Running Ragnar

I ran the Ragnar this weekend and it was....rough. Physically it was hard. Mentally I hit breaking points continually. But along my last leg I got thinking, as I so frequently do, and I remembered how often life is compared to a race. Right? You know what I mean. And then I thought that life is a whole lot more like a relay race like Ragnar. You're there doing something that is SO hard. Physically, emotionally, and mentally you just drop. It's really hard. And that's life. It's hard. It's hard physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. You have to put forth a lot of effort and sometimes while you're "running" you think "I can't do it" and you want to give up!!
On Ragnar they have legs that are supported by your van. So your fellow runners and team members are there to cheer you on and supply you with what you need to keep going. And there are some legs that have no van support. You're essentially on your own. There are other runners of course, but you're not there with each other. You're just there around each other. So you feel alone.
All of that said, I was thinking about it on my last leg. And it occurred to me that our teams in our vans are much like family and friends in life (they happen to be close family and friends frequently while you run the Ragnar and if they're not they become so). These people are your support. They bring you the things you need most when you're at your breaking point. They are part of the reason you make it through to the end.
However, there are times in our lives where we have no "van support". There is no one there. You are essentially alone. And you expect no one to be there for you at your breaking point. But when you feel like you can't go on for even another step someone is there to give you water. Of course on the Ragnar there are water stations. I want to talk about a different kind of water. Something more like Christ. The Living Water. When you've begun to feel completely alone Christ is there to end your thirst. He is there, He encourages you forward, and He motivates you.
And eventually, because of His support, you find yourself at the exchange where another runner is there to bare the burden. And they embark on their run while you have finally found a moment to rest and find peace. Similar to life there are wonderful times of rest, and peace. But there are also times filled with trial.
When I started Ragnar I only knew two people in my half of the team. I was kind of nervous to meet them and get to know them. I mean, we were all there for the same thing but we weren't all exactly friends. We'd just met! But it was truly the people in the car who made the trip. It was so much fun. I got to know my team and I'd like to think that we're all friends now. Friends forced into friendship by difficult and close circumstances, but friends. And I think we'll stay that way if we want to. I definitely want to.
But importantly I want to say that life is full of good and bad things, all the time. And the important thing is not to dwell on just the bad or just the good, but instead to find the happiness through the trial and the struggle. Easier said then done, I know. But I found that we were all sore and tired but we learned to laugh and make jokes anyway. And that's life too! Everyone is sore in life. But we have to be able to joke, and to laugh, and love anyway. It's the struggles mixed all up in the joy that makes life as wonderful as it is.
So I guess those are my lessons learned from Ragnar but just remember that life is a journey where you're never really alone and it's meant to be so much more fun then we let it be sometimes.