Human Obstacle Course
None of you will be surprised when I confess that gym was my favorite subject in school… gym and recess. I waited for gym class. I looked forward to it. Can’t you just smell the memories now?
One my favorite gym class challenges was the obstacle course. Remember the worn out tires strung together to make the rows of rubber circles to hop in and out of with each foot? How about the wall that took teamwork and a combined effort to get over? That wall looked so tall as kids, but I’m sure if we saw it today, we could probably roll over it easily.
Lots of groups use obstacle courses - not only for the exercise and conditioning, but for the lessons in relying on one another and camaraderie. The army uses them, as well as lots of camps and exercise programs. They challenge participants on lots of different levels. An unconventional obstacle course is Raleigh’s Krispy Kreme Challenge. Runners have to eat a dozen glazed donuts, then run the 2.5 mile race. I know - donuts are an obstacle for lots of us, but not because of a long run after eating them!
Regardless of the reason for running the course, the main premise of any obstacle course is always the same - you must go through, over, on, under… interact in some major way with the obstacles - ALL of the obstacles. You’ve got to step in every tire. You’ve got to climb the rope all the way to the top. You’ve got to get over the wall, or under the wires. You don’t get to pick and choose which you want to complete. Yes, they are hard, but you don’t get to go around or avoid any of the obstacles if you want to finish the course. You HAVE to overcome or complete EACH obstacle.
So let me ask you this… how often do you see or maybe even without seeing or realizing, you treat people like obstacles? You feel like they are in your way, slowing you down, or diverting your attention. Sometimes we don’t recognize it at all, but we are so intent on our tasks - achieving something or getting somewhere (literal or figurative) - even doing good or great things - that we don’t take time to interact with the people in our paths. I get it. People can be messy. People are hard sometimes. As people, it can be hard to deal with people. As Christians, it can be hard, but ESSENTIAL to deal with people.
In his book “Lead”, Paul David Tripp says “We can’t allow ourselves to be so intent on achieving great things for God that we develop negative attitudes toward the messy people of God who are intended to be the objects of ministry to which we have been called”. He says “Achievement becomes dangerous when it tempts us to see people as obstacles”.
It is so easy for us to move quickly past people in our busy lives. How many times have you been so focused on one person that you miss the person standing right next to them? Maybe you’re too busy getting a job done to stop for anyone. Or, maybe you are so busy looking at your phone when you are walking somewhere that you move around people to get where you are going, just so you don’t have to look up.
So let’s go back to gym class when it comes to people. Let’s be INTENTIONAL to interact in some major way with the people in our lives - ALL of the people! Let’s not go around or avoid any of them on the way to accomplishing our goals, whatever they are. PEOPLE matter to God, and they should matter to us. Make sure you’re not missing them along your way through the course of life!