Ready for the challenge
I needed an athletic challenge to shake up my workout routine and maintain focus on my physical health as the weather changed, workload increased, and pandemic continued messing with my regular health habits. I saw that the Baltimore Running Festival was offering a virtual 26.2 Mile Challenge. It required running a marathon spread out over a specified time frame: October 1-17. I hadn't run more than a mile in a year, and wanted to get back at it. I always feel better when I run. I signed up for this challenge and began strategizing about how to get others to sign up with me.
I committed and I did it. And, I loved this 26.2 Mile Challenge for several reasons:
SOLIDARITY. I was not doing it alone! My bff Heidi in Portland, Oregon agreed to do it with me. I started an accountability/solidarity group on Facebook, and these awesome folks committed to the challenge and we began to encourage one another. One member of the group, Travis, ran his first marathon on October 17 and several folks created an impromptu finish line.
READINESS. I had time to prepare. I had a month to get my running game on. I was able to slowly increase distance from 1 to 2 to 3 to 5 mile runs, without any injuries! I also have a trainer/coach right here in my home- my son is a HS track athlete. I checked with him about my ramp up plan, and he reminded me of the stretches I needed a run. He also signed up for the Baltimore Running Festival, trained, and ran his first half-marathon. (Brag alert: top time in his age group!)
DESIRABLE OUTCOME. I desire health, strength, energy, endorphins, clarity, stress release, and the simple pleasure of pulling out my winter clothes and discovering that they all still fit me!
IDENTITY. The challenge of running 26.2 miles in 17 days matches my sense of who I am and who I am becoming. I want to put on those running shorts and my turquoise sports belt and hit “start” on MapMyRun. I also connect with the “location” of the race, as in Baltimore, where it is usually held. I ran the Marathon Relay there 2 years ago with 3 friends, and loved running along the inner harbor, up to Clifton Park. This challenge reconnected me with a place I care about and cannot enjoy because of the pandemic. And, as the solidarity developed in the group, I began to identify as one of these badass, authentic, the-struggle-is-real-and I’m-running-anyway types who were posting early morning runs in the dark, sweaty bike ride pics, course maps along the Charles River, and other victories small and large.
ACCESSIBILITY. This challenge was accessible for me. It was a stretch for my body and my schedule, yet attainable. I already had the gear and could afford the entrance fee. I live on a nice country road and could arrange my schedule for runs. I can access the technology for logging runs. The scheduling of runs was the trickiest part!
#BaltRunFest2020 #13.1
In his article in Forbes magazine, former Navy Seal Brent Gleeson posits that there are 13 habits to develop mental toughness, which I think may be a lot like a spiritual reservoir of strength and resilience. The first habit is:
1 - Love a good challenge
Mentally tough people view obstacles as a challenge, not as a paralyzing event. They look at their failures and mistakes as lessons to be learned from and opportunities for growth. In other words, they embrace obstacles better than others because they lean in.
Translated into spiritual language…
Welcome what challenges you to grow.
A few summers ago on a ministry immersion trip with El Hogar in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and unexpected van full of North American volunteers from another denomination showed up and asked if they could gather all the school children for an impromptu worship service. The administrators of the school agreed and assembled the students.
The group performed songs and told the school children that Jesus was the only one who they needed even if something bad happened to them. Then they distributed candy and stuffed animals of various shapes and sizes to the children.
The group left, and our group was left to witness the aftermath. These well-behaved and kind school children, who we had been living among for 4 days, were soon hopped up on corn syrup and fighting over who had the best stuffed animal. It was gross, and demoralizing. The reaction of our group was, somewhat naturally, to heap scorn on the insensitivity and toxic charity of that other group. I think we were so afraid of being like them in any way that we protected ourselves by despising them.
I mentioned this very thing to the group, and urged us to see how we might be similar, and to open our hearts to what was good about their visit, and to not judge too harshly. I probably quoted Jesus. I was hoping we could welcome the challenge of this event, of these others who engaged differently. I wanted to talk about the dark shadow side of ministry immersion experiences, face our own fears, and grow together.
Another adult leader said to me a few moments later when the group meeting disbanded: “This is why I am not sure I can be a Christian. Being a Christian is so damn hard if you really mean it,.”
As a Christian, I wholeheartedly agree. There are easier things to be than a Christian. As one who studies the life of Jesus and tries to welcome Jesus’s challenges to grow in my own life, I agree that it would be easier to hate, heap scorn, feel contempt, tightly grab onto resentment and nurture my rage. Feeling all those things AND STILL OPENING MY HEART TO LOVE - it’s quite a challenge. Harder than the 26.2 Mile Challenge. Much harder. It’s the Jesus Challenge, and people have been training for it and running it for 2000 years.
Admitting that I cannot follow Jesus perfectly takes some of the pressure off, especially when I deeply absorb that it is God’s action, often called “grace,” that accomplishes my salvation, that brings me over the finish line. The Good News of this Jesus Challenge, the reasons for signing up, might include…
SOLIDARITY. We do not do this alone. In addition to taking on the Jesus Challenge with the Creator of the Universe as our coach, we train together and run together a lot of the time. My solidarity/accountability groups include church friends, book club buddies, friends from retreats and camp, ministry partners, and my family. I feel encouraged by bishops and clergy colleagues, by faithful leaders throughout the community who seek to live the Jesus Challenge.
READINESS. My life has included constant exposure to matters of faith, from my upbringing at First Christian Reformed Church in Chino, California, to ministry trips to Mexico as a teen, to college courses in Judaism, Women in Religion, and Philosophy. Seminary and discernment and Education for Ministry have strengthened my readiness, as well, to take on this Jesus Challenge without getting injured along the way.
DESIRABLE OUTCOME. I desire wholeness — union with God, creation, others. I desire to live however many years I have on this earth in a way that honors people deeply, and seeks the flourishing of all around me. Based on some looking around at other options, the Jesus Challenge is the best way to reach this outcome for me.
IDENTITY. The challenge of following Jesus matches who I am and who I am becoming. I want to love like Jesus loved. I want to gather with Jesus and other followers, and be nourished to go out and serve. I want to work toward justice, stand up against oppression and exploitation, like Jesus taught and did. I want to undo violence and patterns of violence, and live into the Good News that when Jesus rose from the grave, all violence and death was trampled.
ACCESSIBILITY. The Jesus Challenge is REALLY HARD, yet accessible for me. I have mentors, friends, partners in ministry who show me how they do it. I live in a place where there are multiple options for studying and growing and cultivating skills for a faithful life. I have the resources— Bible, Book of Common Prayer, apps and other tools — to learn more about Jesus, to study his context, to grapple with issues of meaning as I question, try new practices, and experiment with lifestyle design.
Up next…
2. Practice true commitment.
Until then, tell us what challenge you’ve signed on for and why. If you are a person of faith, is it a challenge for you? How?
