My Worship Revolution

A few weeks ago I went on a group ride in Santa Cruz.  A guy was asking what I was training for and we started talking Triathlon.  He asked what my strength is.  I told him at this point I'm just mediocre at all three.  I wasn't trying to lie, but I realized later that I did.  I actually kinda suck at all three.

I tend to be slightly perfectionist…in an odd way.  I think I should be really good at whatever I do.  Even if I rarely do it, or have just started.  Tritahlon is no exception.  I'm not exactly good at everything I do, but there is very little I have committed myself to that I wasn't at least decent at to begin with.

This past weekend I participated in my second Olympic Triathlon.  I primarily did it as part of training for the long course at Wildflower. 
It was a tough race.

My race report will come later, but the point is this…at a few points along the run, there was a part of me that seriously wanted to throw in the towel.  It wasn't cause I was hurting (although I was).  It wasn't even cause I couldn't finish, cause I knew I could.  It was cause I was embarrassed by how long it was going to take me this time.  If it were anyone else I'd be the first one to tell em to keep going and be proud of doing it.  But that doesn't seem to be enough for me.

It got me thinking.  Everything I do is ultimately to the glory of Christ.  This scripture came to mind as I was running:

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.
-1 Corinthians 2:1-5

So yeah, I know I'm not exactly out there preaching Christ.  But there was still some truth to that passage as it rang in my head.  Christ is made strong in our weakness.  It's the things we don't do well that force us to lean on Jesus and trust Him to get us through.

When I love something, I wanna share it with others.  I've encouraged multiple people to give a triathlon a shot.  It's fun.  It promotes health.  But what encouragement could I be to people if I was good at it from the beginning?  Instead, I can say, "Hey, I did it.  And got better over time.  You can do it, too." 
It's the same way as each of us work out our salvation in fear and trembling.  I'll keep on pressing on, as Paul encouraged, and in the difficult times is when God will be most glorified.

And in the meantime, I guess I'll work on being OK with not being as good as I want.  Such is life.  I'll commit to pushing to get better.  And I'll let God use teach me in the process, and use my weaknesses to point to Him.

Thank you Jesus for using a Triathlon to teach me a small lesson in humility.