I may be many things but an athlete is not one of them.  You can tell true athletes in several ways.  They are the people who make what we try to do look very easy.  It is the guy who can throw a football sixty yards with a flick of the wrist.  It is the girl who makes unreal shots on the basketball court.  It is the one who can hit a baseball over 400 feet with no effort at all.  It is the person who runs with grace and ease around the track.  Those things are not me.  I did try to play sports with some occasional success.  Just know that anytime I did well that it was after lots of practice.  Being a natural athlete is a foreign concept to me.  This is something discovered over the years.

For one thing, my body is not conducive to athletic endeavors.  My legs are fairly short for someone this tall.  Speed is definitely not my thing.  It does not help that my arms are also short for someone my size.  Throwing a ball was fairly easy for me but it was tough to get a lot on those throws.  We can also note any lack of inherited ability.  It always helps to have some genetics involved when it comes to athletic achievement.  I did indeed try throughout the years.  There were rare occasions when things did go well.  I am grateful for those moments.  Not many people ever saw those flashes of brilliance.  Those crowds could usually be counted on less than two hands.  But they did happen long ago so I am happy for that.  Exercise is still a constant for me but now it is more about delaying gravity more than training for a competition.  Everything is slower and more painful but I still try.

You and I may not be able to be who Jesus was but we can do the things that Jesus did.  I know that one may take a few minutes to figure out.  My point is that none of us ever escape that sinful tendency of being human.  Jesus faced temptations but always remained true to the uniqueness of being God's son.  We deal with those same things while growing in our faith.  We may fail but there is another option.  You and I can take up the disciplines of Jesus for our life.  We can spend time in scripture to learn how to move beyond those awful feelings into faith.  You and I can make time for reflection or prayer to hear God talk to us about our life.  Learning how to avoid temptation is one of those things we can do as we grow.  Cultivating healthy relationships will go a long way in giving us the will to be better as a believer.  My thesis is we can develop the same habits of Jesus in living our spiritual life.  We may never be exactly who He was but we can do what He did. 

Being a healthy believer is not just wishing for an easier life.  It includes action that helps us grow.  Sometimes the results may not be pretty.  We may even stumble from time to time.  But we can keep our eyes fixed on the eternal prize of His calling.  It is the path of joy in becoming all God intends for you to be. 

Bro. Trey