Recently I participated in the THOR challenge. It is a 5K course with over 20 obstacles ranging from climbing, traversing, sliding and crawling. Oh, and did I mention that everything is covered in mud.
There were 18 men on our team: 4 staff members and 14 men from the New Beginnings Recovery Program. The temps were in the low 40’s that morning with a 10-20 mph north wind. It was very tempting to just roll over in bed and say, “Naaah.” But boy am I glad I didn’t.
My 66-year-old body can’t do the things it once could, so I stuffed my normally competitive side, relaxed and just had a good time. I haven’t laughed that hard since I can remember. We were just 18 men enjoying nature and each other’s company with hardly a care in the world. I needed that.
And along the way, I witnessed those men of all ages, from various backgrounds, and different races come together and demonstrate Biblical levels of teamwork, encouragement, patience (with me mostly), and support. On the other side of every obstacle there would be familiar, mud-covered faces waiting with outstretched arms, ready to pick me up. For some of them, it seemed like they enjoyed doing this as much as they enjoyed running the course. They were even helping total strangers.
“You can do it! Good job! I got you!” Those words rang out all morning long. And every person got their turn as encourager. The mud became the equalizer so that even the most athletic among us ended up on their backside occasionally.
There were only winners that day. The team prevailed. The strongest or the fastest just became the first on the scene to help the rest of us. The last one through an obstacle would set the pace on to the next obstacle.
Philippians 2 says, “Do nothing [c]from [d]selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” That’s how Paul described the attitude of Christ. Preferring others over ourselves.
We don’t have to run 3 miles in the mud together to practice this. Look around. Someone needs you on their team.
