into the unknown

So Dave has me (half) convinced that I can actually do a triathlon with him this year. The sprint version. For the record that equates to a half-mile swim, 16-mile bike ride, and 5K run.

The bike/run part doesn't bother me so much as I could probably make it to the end even if it meant a lot of walking. But a half-mile swim thrown in there too? That's 32 consecutive laps in a 50 m pool! "Drowned rat" best sums up the way I felt the last time I thought I could be a swimmer and attempted to try out for the swim team in high school.

I keep trying to tell Dave the super sprint seems a much wiser thing to try (300-yard swim, 8-mile bike, 1.5 mile swim). He said that race is for the crazy fast triathletes and is not meant for first-timers. I keep thinking it's sounds nice and safe and like a race that I might actually be able to complete.

But then I wonder if God's whispering in all of this: "It's time to move out of the safe zone and into the unknown. Yes, you could probably complete the super sprint without too much difficulty and with a little bit of training. But maybe it's time to go for the thing you can't do in your own strength. I know those distances scare you. That you fear exhaustion, pain and giving up before it's over. But that's where I step in. Focus on me. Fix your gaze on what I can do. Trust me to carry you through to move beyond the pain and to the finish line. Because I did. And beyond the pain, and past the finish line is pure resurrection joy. Because this is not about trusting me to get you across this finish line. It's about trusting me to get you across the heavenly one."

So with great trepidation, I'm believing that God is working through Dave to get me to do this thing. And I'm praying I would learn something along the way about trusting in His grace and mercy. To learn more about what He is able to do and less about what I am capable of.

[Jesus said] “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7:37,38 NIV)