Enjoy the Ride

As a Christian, I am surprised at how many people who aren’t Christians “get it.” I was reading a running magazine earlier this morning. I began running less than a year ago. It’s amazing how, when you love something, it doesn’t take much time before you’re “all-in.” I was reading an article on confidence in running. If you’ve ever ran before you know that running can be, if it isn’t, one of the most mentally challenging sports/activities. I struggle with this every time my feet hit the pavement. Confidence is one thing I don’t have. I’m a tuba player, not a runner. As a pastor, I have a lot of stress that builds up throughout the week. I work with people. And people are, well, stressful. Running is how I deal with it. It’s amazing to me that something so stressful can be stress-relieving. I read about an all-American runner who has battled confidence issues for years. She runs for Nike’s Oregon Project. Salazar, the team’s coach, hired a sports psychologist, a former British rugby player. His advice, to my surprise, was rather prolific. He told her to “not focus on the destination/distance.” Rather, he said, “to enjoy the ride as much as the destination.” For that to be an extremely biblical idea, I don’t hear too many Christians extending the same advice. Far too long evangelicals have viewed salvation in terms of “going to heaven” when they die or “being saved from hell.” We’ve missed the point. When taught to pray, by Jesus himself, we were told to pray that, basically, “God’s kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven.” The point of Christian faith isn’t, to the surprise of the many, to have “fire insurance.” We should, as the sports psychologist advised, “enjoy the ride as much as the destination.” Will this be stressful? Absolutely. Will it be enjoyable? You’d better believe it. It is only when we see faith as the here-and-now that it makes sense in the there-and-then. The race is set before us and we await the prize.