into a sequence of trials to strengthen your body to face the challenge ahead. My motivation for willfully engaging with a training regimen was stimulated by the knowledge that the ride would be difficult and demanding. It did fulfill my expectations. My ability to face the challenges of each day and even enjoy them was clearly impacted by the endurance I had built.

Faith is similar to a muscle. When I face difficult circumstances and make a conscious choice to trust God, that experience strengthens my faith, resulting in a greater level of staying power. The deeper my experience with God, the more profound the transformation of my life and ability to grow to “crazy good” levels in my walk with God. James makes an incredible statement. The result of embracing trials is endurance which transforms us, leading toward a place described as “complete, lacking in nothing”.

Father, thank you that you are building endurance in my life through the training program of trials. I know you love me. Thank you that you are equipping me for the future and for the plans that you have for me. I live for the end result of being complete and lacking in nothing. Thank you. Amen.

Thought for Today: What is happening right now that should be viewed as an opportunity to test and grow faith rather than simply a trial to suffer through?