This past Sunday the people at Shawnee Mission Park saw the world premiere of the future triathlete phenom, Paul Sheneman. With a high ranking Clydesdale time of 1 hour and 10 minutes, it was hard to not be impressed by this up and coming star. But the rode to this first triathlon had the common United States obstacle of cellulite and unconditioned muscles. This road or journey is what we shall focus on as I seek to articulate the relational and spiritual lessons I learned as I conditioned my body physically to prepare for running the race.
In the beginning (March 2008), I had been in the midst of what my wife and I liked to refer to as our lifestyle change to healthier eating and exercising habits. We both had lost around 20lbs. and were starting to feel despair at staying committed to our new life because by the end of March we had slipped and stumbled our way through 3 or 4 weeks of bad eating and exercising choices. It was at this time that my boss approached me with a proposition to do a hybrid biggest loser competition between him and myself. So we talked and thought about what would give us incentive and discipline to stick to the competition. The great pearl was the thought to finish the competition with an athletic event that neither of us had done before. We decided upon the Shawnee Mission Triathlon that would take place on July 13, 2008.
So as I reflect back on the beginning, God has opened my eyes to some connections between working toward a physical fitness goal and working by faith toward a spiritual goal. First, there was the desicion to make a change (repentance). This occurred for me in January in terms of physical fitness and eating habits. Second, there were actions that followed that decision (obedience). These actions reinforced the decision adding confidence in the life and way that I was walking. Third, God brought fellow pilgrims together in intimate relationships (fellowship). My boss became a close friend and my wife is my best friend. Both encouraged, inspired and disciplined me along the physical training path. These three elements feed into a model for discipleship. Two or three people who have made a common decision (repented) and who have followed that decision with actions (obedience) and have been joined together (fellowship) can fuel each others decision and actions into an amazing new reality (the faith journey).
