After graduating Air Force Basic Training, I began my tryout to become a survival instructor. The Indoctrination course after Basic Training is just a screening course; if you pass it, then you get to move on to take another one. While at “Indoc,” it’s your job to demonstrate that you can handle mental and physical challenges and that you’re determined to make it.
Life at Indoc was physically demanding. Our instructors needed to build our skinny bodies into something that could physically withstand punishment and grueling conditions. Physical Training was a large part of every work day. Pushups became second nature to us all. Calisthenics, weights, running, ruck marches…all intended to build us into something stronger. At that time most members of the Air Force were required to take a PT test once a year. Physical fitness was so important to our training that we did a PT test once a week.
We had some strange workouts. Sometimes we’d be in the woods cutting down trees and setting up shelters. Once every few weeks we’d have a Combat Controller (one type of Air Force special forces) come by and lead us on a run that took us through the woods and the mud, over fences, through base housing, and anywhere else he felt like going.
In order to reduce the risk of injuries and to help prepare ourselves for physical activity, we spent between 20 and 30 minutes at the start of each day stretching. Stretching warms up your muscles and helps enable them to cope with strains, exertion, and overextensions.
There were times when we had a good idea of the upcoming workout. Sometimes we knew we had a run coming up, so we’d perform stretches with a focus on that activity. Other times we knew we’d be in for a long session of calisthenics, so we stretched nearly every muscle we had. When you know the nature of the goal, in this case a particular type of workout, it’s easier to take steps to prepare for meeting that challenge.
The tricky part is when you don’t know what the goal is. On occasion, our instructors didn’t tell us what we were in for. They made sure we performed certain types of stretches, but didn’t give us any clues other than that. We had to trust that the instructors’ preparatory guidance would help set us up for whatever we had to face next.
The workouts were often grueling, but the part that took awhile to see was that successfully making it through a difficult workout was part of the solution to overcoming subsequent challenges we didn’t even know about at the time. At first all we knew was that we were exhausted at the end of a workout session. The following day we’d show up again, then leave exhausted after another workout. Each day we’d show up and go through another session and leave exhausted, but over time we discovered we could withstand more stress, we became stronger and more capable; we were able to tolerate conditions we previously didn’t think we could withstand.
It’s exactly the same thing when living a life for Christ. When we think of “living a life for Christ,” we think of going out and doing amazing or improbable things, but the truth is that some days we’re just trying to survive. We know people who have either made it through intolerable conditions or are currently enduring miserable circumstances. For them, each day is a fight just to make it through. At the end of each day all they know is that they are completely exhausted and worn out, and they don’t know how they’ll ever make it through another day, let alone months (or possibly years) of the same conditions.
The things I learned at Indoc have parallels in life. God is the only one that knows ahead of time what the goal is and how He intends to use individuals to achieve it. If those people knew at the start what they’d have to face, many of them would never believe they could do it. At Indoc we stretched to prevent injuries; going on a run through the woods without stretching is dangerous. It’s easy to twist an ankle. If you stretch your ankle ahead of time, you might still twist it and it will still hurt, but you’ll be able to continue the run without actually sustaining an injury. God’s version of stretching a person sometimes means putting them in experiences that prepare them for follow-on experiences. They hurt, but it allows those people to make it through a subsequent challenge without breaking. Since God is the only one who knows what your upcoming “workout” entails, He’s the one that best knows how to “stretch” you ahead of time.
“But what about when the stretching never seems to end?” Sounds like you’ve moved past the stretching and into the actual workout. It’s important to remember that a muscle doesn’t become stronger by doing a workout a single time. It takes repetition. When you do the same workout repetitively, your muscles adapt. They grow; they meet the challenge. Over weeks, over months, or even years, they prove they can handle it, and so you have to “add more weight” to the workout in order to keep growing. The hard workouts are exhausting and draining, and they make you ask “why?” Looking back at what you were before it all started, aren’t you now stronger and more capable? Are you now in a better position to face the next challenge?
Have you ever been stretched spiritually, physically, mentally, and/or emotionally? Maybe it was to increase your “range of motion,” capacity, or willingness. The stretching and workouts cumulatively built you into someone that can handle something more…something more difficult.
The next challenge is on the way. Whatever it is, it’s going to look intimidating. Remember that God’s been working you up to it, though, and that it’s not too much for you. Your past experiences have prepared you to take it on and succeed; don’t be afraid to accept the challenge.