Tag: faith

Triathlon and Faith

I raced the Xterra Myrtle Beach off-road triathlon this past week. The format of the race is a 1k swim in the Intercoastal Waterway, 14 miles on single track mountain bike trail, and 5 mile trail run. This is my first race of this year and one I’ve been training for and looking forward to for three months. These are the lessons I learned from this race. They not only equip me to improve in my next race, but there are vivid parallels to my life as a disciple of Jesus Christ:
  1. To swim well in cold, open water, you need to train in cold, open water. Although I’d logged many, many miles swim training in my rec center pool, its warm water did little to prepare me for the conditions I encountered in the race. I never could catch my breath in the 60 degree water, and I struggled because of it. What I thought was a strength turned out to be a nightmare experience. This lesson is true for our faith life. If we limit our practice of Christian lifestyle to comfortable conditions, God can’t use us a effectly to reach those outside our safe boundaries—the different; the stranger; the politically opposite; the immigrant; the smelly; the sick; the prisoner; the bitter and rejected. Further, when we don’t extend ourselves and seek experiences that stretch and hammer us, we will have trouble surviving difficult circumstances. When tragedy, oppression, or loss strike, if we have already successfully endured hardship, we will have a deeper faith helping us through the toughest times.
  2. Keep the main thing the main thing. I was disappointed in my performance. I felt like I underachieved and was down on myself for days after the race. My competitive spirit had taken over my original objective for the race. A friend had to remind me what I was racing for in the first place. A race, for me, is simply the reward, or expression, of the many hours of training I’ve put in. I train because that time in the pool, on the bike, and on my feet is my intimate time with God. While exercise to some may seem like a body in motion, for me it’s spirit and mind being still in communion with God. When I work out, I am focused in prayer and meditating on scripture. I can craft sermons, Bible study ideas and devotional writing in my mind while swimming, biking, and running. So, when I make it about my time or my finish place, I’ve lost sight of the main thing, and that leads to disappointment.
  3. I’m not who I thought I was. It was humbling. Okay, I accept I’m old and slow. But I imagined I was faster and more fit than I turned out to be in this race. Whatever identity we invent for ourselves, it will never be quite on the mark. Even if I was satisfied with my speed and fitness, I would be instantly greedy to be even faster and more fit. Isn’t this true for all areas of our lives—who we are is never enough? Whether in fashion, or body type, or career, or status. The truth is, the only identity that we will ever find peace in is our identity as child of God, made in the image of God. When I cling to the truth that it’s the image of God in me that defines my identity, then those other desires no longer have power to blow up my contentment.
  4. A smile makes everything better. When being pushed to the limit of endurance, I can suffer, or I can have fun. Under adverse conditions, a smile doesn’t come naturally. But it can come when we intentionally cause it to. Forcing myself to smile during competition, when I felt like I wanted to quit, changed my whole attitude. When I smile I take pressure off myself and am reminded to just have fun. This applies to the rest of my life. I can decide to smile, and simply do it. It not only changes my face, it changes my outlook, and can even change the circumstances and people around me. Mother Teresa wisely pointed out, “Peace begins with a smile.” There is one thing The Lord of all Creation sacrificed himself to the point of excruciating death for us in the moment of our greatest mistakes and wrongdoing. And that proves His love for us (Romans 5:8).
God cares about the whole person: mind, body, spirit. Approach care for yourself within the frame work of loving God and others, and it will come with greater fulfillment, joy and peace. Whether it’s walking, running, biking, swimming, pickle ball, yoga, zumba, gardening, get your body and faith moving!

#FoMO

mark-2-16-why-does-he-eat-with-tax-collectors-and-sinners

They are out having the time of their lives, and they didn’t invite me. They are on the dream vacation; one I’ll never get to go on. They are doing one of my bucket list adventures that I doubt I’ll ever do. Their children overachieve and are gorgeous. They are super fit and performing impressive athletic feats. Envy grips my heart, a bitter root taking hold and blossoming slow and hot, rising through the top of my head. The feeling of being left out, left behind, is more rapid, stabbing my heart and dropping fast through the bottom of my feet, dragging my joy and contentment down with it. 

 

While it may be trending more recently as a hashtag, Fear of Missing Out (#FoMO) anxiety has been around since those first humans rebelled against God because the serpent seduced them into thinking they were #MissingOut on the knowledge God possessed. The temptation to “be in the know” was too great to resist, and that fear led to the tear in Creation that has continued to fracture ever since.

 

FoMO is a legitimate psychological state marked by a “pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent” and an accompanying social anxiety “to stay continually connected with what others are doing”(1). It’s a fear “that one might miss an opportunity for social interaction, a novel experience, profitable investment or other satisfying events” (2).

 

There is a cure. The God who spun the universe in a single exhale, has gone all-in to offer us peace, love, joy and hope in all circumstances. Our Lord died that we might always be accompanied by His Spirit, and never ever be alone. Has anyone ever gone to such lengths to keep the rising heat and sinking joy from overtaking your heart? Have you ever received a better invitation? There is nothing more adventurous than following the One who has no home, sleeps under the stars, eats around campfires, drinks from streams, silences a storm, walks on water, summits mountains, and rocks the status quo. There is none more fun to hang out with than the one who can turn water into wine, brings friends back from the dead, and picks up the tab for thousands. There is nothing riskier than having dinner with the one who brings con artists, undocumented aliens, criminals, prostitutes and other despised characters to the table. There is nothing more dangerous than joining the target of smear campaigns, hit men, and corrupt politicians. This is the same One who urges us to be content with what we have, to be free from love of money, and remedies us from feeling left out and left behind through his promise of always being at our side (Hebrews 13:5). He is the only trustworthy friend in the promise that nothing can separate us from his love and presence in our lives (Romans 8:38-39).

Next time FoMO creeps in, remember that these eternal promises are more real, and infinitely better, than the window dressing of other people’s social media stories. Instead of #FoMO, let’s say #contented.

 

  1. Przybylski, Andrew K.; Murayama, Kou; DeHaan, Cody R.; Gladwell, Valerie (July 2013). “Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out”. Computers in Human Behavior.

 

  1. Shea, Michael (27 July 2015). “Living with FoMO”. The Skinny. Retrieved 9 January 2016.

Painting by Sieger Köder.