Another essential part of training for a triathlon, that I had helpfully ignored was the need to give the body the right fuel and at the right times.
If I am honest this came to a head after I had been eating a huge dinner at 8:30pm followed by a glass of wine to wash it down and a slice of chocolate fudge cake. (The one with a moist chocolate centre)
I sat there, feeling ill with horrendous heart burn having planned to go running on a 6 mile hilly course the next morning at 6am. Yeah, it didn’t happen, instead I popped a couple of Rennies.
Getting the right fuel in when training for stuff like this is so important, physical instructors at the gym are always talking about winning the war in the kitchen before you get onto the treadmill.
Let me be really honest here, whenever I talk to a Christian bloke who is struggling or has hit a wall in his life or some form of temptation, I will always get the same response to this question: ‘Tell me about your prayer life and when and how you read and study the bible?’ The response is this, ‘er…yeah struggling with prayer actually,’ or ‘yeah I haven’t picked up my bible in a long time.’ The apostle Paul talks about being ready to ‘devote ourselves to prayer!’ Now that’s serious stuff! Colossians 4:2
Your personal life and intimacy with God is the fuel and it is essential to being able to run this race, cover some serious ground and see stuff happen.
Think of it this way. If I had a seed and wanted to plant that seed to help it grow I would do a few things. I would prepare the ground, ensure that it was in a spot to get a load of sun, plant the seed and ten keep it watered.
Think about how you fuel the seed of faith that has been planted in your life or that you are sowing into the lives of others. (It is important to say that God makes these grow, that’s what He does) but our part is to ensure it is being given the right stuff!
When we struggle with temptation, or to pray or read the bibles the challenge is to have a look at the fuel we are putting in. Many times when I have done this in my own life and with others, what we have found is instead of feeding the seed with prayer, the bible and honest living with other Christians, the seeds getting a cocktail of compromise, secret sin and zero prayer and bible time. Yet we are still surprised that our faith is struggling!!!
Get the right fuel in, get yourself alongside some Christian fellas with undefended hearts, pray and read God’s word and your faith will be fuelled beyond belief!
Image Credit: Martin Kníže
