Sports Outreach Africa

Experienced athletes cast their mind back over the previous year. They study their performances in competition and scrutinize their training program and see if there are any changes that can be made that will produce better results in the New Year.

Once most of the hard training has been done, but before the most important races of the year come, it is important to test your fitness and strength to see how effective the hours of training have been.";"We learn this method from our school days. After a few weeks of learning there was always a test to see how much we had actually learnt!

I don’t know about you, but I did not like tests at school. They made me nervous. What if I had not learnt enough? What if I did not know the right answers?

So too it is with the first race of the year for me. It’s a test. A test of how hard I have worked over the off-season, and how effective that work has been. It’s a test of my fitness and a good indicator of what I can expect for the upcoming year.

Just like tests at school were often difficult or uncomfortable as you were forced to rack your brain trying to remember what year so-and-so did such-and-such, or calculated some complicated mathematics problem in your head, so too is the first race of the year a tough experience.

Although your training might have seemed hard at times, there is nothing to compare with the intense effort needed in a race.

And so it was for my first race of the new season that I competed in just yesterday. I was very excited and looking forward to it, but a bit nervous. I was unsure what the outcome would be. But I knew that if I had done the right training and used the past months wisely I would achieve a good result. And I knew that if I passed this first test I would be so much better prepared and so much more confident when the next test, or race, came along. Another important part of the foundation would have been laid down toward having a successful season.

In school we hope that if we continue to pass all our tests we will eventually pass the final examinations and graduate. As an athlete we hope that if we continue to progress through the smaller races with good results, when the championship races come we will be ready and achieve similar good results.

In school it seemed we were having tests every other day. In sports the tests come a little less frequently. In life, however, we can face various tests almost daily!

The Bible refers to these tests in James 1 vs:2 where James writes "…when you face trials of many kinds" Notice he does not say if, but "when"! Trials or tough times in life are apparently inevitable. We all face them.

But these trials have a purpose, and the purpose is similar to the purpose behind an early season race for an athlete. James goes on to say in vs: 3 and 4 "…the testing of your faith develops endurance. And endurance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything"

So tests are not a thing of the past after leaving school, or reserved for athletes, God has a purpose behind the tests we face in life. They are there to make us stronger, more mature, and more complete in Gods eyes should we react to them in the way God hopes we do. And what way is that? James spells it out in the first part of James 1 vs: 2 " Consider it pure joy…when you face trials of many kinds."

If we understand that these trails have a purpose, that God uses them to test our faith in Him and to help us grow to be more "mature and complete"; it helps us to approach them with a better, more positive attitude.

Understanding why we face trials helps us with how we deal with them.

We should give in to the testing, allowing it to do it’s job in our lives. The reward for doing this is great. In vs:12 James writes "Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial, for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him"

Other verses of encouragement:

"The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him." Nahum 1:7

"The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble" Psalm 9:9

"A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all" Psalm 34:19

Formerly of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Jonathan now trains and competes in Kona, Hawaii. He hosts a Column and Forum on the SOA website.