Ode to Rowing

As some of you may know, I spent the greater part of two years in college rowing in a collegiate rowing program that pushed me physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I attribute a good deal of the character I have today to the years I spent rowing on a team that put emphasis on God, teamwork, and peeling blisters off your hands and icing strained muscles all for the sake of the girl in front of you and the girl behind you.

 

 

What does my experience in rowing have to do with Jesus? Everything.

 



Not only was SPU a Christian college, but my rowing coach was a godly man that prayed with us every morning, read Scripture to us every day, and hung every medal we earned on a cross in the shell house, to give the glory where it was due.

 

This morning as I was logging into my laptop I misspelled my password and my password hint was a question I asked myself everyday when I rowed: Who do you row for?

In rowing we had riggers that would hang across the hull right at your feet, and this was where in a rough day in the middle of the winter season in my novice year that a friend handed me a tape and a sharpie. She told me to write what would inspire me and stick it on my rigger where I would see it every day, every stroke. This was what I wrote: Who do you row for?

In rowing, like in life when you are not feeling it: when your body aches, when you are emotionally spent, and when you are stressed beyond belief, it's not enough to live life for you, to row for you. Because if you were rowing for yourself, you might stop when your begin quads start to burn, when panic rises up in you and you question if you can even get through the second half of the race or the practice.

No, it had to be all for Jesus or not at all.

So here's the question of the day: Who do you row for?

Or for the rest of us, who do you live for?

We may not have riggers at our feet in life but we do have space on our dashboards and on our backpacks and on our desks at work and on our laptops. I want the question asked of me half way through my day when I am growing tired and wanting to be home or away from people: I live for Jesus. I am not living for myself today, I'm living for Jesus, and I want to be his hands and feet and I want Him to work in me today.

So go ahead, ask me when you see me! But for you, figure out what it will take for you to be reminded and encouraged: you live for Jesus. He is the way, the truth, the life. There is hope and joy and peace in Him forever and forever.

Amen.