Get Up and Finish

Several years ago a friend challenged me to join her in an obstacle course race. I accepted the challenge and had only one month to train for the five-mile race that involved trail running, crawling through mud, climbing over walls, jumping over fire, and suffering the punishment of endless burpees for every failed obstacle. I love obstacle course racing now, but that first race was absolute torture. In fact, I might not have crossed the finish line without some much needed encouragement and solidarity from my friend.

We were maybe 50 meters from the end of the race, and I was on the ground after yet another round of burpees. I had nothing left - no energy, no motivation, no desire to continue. My body felt broken, I was incredibly discouraged, and I didn't think I could take another step. My friend redirected my focus and said, "The finish line is right there! You can see it! Get up!" My friend's encouragement snapped me back into proper focus, and we finished the race together.

The finish line is right there! You can see it! Get up!

Any kind of athletic endeavor requires a great deal of mental toughness, and that mental toughness requires a determined focus on the end goal. It can be very helpful for an athlete to surround herself with friends or training partners who support and encourage her to stay focused. I am now a track and field coach, and I enjoy running with my athletes occasionally to provide encouragement and build solidarity. I want them to know that I will never ask them to do something that I myself would not be willing to do, and I want them to know that everything I ask them to do has a purpose.

Solidarity is important for coaches and athletes, but it is much more important in the Christian life. Scripture tells us, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:15-16).

Just like physical training, following Christ is not always easy and it often hurts. However, the above verses tell us that we do not face anything that Jesus did not also face. We may feel alone when we go through certain trials and temptations, but as Dane Ortlund says in Gentle and Lowly, "Our pain never outstrips what he himself shares in." Jesus does not put us through anything he himself was not willing to go through, and everything he asks us to do has a purpose.

Ortlund asks us to consider our own lives by saying, "When the relationship goes sour, when the feelings of futility come flooding in, when it feels like life is passing us by, when it seems that our one shot at significance has slipped through our fingers, when we can't sort out our emotions, when the longtime friend lets us down, when a family member betrays us, when we feel deeply misunderstood, when we are laughed at by the impressive - in short, when the fallenness of the world closes in on us and makes us want to throw in the towel - there, right there, we have a Friend who knows exactly what such testing feels like, and sits close to us, embraces us. With us. Solidarity."

When we draw near to this Friend through prayer and submission and Bible reading and worship and faith, we are reminded that he has been where we are, he is with us now, and he is leading us to the finish line. "[Look] to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2). The finish line is right there, my friend. You can see it. Get up.