At the beginning of the summer, Lydia, Esther, Mike and I participated in a Tuff Mudder with some other Cru staff and interns. The Tuff Mudder is a great team building exercise and we had a really great team! Cassie and Mercy got to serve as race volunteers.
I wanted to share one lesson I took away from my experience. It boils down to this; the stronger you are, the more you can serve.
In order to prepare for the race it is important for most people to do some type of training. During the spring, it could be argued that my training regimen was somewhat minimal. Additionally, it was sort of rushed; I only ramped up my running just a few weeks before the race. I was basically ready to go on the day of the event, but because I was just barely in shape (and because I'm getting older) I did end up straining my knee during the race and by the end I was limping it in. (Thankfully Oscar had the same knee pain, so we ended up slowing the team down together.)
I would love to do the Tuff Mudder again, and If I do, I want to train more and ensure that I get a lot stronger before the race. But not so much for myself actually; I am proof that a minimal amount of training and preparation is enough to enable a person to make it through. I did it. But being stronger would have enabled me to better serve my team as well as lots of other people on the course.
What I love about the Tuff Mudder is the way that it facilitates and encourages cooperation and togetherness. You really can't do the Mudder course all by yourself and you aren't supposed to! It's set up to be an adventure endured in community. (That's Biblical!!) Being really strong doesn't benefit you as much as it benefits everybody else! The stronger and more prepared you are, the more people you can help. You can stand there and help more people surmount the obstacles, you can push more people up the walls, you can pull more people across the berms of mud. Being in super good shape doesn't mean you're just gonna go faster and get a better time, because that's not what the Mudder is all about. It's about teamwork and helping others.
And the stronger you are, the more people you can help.
I've been thinking about how to apply this spiritually. It can be easy so often to be pretty "minimal" and "rushed" in our walk with God. And because it's all about his grace, we will make it to the finish line. But doing it like that means we are missing out on opportunities to serve others like we could be.
I want to encourage you to run hard after God and allow him to grow you and develop you and build you up strong. Dig into God's Word, let his promises sink deep into your heart and fight hard to live by faith. Train hard and strive to run the race of life "strong in the Lord and in his mighty power" (Eph 6:10) so that you can help more people to experience the glory of the gospel.
