A Little Help From My Friends

I'm currently training to walk in my second half-marathon. [Excuse me a second, I have to stop and laugh with God. Not an evil, super-villain laugh, but a "this-is-so-crazy-it's-got-to-be-a-God-thing" laugh. Okay, I'm done. That's another story, and you can read about here.]

Despite knowing this particular race comes around every May, and despite cementing my intention to participate back in January with a cold, hard debit card transaction, I've been kind of a slacker. Oh, I've been walking. Mostly. Sort of. Just not very far and maybe not as often as I was before. This was due in part to the shorter winter days which make it difficult to squeeze in a walk before dark. Oh, and my son had basketball on Fridays and Saturdays. And it was cold, well, it was cold a few days. And part of it was that I was just lazy.

However, March 11 marked the beginning of Daylight Savings Time and 10 weeks to race day. No more excuses. Game on.

The first week was awful. After walking just 2ish miles at a leisurely pace through the winter, going back to my usual 3.5 to 4 mile walk at a steady clip was drudgery. I was clumsy and tired and sore and annoyed. I blamed my shoes, the uneven road, and the people who had the audacity to drive their car down the street, forcing me to slow my pace and walk on the shoulder. For a week, I grumbled through every walk. I told myself I had slacked off too much and that I was hopeless. Despite exceeding what I thought I was capable of less than a year ago, I chose to ignore my own testimony and started telling myself I should give up. I wanted to quit. 

You know what kept me from quitting? My friends. And not just because I may or may not have talked a few of them into doing the Half too. What kept me from quitting was knowing my friends would hold me accountable. My friends would know how much I'd regret quitting and would lovingly challenge my excuses. My friends would remind me that I didn't think I could complete a half marathon last year either. My friends would tell me I was not hopeless. As I struggled through those first few walks, knowing my friends would not give up on me helped me push through when I was ready to give up on myself.

I'm happy to report that my training is back on track, but as Paul writes in 1 Titus 4:7-8, we're not just to train for this life, but the life to come. In the same way I neglected my walking program, we sometimes neglect our faith, and it can be difficult to get back on track when we've strayed. We may make excuses, and we often convince ourselves that our situation is hopeless. When that happens, we need our friends to come alongside us and hold us accountable. We need friends who will counter our excuses and lovingly admonish us when we err. We need friends who will help us "press on toward the goal" of our calling and remind us of God's faithfulness in the past. We need friends who will tell us our situation is not hopeless and who will walk with us even when the road is difficult. Will you be that friend to someone? If you have strayed, will you seek the encouragement of a friend?

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds…let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching." -Hebrews 10:23-25