Just a few weeks ago they held a Spartan Race not to far from where my family and I live. If you don’t know what a Spartan Race is, think obstacle course on steroids and you are almost there. It is without a doubt one of the most grueling tests of conditioning, endurance, and determination. The “Beast” course was spread out over 13 miles with around 35 obstacles, or physical tests, interspersed throughout – affectionately called things like “Hercules Hoist,” “Bucket Brigade,” and “Bicep Breaker” along with your garden variety mud crawls and even a fire leap – that test a person’s inner strength of will as every part of their body is tested physically. The organizers who set the course do so in a way that, if you train properly and have the endurance both physically and mentally, will fully test the Spartan racer from start to finish. Though I wasn’t there to witness the race, I can imagine the satisfaction on the faces and in the hearts of those who, having literally stared down the course step by step, conquered it.

Thinking about these Spartan Race participants, especially those who set out to be the top finisher in their individual classes, I know there was a lot of training that went into being fully prepared for the day of the race. I can also imagine there were times where that training was long and hard and caused great discomfort, even outright pain. Yet all of it prepared them for the test they would face on “Game Day” and built in them endurance that carried them through to the end. Without a doubt there were times where they thought, “What the heck I am doing to myself?” both during the training and the race. Yet they persevered and pressed on to the end, running the race with endurance right through the finish line.

It has been said that the Christian life is like a marathon. I don’t know about you, but I have found it to be more like one long Spartan Race. This life in Christ is not just a 26 mile, 385 yard road race where the greatest obstacle apart from the distance are a few slight uphills or downhills. No, this Christian life is a race that is much longer, fraught with obstacles and hardships along the way, that tests not only your physical strength and endurance, but also your spiritual and emotional fortitude. Sometimes it feels like the race has you running from one test to the next, from one obstacle to another, interspersed with only brief moments of reflection and recovery. Sometimes we find ourselves questioning the One who set our racecourse for us, wondering if He is trying to break us before we have the opportunity to reach the finish line. But unlike those organizers who set the Spartan Race course to test whether someone is properly prepared, the One who set our course knows how much we can handle, is constantly working to prepare us, and will never give us more than we are able to “finish” as He runs right along with us. Yes, He will push us to the edge, but in Him we have everything we need. With each obstacle of life, as we trust in Him, He is building endurance within us that will help us get over the next hurdle we face, growing us in Christ-likeness along the way as we trust in Him. Through moments of rest, reflection, and recovery from times of hardship, He builds in us knowledge, faith, and stamina for the next trial. But, unlike preparing for a Spartan Race, where you train day after day leading up to a single race day, the Lord is constantly training, preparing, and growing us as we trust Him in the midst of our race, using each obstacle, hurdle, trial, and hardship to build within us perseverance and to give us endurance to keep running, growing in us strength to face whatever comes our way next. And on that day, when we each reach our individual finish lines at the end of our lives, the satisfaction a Spartan Race finisher experiences in crossing the finish line will not scratch the surface of the joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment we will have when we see our Master Course Setter face-to-face.

Everyone one of us has a race to run on a “course” set by the Lord Himself… a course unique to each of us. While in a earthly sense, some seem to face much bigger hurdles than others at times, from the perspective of an all-powerful God each hurdle is the same size, and He has been and is working to prepare each of us to get over those obstacles in a way that brings Him glory. How we run the race set before us is equally important to us running it. It is important to understand the Lord causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust and the sun to shine on the righteous and the evil (Matt. 5:45) – in other words, everyone faces struggle, hardship, trails, and difficulties regardless of their relationship, or lack thereof, with the Lord. Those who love the Lord are not somehow immune to these things. On the contrary, the Lord allows us to face obstacles so that our faith in Christ is manifested and displayed to a world who is lost and perishing, without hope. He desires that God’s glory would shine through His followers as we trust Him in the midst of the “Spartan Race” called our life. I may never have all the answers to the question of “Why?” when it comes to the struggles this life can, and does, bring but I continually pray, “Lord, make knowing You will somehow use this to your glory to be enough of an answer for me.” Would you join together with me, as I run with endurance the course the Lord has set before me, by running with endurance your own personal race set by Him?

Until next time… keep running!