THE Coach

 

 

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I feel like quitting. I’m exhausted. It’s already triple digits outside, so today’s workout is on the treadmill.  I’m bored with the running, so I go for the “hills.”

As I adjusted the incline button on my treadmill to 8.0, the words of my high school cross country coach, coach Olson, bounced around in my head.

“When approaching a hill or any obstacle on the course, do not stop.”

I envision him in his standard navy colored dolphin short shorts and long sleeved cotton top, pacing back and forth in front of the forty or so of us teens awaiting the goal of this day’s training. It was 1980-something and probably around 60 degrees this afternoon in beautiful Arvada, Colorado.

 “If you must…slow down. But stopping will eliminate your momentum and you will lose all those seconds you worked so hard to get up to that point.” He would go on, his toothy grin hidden behind his bushy mustache, “In fact, if you can actually speed up on a hill, this will mentally exhaust your competitors who are stopping and slowing down.”

Seems counterintuitive. When you are exhausted, facing an uphill struggle, push harder.

I push the buttons on my treadmill up to 9.0

Coach would tell us, “The reward will be at the finish line.”

And as his words bounce around in my head, I am zapped. How do I find the endurance to keep going when all I want to do is jump off this machine and straight into a pint of Ben & Jerry’s while tuning into whatever Netflix has recommended for me next?

I realize I can’t do this without Coach.

Coach Olson would also remind us, “After every up hill, there’s a down hill. That’s where you can rest and recover after you’ve pushed through the pain of the uphill.” 

🎵 “What goes up must come down”🎵

Peaks and Valleys of this work out and in this world. When will it be over? 

And where is the finish line?

And then, like the invisible sound waves traveling from the starting horn to my ears at the beginning of each cross country race, the words from my struggling mind are replaced by the Word bound in my heart.

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 3:12

Don’t stop…slow down

 I press the buttons down to 5.0

Before we ran our races, as a team we would walk the course beforehand, so we knew what we would be facing. We could envision and plan.

But on this treadmill of mandates, stay at home orders, political spin and unprecedented numbers, there is no perceptible finish line. 

How to plan and envision when I can’t even comprehend what I am facing? And yesterday was the same struggle, and tomorrow will be the same, and the next day, and the next day…

Any why? 

Why even do this workout? Not like there will be a 5K or a marathon to compete in anytime soon. The inability to fixate on a goal; the elusively of a finish line; the invisibility of what we all are facing…

What is the goal? What is that prize?  

Knowledge? Clinical trials? A vaccination? An election? Toilet paper?

Whatever it is, we are clearly not there yet. 

As I slow it down and breathe, I think, “Maybe, just maybe, it’s the ability to be face to face with my Coach and tell Him I didn’t give up?”

Maybe it’s just making it through this day without the mistakes of yesterday’s choices (Ben and Jerry’s 🙄) keeping me from pressing onward.

Only Coach knows.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11:1

Not seen: Like this enemy we are all facing; Like the buttons on my treadmill as I throw the towel over them.

Unseen: Like Pushing through the temptation to give in; Fighting against discouragement taking root in the soil of my heart; Not allowing my determination & the struggle to breed anger. 

Like the Word that breathes life back into these dry bones.

I don’t know if the  finish line will be the top of the hill, if it falls mercifully at the bottom of a hill or smack dab in the middle of the fight. 

Only Coach knows.

As I meditate on His Word, in my minds eye, I envision the party at the end of all this.

I envision the tearful, exhausted embrace as I fall into my Coach’s arms as I cross the finish line. 

Truly finding rest as He rewards we with the words, “Well done, Julie, good and faithful one.”

But I am not yet there. 

Pressing the upward buttons on my treadmill and reminding myself of Coach’s Words, an invisible spirit/force encourages me into this day:

 “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Philippians 4:13

And I re-focus on the Prize awaiting me at the finish line.

RECOVERY TIME

“For I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power and sound mind”

2 Timothy 1:7

What are you training for?

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The goal of physical training is to lessen the recovery time—the amount of time it takes for your heart rate to return to normal after exertion.

When training for longer runs, this is key. 

In life, facing difficulties, this is also key.

I have a friend who recently shared the terror she feels when thinking of going to Costco. This is a friend who has overcome tremendous difficulties in life, and is currently facing a deep valley. To hear that this current pandemic has incited fear at the thought of her being in close contact with the public to obtain goods, that breaks my heart.

Yet, I get it. When I was told I had to go back to work, my position was essential, it was a terrifying thought to me. I rested my thoughts on the reminder that: “Nothing could happen to me that was outside of God’s will.”—He’s gotten me through so much before this, and this is just my job.  Even so, walking to the doors of the employer I’ve served for the last 19 years, my heart raced as I opened those doors, greeted co-workers, sanitized my work stations and donned my PPE as I went to get my temperature checked. 

Shortly afterward, my heart rate returned to normal. 

Each week, it has gotten easier and easier. 

Yet, I remind myself, this is a marathon, not a sprint. 

I need to continually train, build my endurance and strength, because the Trouble (with a capital T) is coming. This part of COVID-19, is just the beginning of a marathon that is going to try even the most steadfast of us in the world.

This invisible virus has just begun to take us down. Right now the battle is physical. The illness is taking us out – custodians, artists, health care workers, infants, friends, parents, grandparents, sisters, best—friends are being lost.

There is also an invisible battle being waged against the terror; the fear and the imaginations we have to imagine the worst. This fear of losing what became so comfortable and things we see now that we took for granted.

As I’ve been checking in on friends, family, neighbors and the community, I have been so grateful to hear that most in my “circle” are doing OK. In fact, they want to know if there is anything they can do for me—it warms my heart.

More waves are coming. Just when we’re physically re-gaining strength, our finances will be impacted; jobs are being lost, companies are re-structuring, cities and states are in a panic; the world is crying out for Help. When our bodies and finances are worn out, what will be next?

I wonder, as time goes on, the coffers are emptied, will our spirits have the endurance?  Will we still be willing to cling to joy, to faith, to offering whatever we have to whoever is in need?

—-

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Sixty seconds isn’t long. That’s all it takes in an interval (sprint) to increase the heart rate. Do that exertion for three times with 90 seconds of rest in between.

During my interval training, I pray. I’ve discovered that the Lord’s Prayer takes me about 60 seconds to recite in my mind. As I pray it, I am running as fast as I can, Then, my recovery is the 23rd Psalm. This takes about 90 seconds. Then repeat.

Not only is this my workout to build my endurance, it is my recovery.

As I pray the way Jesus told us to pray- for God’s provision, power and ultimately His will, I then rest and recover in the reminders of Where He leads me, how he protects me, and where I will dwell forever.

My heart is prepared for the waves that this Trouble can bring. I remind myself again, there is nothing that can happen to me that is outside of God’s will for me.

Repeat.

What are you training for?

The Lords Prayer:

Our Father, which art in heaven, 

Hallowed be thy Name. 

Thy Kingdom come. 

Thy will be done in earth, 

As it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread. 

And forgive us our trespasses, 

As we forgive them that trespass against us. 

And lead us not into temptation, 

But deliver us from evil. 

For thine is the kingdom, 

The power, and the glory, 

For ever and ever. 

Amen. 

23rd Psalm:

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

You prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

REPEAT

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Grace Period

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.”  (John 3:16 -Message Bible)

Wouldn’t it be great if things in the world were “right again?”

I’ve heard stories of atrocious behaviors in this crisis: hoarding toilet paper, hatred boiling over from one’s heart if someone sneezes, fighting over a clean grocery cart… 

However, in spite of the terrible ways we’ve been behaving, not just in our life times, but through ALL time, God’s GRACE has been there. Waiting for you. And out of His great mercy, we’ve been given a grace period.

When we come out of this COVID 19 crisis, and we will come out of it, things will never be the same. And some of that is good news – Never again underestimating the value of a hug, a gathering of people to dine, laugh and be together; Esteeming and caring for our elderly, looking out for neighbors, honoring store clerks, first responders, truck drivers, janitors; donating blood, staying home when you are sick, valuing having a job to go to, paying your debts, taking time to examine the condition of your heart, praying like your life depended on it… 

Right now, we’re in the in between. A moment in time when we should be taking stock of what’s really important. A grace period where we must choose what’s important. 

Do you accept the gift Jesus already pre-paid for you? A gift far exceeding any amount of Clorox wipes, respirators or doomsday preppers stash – A gift offered as payment of our ultimate debt and lasting beyond this crisis -lasting through eternity.

This current grace period is the time to choose. 

Choose to hear Him

Choose to accept Him

To believe

That’s Grace

PERIOD

 

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Romans 10:9-10 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”