”Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4 NIV
I ran a marathon in October of 2005. I can’t believe it’s been that long ago. I learned a lot of life lessons from running a marathon. One of the lessons I learned was, I was going to need to develop a plan to finish the race. Part of the plan was to figure out what kind of shoes to buy to help me train. I also had to learn how to eat right to fuel my body for the long 20 plus mile training runs.
I also had to learn how to hydrate, and most importantly, how to gradually increase my weekly training runs by 10 percent a week, so I would decrease my chances of getting injured.
There was a lot to learn at first, but I mapped out my training, and I worked my plan, and completed the marathon and under my goal time!
Trust me, it was no small feet, I mean feat.
Another important lesson I learned was, when you hit a certain mile on race day, all the experts said if you trained diligently enough, that you had a pretty good chance at not only finishing the 26.2 miles, but, in your goal time. That mile was mile 23 out of 26.2 miles.
Race day came and I hit mile 23, and I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt, I was going to finish and finish strong! I trained hard and worked my plan to a T to prepare for the big day. It was awesome.
In life, mile 23 comes in many different ways. It comes in the form of a job loss, death of a loved one, or health issues. And God laid it on my heart, that in life, Mile 23 will come someday. Life is not always easy. As a matter of fact, it can be unjust and unfair at times. And the sooner I realized this, and wrapped my brain around this truth, the better chance I would have at enduring life’s difficulties. It’s been said, that the only thing we all have in common, is that we will all face difficult times in life.
As Christians, aware Christians, we should just know and expect difficult things to happen. And, I am to the point today, where I just know something difficult is going to happen. It’s not a matter of if, but when. We live in a sinful world, and difficult things happen.
So, I train for it. I train for it by strengthening my heart and walk with God. To run a marathon, you have to strengthen your muscles. Just like I knew mile 23 in the marathon was coming, I knew I had to train my body to endure the long distance training runs. And when it came, I was ready. I prepared.
Have you faced a mile 23 moment in your life? Have you had to endure something difficult? Did you know how to lean on God to endure the difficult time?
It has been a passion of mine for close to 12 years now to help people prepare for the mile 23’s of life. I help people deepen and strengthen their walk with God. Much like a cross country coach helps a runner prepare for meets, I enjoy coaching and training people to prepare for life as a Christian.
Another key lesson I am learning involves interpreting what is actually going on when difficult times come. There is a verse in the book of James that helps me with my interpretation. And I hope you find it helpful.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4 NIV
James says, to consider it pure joy, when you face trials. I thought, well that’s odd. Most of us ask the question, why. God, why did you allow this or that to happen. When we ask this question it opens the door to blame God. And, a while back I read Lee Strobel’s book, A Case for Faith. In his book he wrote that that is the wrong question to ask. I won’t get into that on this blog, but, there is another question I believe might be a healthier question. And that’s, God, what do you have for me to learn from this difficult situation.
Again, James 1, says, “…let perseverance finish it’s work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” It says, consider difficult circumstances pure joy, and when you persevere through them, your faith is tested. And when your faith is tested, you grow! And when you grow, your faith grows and you become more mature and complete? Why? Because, God loves us so much, that He doesn’t want us lacking anything! Especially lacking in a mature and complete faith in Him! So, when difficulties come, and they will, God is moving! And He’s growing us so our faith is stronger in Him, and more complete!
It’s a simple resolution really. And it’s helped me confidently interpret life’s difficult times. And there have been many!
I have had many “Mile 23” moments in my life. And I have been able to mostly endure them knowing my God is strengthening my heart and my faith through them.
Today, when I think about why in the world I ran 26.2 miles, I’m reminded, it’s because God had a lesson for me to learn.
One of the best tools that helped me train and run a marathon were my shoes. I chose Brooks Adrenaline’s. They were one of the best tools God gave me to prepare for “Mile 23” in the the Minneapolis Twin Cities Marathon!
What tools are you using to interpret and endure life’s “Mile 23” moments?
Matt