Heart Thoughts-Death Crawl

I heard a talk today in which a woman referenced a scene from the movie Facing the Giants. In this particular scene, called the Death Crawl, one football player is asked to crawl across the field on his hands and feet, carrying another player on his back. Blindfolded. The coach says he has to go 30 yards, and asks the player to give his best. He agrees, gets blindfolded, and lowers to the ground to start. He starts at a slow but steady pace, with the coach quietly encouraging him. After a while, though, he begins to get tired. The coach starts encouraging him more, until finally he is down on the ground, crawling with him, yelling at him to keep going. The whole team gets up and walks behind him, amazed at what they are seeing. You see, the player went well past the 30 yard line, and was still going.

"It hurts!" he cries, and the coach just keeps yelling louder, as much to drown out the voices of doubt in his head as to encourage him to keep going. "Ten more steps! Five more! Three more! Two! One!" The boy collapses on the ground. Then the coach takes the blindfold off, and says, "Look up." He was in the end zone. He had made it the entire way across the field.

What a powerful picture that was to me at this point in my life. Honestly, I am thankful for the blindfold. If I had known what God would ask me to do, I would definitely have said there is no way I could do it. I actually feel like I am just at the beginning of this crawl. I have no idea what the next few weeks, months, or years will hold. And honestly, I don't think my heart could bear it if I did know. And to be even more honest, I really don't know if I can actually do it. But that's where ya'll come in. You all are the coach, and the team, supporting us in this journey. Will you continue?

It's only been about 3 months, and we are already weary at times. Often, I wonder just how long I can last. And that's where we have seen you, and continue to need you, walking beside us, behind us, even crawling with us and screaming the truth to us. Because with all that has been done to help bear our burdens, there is still much of the burden that we simply must bear ourselves. See, often people will say that God won't give you more than you can handle. But that just isn't true. We weren't chosen to walk this path because we are just so strong and full of faith. What glory would God get if it was OUR incredible strength that got us through? The truth is, we are weak. And scared. Oh, I'm scared. No, it is HAS to be Him, His strength.

Lord, thank You for the blindfold. Thank You for the team around us, to encourage and support us. Thank You for Your strength, that with You, all things are possible, even things that we don't think ever could be possible.