Pushing Past

I would like to thank my Father, Marcus Blankenship, for posting on this blog site on saturday.

This weekend, I was busy doing an adventure race through Wycliffe Bible Translation. Wycliffe calls it "the race to 2025," which is the year by which Wycliffe wants to get the Bible translated into every language. The race was comprised of eight teams, and four people per team. Events within the race included mountain biking, hiking, orienteering, white-water canoeing, repelling, rock climbing, and various linguistic challenges. The teams raced approximately forty miles with the days combined. Twenty-five miles the first day, and fifteen the second day.

I, for one, have never undertaken such a physically and mentally demanding task. The race pushed my whole team past our social, mental, and physical barriers. There were times where I wanted to abandon my team; times I wanted to quit; times I wanted to surrender. One person, when talking about the strenuousness of this race, commented, "I wonder if I would have done all of the things I did this weekend outside of this context. I mean, when they would tell me of a challenge we had to do, I would get scared. But I would just tell myself, 'well, this is what I signed up for.'"

Regardless of how difficult the race was, it was a joy. It was strenuous, but it was also rewarding. I think that all of this can be compared to the Christian walk. There are times during the Christian walk that it would be easier to give up, to abandon other believers, and to simply quit. The Christian walk can be a serious difficulty at times, but we can't forget how rewarding it is in the end. You must learn to push past yourself daily because you will never love, speak to God, humble yourself, or commit a good action on your own. You must learn to trust in the power of God so that when you come to the end of yourself, you merely hook up to a new rope, and continue moving.

Have you forgotten, during the difficult parts of the Christian walk, that you have signed up for this? You have dedicated your life to a sovereign God who can do with you what he wills, and your job is to run through the race of life. You signed up for this, so dive in. Accept what you have given yourself to and enjoy the ride. Push yourself past who you are to lean on the arms of Christ; he has taken hits for you already, can you take a few for him?