The other weekend I ran a biathlon. This should not be confused with a triathlon that is running, swimming and biking. It was a run-bike-run affair. I’ll be quite honest; I wasn’t looking forward to it. I signed up to do it because my friend Hector wanted to do it. I decided I should probably train a little for it, so I started running everyday. In the past I had liked running, but here, at 7000 ft., I don’t like running. I hate it. It’s a chore. It hurts. I can’t breath. But I did it everyday in preparation for the big event.
The big day came and I was excited but nervous as well. I simply wanted to finish without walking or keeling over on the side of the road. The first part of running, 4km (2.5ish miles) I wasn’t too worried about. The biking, 30km (18ish miles), I figured I could do as well, because I love to bike and you can rest on the downhills. The final part scared me. How was I going to be able to run another 4 km after running and biking before? Well, I did it. I was dead tired and thought, at moments, I would not be able to make it to the finish line, but I did, in only 2:11:50. (My goal had been under 2:30)
I think ministry is often like a biathlon. We prepare with students, doing the running every day. Sharing life with them. Talking about Jesus and his love for them. Loving on them. Accepting them. Not judging them for the mistakes they make. This is all the training we put in leading up to that big day, that big event of them finally getting it and deciding to follow Jesus. A spiritual life is not easy, breezy all the time. There are ups and downs, hills to run up and bike down. It feels like you aren’t going to make it sometimes and it gets really had at other times. But the satisfaction at the end is worth the effort.
My friend Hector and I did this race together. And I realized yesterday that we have been training together for a spiritual life for him all along. The hanging out and talking about life and girls (for him of course), the playing squash and living a life of example for him to see, all of this has been training for him. Now he hasn’t decided to get baptized yet, but I know he has started the race of life with Jesus. He’s in that first part of running, but he’s there. For everyone the race will be run/biked differently. I watched a lot of people pass me by during our biathlon, but we were all on the same path with the same goal in mind. That’s where we want these students to be in the spiritual lives, their journeys with Jesus, as well.
On the same day as the biathlon, we were also able to celebrate the journey and LIFE of Carlos. A few weeks ago, Carlos and I were talking and he said that he was really impacted by a talk I gave last semester. He said something in it, something I don’t remember saying and wasn’t on the topic of the talk, made him realize he had to pursue a relationship with God. Well, he was baptized in a freezing cold river outside of Puebla and I had the extreme honor and privilege of doing his baptism. I guess I have two main thoughts on this:
- God works through of us when we least expect it. (Using words I didn’t even know I had spoken. Words that weren’t what I was trying to teach.)
- I did get to do that triathlon since the baptism was the same day, after the biathlon. Maybe I didn’t swim 3 miles, but it sure was worth the effort of getting wet.
We love you guys. Thanks for believing in the work God is doing here and in us. Thanks for ce
lebrating with us and please continue to pray for the college students in Puebla, Mexico.
Heath (for the Neal’s)