OK, so I just watched "Facing the Giants" with the kids. I hadn't seen it in several years, and yeah, there are some cheesy parts... but wow... so much truth. I love the parallels that exist within the story to my own life, my own struggles, and my own choices.
I'm certainly no football fan. Well, that's actually a HUGE understatement. I know nothing of football... there, that's more accurate. BUT... there's a scene that I identify with in a very real way. In one of the football practices, the guys have to do "death crawls" where they carry another player on their backs as they crawl 30 yards or so down the field... without allowing their knees to touch the ground. Just a { little } bit tough, I imagine. Then, the coach challenges one player. "Will you do a death crawl to the 50 yard line... but giving me your absolute best?"
The player responds that he will... and the coach then pulls out a blindfold. He figures if his player can't see where the 50 yard line is... maybe, just maybe, he'll not focus on the simple goal, but focus on giving it all he has, without holding back.
So this big sweaty dude starts his death crawl. He goes and goes, and then goes some more.... but then it gets harder... he starts wondering out loud if he's there yet. Keep in mind, he's blindfolded, so he has no idea where he's even headed unless the coach tells him to go right or left. He's not seeing the end of the road here. The coach just keeps yelling at him to just give it his all... until he can't go anymore (in that oh so gentle way that coaches do). The coach tells him he can do it, he tells him he can do more, he tells him to keep on going, to NOT QUIT. The big sweaty dude is now almost spent. I mean, the poor guy is beyond exhausted. He's not liking this much. In fact, he's not liking the coach either, I have a feeling.
"Just two more yards..." says the coach. And then, he's made it. Big sweaty dude drops. Nothing left, nothing more he could have given. He wonders if he's made it to the 50 yard line, and why it was so incredibly hard to do.
I'm certainly no football fan. Well, that's actually a HUGE understatement. I know nothing of football... there, that's more accurate. BUT... there's a scene that I identify with in a very real way. In one of the football practices, the guys have to do "death crawls" where they carry another player on their backs as they crawl 30 yards or so down the field... without allowing their knees to touch the ground. Just a { little } bit tough, I imagine. Then, the coach challenges one player. "Will you do a death crawl to the 50 yard line... but giving me your absolute best?"
The player responds that he will... and the coach then pulls out a blindfold. He figures if his player can't see where the 50 yard line is... maybe, just maybe, he'll not focus on the simple goal, but focus on giving it all he has, without holding back.
So this big sweaty dude starts his death crawl. He goes and goes, and then goes some more.... but then it gets harder... he starts wondering out loud if he's there yet. Keep in mind, he's blindfolded, so he has no idea where he's even headed unless the coach tells him to go right or left. He's not seeing the end of the road here. The coach just keeps yelling at him to just give it his all... until he can't go anymore (in that oh so gentle way that coaches do). The coach tells him he can do it, he tells him he can do more, he tells him to keep on going, to NOT QUIT. The big sweaty dude is now almost spent. I mean, the poor guy is beyond exhausted. He's not liking this much. In fact, he's not liking the coach either, I have a feeling.
"Just two more yards..." says the coach. And then, he's made it. Big sweaty dude drops. Nothing left, nothing more he could have given. He wonders if he's made it to the 50 yard line, and why it was so incredibly hard to do.
... and then the coach tells him to look up. He realizes that he's all the way across the field... he went the entire way. He did more than he even knew he was capable of.
So much more than he ever thought possible.
As I watched the strength and energy that it took to cross that field blindfolded, the toil and the sweat and grit... the times, over and over again, where he had to choose to not give up... I felt like I'd been there. I feel like I am there now. I am in the middle of a journey which I do not understand or know the ending. I've been called by the Lord to give my all to him, to leave nothing behind. And I am blindfolded as to where it will all lead. I struggle to do what I must, to push on toward the goal, to persevere, to NOT QUIT. All along, I hear a voice beside me (and in me, and all around me)... encouraging me, testing my faith, asking me to do things that I am not capable of on my own.
Is there such a thing as spiritual sweat? Cuz if there is, I've been covered in it in the last 3 years. There are times I'm so tired, I want to lay down and call it quits. But then that voice speaks to me that I am not alone, that I am strong when I am weak, that his strength is sufficient for me. So, I keep pressing on, still blindfolded, still having to rely on God to show me when to turn to the right or the left.
I'd love to be able to write that I've made it... that I've completed my death crawl and I've collapsed in victory in seeing the long, long way I've come. But, I have a feeling that's a long way off. And that's OK with me, I guess. I'm in the midst of this thing, and I can't see where the Lord is taking me, but the thing is, I trust him. I trust his voice and I trust his plans, even though they are hard. Even though I'm sweaty and exhausted many times. Believe me - I wish I could take the blindfold off and SEE where I am, and what I'm crawling toward...!!!! But, that kind of defeats the point, now doesn't it? I have to rely on him for everything while I can't see ahead, and that's the beauty of it. That circumstance of having no ability of my own causes me to decide; lay down and die, or lay it all out before him... no holding back.
For me, the crawl is toward my children... not knowing if they will ever legally be as they already are in my heart... it's about trusting the Lord to show us what comes next for us in Liberia... it's about hanging on to him when all human hope is lost. For you, it could be a million different scenarios. We all have our death crawl. When this one is done, another practice begins, and the spiritual exercise of a new death crawl will begin. So, what are you gonna do... lay down and die, or trust the coach and head to the end zone?
(Whoa... seriously, Jason's gonna be so impressed that I knew to write "end zone" there. :)
Rev 3:8
As I watched the strength and energy that it took to cross that field blindfolded, the toil and the sweat and grit... the times, over and over again, where he had to choose to not give up... I felt like I'd been there. I feel like I am there now. I am in the middle of a journey which I do not understand or know the ending. I've been called by the Lord to give my all to him, to leave nothing behind. And I am blindfolded as to where it will all lead. I struggle to do what I must, to push on toward the goal, to persevere, to NOT QUIT. All along, I hear a voice beside me (and in me, and all around me)... encouraging me, testing my faith, asking me to do things that I am not capable of on my own.
Is there such a thing as spiritual sweat? Cuz if there is, I've been covered in it in the last 3 years. There are times I'm so tired, I want to lay down and call it quits. But then that voice speaks to me that I am not alone, that I am strong when I am weak, that his strength is sufficient for me. So, I keep pressing on, still blindfolded, still having to rely on God to show me when to turn to the right or the left.
I'd love to be able to write that I've made it... that I've completed my death crawl and I've collapsed in victory in seeing the long, long way I've come. But, I have a feeling that's a long way off. And that's OK with me, I guess. I'm in the midst of this thing, and I can't see where the Lord is taking me, but the thing is, I trust him. I trust his voice and I trust his plans, even though they are hard. Even though I'm sweaty and exhausted many times. Believe me - I wish I could take the blindfold off and SEE where I am, and what I'm crawling toward...!!!! But, that kind of defeats the point, now doesn't it? I have to rely on him for everything while I can't see ahead, and that's the beauty of it. That circumstance of having no ability of my own causes me to decide; lay down and die, or lay it all out before him... no holding back.
For me, the crawl is toward my children... not knowing if they will ever legally be as they already are in my heart... it's about trusting the Lord to show us what comes next for us in Liberia... it's about hanging on to him when all human hope is lost. For you, it could be a million different scenarios. We all have our death crawl. When this one is done, another practice begins, and the spiritual exercise of a new death crawl will begin. So, what are you gonna do... lay down and die, or trust the coach and head to the end zone?
(Whoa... seriously, Jason's gonna be so impressed that I knew to write "end zone" there. :)
Rev 3:8
"I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name."
Isa 30:21
Isa 30:21
"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'"
Heb 12:1
Heb 12:1
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."
Isa 40:28-31
Isa 40:28-31
"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Jos 1:7
Jos 1:7
"Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go."
2 comments:
Corrie,
Thank you so much for your post! WOW! I can totally identify with following the voice of the Lord spurring me on to I don't know what! Keep trusting Him girl...He is leading you especially when you have no clue what the end result will be...keep holding on to Him and making Him your all...it will be worth it all in the end. :)Remember that song? It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus. Hard times will seem so small when we see Christ. One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrow will erase, so bravely run the race, till we see Christ! Keep on keeping on!
Dear Anonymous,
Thanks for comment of encouragement! It's awesome to know that many of us are doing this "death crawl" thing together! So hard... so refining... so worth it to please our Father!
~Corrie
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