Opinion: The great obstacle course of our lives
I love watching American Ninja Warrior. It is a test of skill, agility, determination and strength. The participants are able to build obstacles that resemble the actual ones in which they would be competing. The course architect would always manage to construct something that is almost impossible to be reproduced by any participant.
The goal of the game is to carefully study the dynamics of the course. If any obstacle is taken for granted, there is a great chance that the participant will fail his or her attempt. The course usually begins with jumping from one small surface to another and landing on a larger platform. Next, the course would have some type of shifting surface to cross. As we travel through life, we often encounter some of the same types of challenges. We often jump from people to people and decisions to decisions trying to draw a single conclusion on which we can stand. Then, just when we think we have figured things out, it all falls through right beneath us as we slip and fall.
The American Ninja Warrior course would then have something that you hold onto as you fly through the air. The object would then be to make a perfect landing or let go just in time to cling to something else. Sometimes we feel like we are on top of the world, soaring through life, until we are forced to let go of the very thing that we thought would never fail us. However, as long as we still have breath in our bodies, we can mount up again.
The American Ninja Warrior course then presents a challenge where the participant runs, jumps onto a trampoline and is propelled to an area where he or she would have to rely on the legs and upper body strength. One slip could send the participant into a great fall. Nobody wants to fall at this point because the race is near the finish line.
The next challenge is the wall in which the Ninja tries to grab the top in one leap. Oftentimes in life, we feel that we should be able to reach higher heights on our first attempt. If failure takes place, try again, especially if it is something positive. The final attempt is the rope wall, which oftentimes a Ninja will get tangled up in. I don't care how safely we travel through life; somehow we will get tangled up in something. Don't panic! Take enough time to untangle yourself so you can continue to the finish line.
Life is one long obstacle course; those who do well have taken the time to study it. We find out what works and what doesn't work. We find out which ones we can opt out of, and we carefully approach those we must engage in. We don't really know how much time we have because it differs from one participant to the next. That's why we must not take any second for granted. We must live every day like it is our last day on Earth. We must treat others the way we want to be treated and as much as possible try to live peaceably with all men.
"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body" (II Corinthians 4:7-10).
We slip, fail, are pushed down, troubled and persecuted, but the goal should be to make it to the finish line as a representative of Jesus before the buzzer goes off.
Sam Livingston is pastor of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Manning.