In Process!

I must first preface this entry with the fact that the words about to follow are not my wisdom but rather my understanding of how God's word fits so perfectly into our lives and in this case our lives as athletes. This weekend I had the privilege of listening to a sermon from my pastor called "I Am In Process". This message spoke of how the things we do here and now are to achieve the end result. Some of the basic thoughts went something like this "Change happens daily, not in a day", and "Why suddenly really isn't".

My pastor broke it down into 3 points:
1. We are always in process
Therefore until we get to the end destination, goal, achievement, or finished product, we are in process. If this does not parallel race preparation I'm not sure what does, as we are in a constant process of working and building towards a particular race achievement.

How to approach this process is:
a. the remember the destination is the goal- For Christians this is becoming Christ like in the way we act. For any athlete this may be a championship, personal best, or even simply finishing a particular race. Whatever the goal might be we must fix our eyes on it and pursue it in our day-to-day actions.
b. the process does not always make sense- This is so true for any athlete that has ever had a set back on there journey towards their goal. For me this was a torn hamstring two and a half weeks prior to the world championships. Why do these thing happen we often ask? But I would argue that when we look back on these trials we will realize that without them we would not possess the tools to reach the heights we have reached to date. As a Christian we often ask God why he lets things happen to us. Why if he was a sovereign, loving God why he would let use experience pain. Maybe without this process we would not become the finished product that we strive for?
c. enjoying the journey is a choice- We can choose to let the bumps in the road get us down or we can look down the road to the end goal and see how we can apply the tough times to make us better. I feel that this was the single greatest life and training tool I learned throughout my injury riddled college running career. A career that ultimately ended in 6-All Americans and a Team National Title.
d. the mistake of life is living it from a small perspective- we have to learn to keep our eyes on the prize and not loose sight because of the immediate appearance of life. How true is this in the have it now society that we live in? Be bigger than the here and now!

2. The process here- is for there
1 Kings 6:7 In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool were heard at the temple site while it was being built.
The verse speaks of the work being done far from the destination so that hammering and chiseling (trials in life) is done when it comes time to complete the task. We therefore, endure the preparation, good and bad, so that we can lay the ground work for the finished product. For, no one wants last second work to affect the outcome. In this way our lives are like temples being built far from the destination to be put together at a later completion date. Therefore we must push on with the work so to be prepared for that time.
1 Peter 2:5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

3. Your job in the process
As Christians God simply asks us to be present in the situations that occur. We are to weather the storms and learn from them, realizing that we are simply becoming closer to the finished product that brings the ultimate glory to God. For athletes there is not difference, as we are simply to focus on the task at hand with diligence and an on-purposesness that keeps us pointed towards the ultimate goal no matter the challenge that gets in the way.

So I spur you to set you eyes on the prizes and enjoy the journey with the knowledge that good or bad the result is a step closer to reaching your ultimate goal. If you would like to listen to or watch the sermon mentioned in this blog you can log on for free to http://jfc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=105&Itemid=115