Boulder or stone?

Writing assignment from Christian Writers Workshop.

Assignment: What is a problem that changed you?

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I strolled through the crowd and slowly worked my way up to the fence that separated the onlookers from the contestants. The sun was blinding, but there was a slight breeze coming off of Lake Washington which made for the perfect late August morning.

I squinted as I peered into the group of runners that were rounding the corner toward the finish line, "Is that her?"

That day, I was a spectator at the Danskin sprint triathlon cheering on my friend Darby who had decided she wanted to try her hand at the 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike and 5k run.

As I continued to look into crowd of participants, some running full force, some walking, some hobbling along toward the finish line, I noticed two distinct things.

First, every single finisher had a huge smile on their face. They were at the end of of a huge challenge, and the emotion of all that was showing on every single face. I also noticed how diverse the participants were. There were finishers in their 70's and some in their teens. Every shape and size and fitness level was represented. I had never felt quite so inspired seeing all of these women commit to this challenge and then complete it. I felt shivers come over me despite the 80 degree temperature.

I started to have a crazy thought. Could I do something like this?

After we were celebrating her finish, Darby turned to me and said, "what do you think, wanna do this with me next year?"

My head was spinning from all the inspiration around me. I DID WANT TO DO THIS WITH HER NEXT YEAR!

But there was one problem.

I couldn't ride a bike.

To complete a race where you have to swim, bike and run, knowing how to do all three of those things is pretty important. I had been swimming since I was a kid and running, well that's just walking faster so I'm sure I could figure that out. But I was well past the age when people normally learn to ride a bike so I was going to come up with a plan.

I had attempted to ride a bike when I was a kid. My dad got me a cute pink bike with a basket and a bell and tried to teach me to ride down the street we lived on. I could actually ride it pretty well, I just couldn't start or stop on my own. I didn't have any kids in my neighborhood to ride with, and I didn't need to ride to school so there wasn't a pressing need for me to spend a lot of time figuring out the starting and stopping thing. Eventually I gave up and my dad didn't push me, and here I was 30 years later wanting to do a triathlon without knowing how to ride a bike.

I was resolved though. Millions of people know how to ride a bike right? I could certainly figure it out. So I went to a friends house who had a bike and we got to work. Three hours and 47 bruises later I turned to google. I typed in "how to learn to ride a bike as an adult."

I skimmed down the page and gasped when I read the #hack to learning how to ride a bike as an adult.

Go down a hill.

Say what now?

Yep, that's the trick. In order to learn how to get your balance you first have to get momentum. The best way to do that is to find a slight incline and let gravity do it's work. Once you get rolling, you can start to pedal and then the rest is, as they say, history.

Whadda know, it worked like a charm. After my google search and locating a hill to practice on, I was successfully riding a bike the next day. And one year later I completed my first of four triathlons.

I could tell you a bunch of fluffy platitudes about how you can do hard things! or you can do anything you put your mind to! but any of those would fail to really communicate how overcoming this problem changed me.

I had wrestled with the fact that I didn't know how to ride a bike for a long time. I honestly felt like I had failed at childhood and then when I decided to do a triathlon, this one thing felt like an impossible thing to learn. But once I decided to overcome it, I did. Sure it took a bit of work (and a bit of google) but this thing that I had imagined to be a huge boulder obstructing my path was actually a relatively small stone that I could basically kick out of the way.

My perspective had changed. And now when I encounter potential boulders I take a second look. How often do we encounter small stones and treat them like giant boulders?

• "I can't do a triathlon because I can't ride a bike"

• "I can't write a book because who would read it?"

• "I can't share about the gospel because I don't know the Bible well enough."

Often those small stones that we pretend are large boulders are simply excuses, stories we tell ourself to justify our own laziness or selfish desires. But God has so much more for us! If we trust in him with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding and in all ways acknowledge him, he will make our paths straight. So take a second look at those boulders in front of you. Take a good hard look at them. They might shrink down to small stones right before your eyes.

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