It’s amazing what a little training can do.  This past week, I spent a day with my two boys at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch in Arkansas.  Being one of the premier rock climbing areas in the Midwest, we were both excited and more than a little nervous as to just what the climbs would be like.  This past summer, my oldest son Caleb and I had been in Colorado climbing the Buena Vista Area.  We had a ton of fun, and really felt that we had climbed well, however, the hardest crag we did was rated as a 5.8 (read that five-eight, rock climbers rate routes based on difficulty).  5.8’s are certainly not easy climbs, requiring a significant amount of skill to accomplish, but they are by no means the hardest out there either.  After returning from Colorado, Caleb and I became much more aggressive in our training.  Since last summer, we have been climbing at a local gym three to four times per week.  However, the climbing walls at the gym and real rock are quite different, so we really did not know what to expect.   What we discovered in Arkansas was that we were now knocking down 5.10’s (five-ten’s) left and right.  It’s difficult to explain how much more difficult a 5.10 is than a 5.8, but trust me, it is a huge step.  I cannot tell you how gratifying it was for us to see our hard work and training pay off.

I guess the analogy here is pretty obvious.  As Christians, especially as American Christians, much of our lives are lived in the flatlands of Kansas.  Our daily challenges seem rather minor. We want to be ready for the real thing, but honestly, we don’t really prepare for it.  Caleb and I have been climbing for a number of years now, but we had always stayed at about that same 5.8 level because primarily our training consisted of just those occasional trips to the mountains.  It wasn’t until we began working on the much less spectacular but much more intense regimen of our local gym that we were able to enjoy the victory of the greater challenge. 

Our daily lives are really like that indoor rock wall.  They are the places where we learn the moves, develop the endurance, and gain confidence.  As God walked the children of Israel through the desert on the way to the Promised Land, he makes clear that He will give them the land of the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites.  ‘But’, he explains, ‘I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you.  Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.’ Exodus 23:29-30).

Those little headaches that we all experience every day, God wants to use them to train us, to increase us, so that we are ready to take the land.  Our small battles are just as important as those big battles, for they are the ones that prepare us for the fullness of life that Christ has called us to.  We really must quit trying to avoid them at all cost, and rather embrace those daily training exercises as opportunities to prepare for our 5.10s.

See you in the gym.

To the King,

David