I love a good obstacle course.

Not too many years ago, I got to live out my dream by doing a few mud runs with obstacles—rope walls, mud pits, tunnels, and water features—and I’ve got the medals to prove it.

My fascination with obstacle courses started with watching Battle of the Network Stars when I was a kid. I loved the outfits, I loved the competition, but I loved the obstacle course the most. I made my own in the yard. Boxes functioned as hurdles, trees and the monkey bars on my swingset were perfect for climbing, and the wide-open yard was made for running.

Next, I was influenced by an aunt who introduced me to An Officer and a Gentleman. Seeger was the female recruit who almost flunked out of training because she could not conquer the obstacle course. Come on, Seeger, I thought. Don’t make girls look weak. 

How about shows like Wipeout, The Floor is Lava, and American Ninja Warrior? If those are on TV, I’ll be watching. Of all the reality TV shows, those featuring obstacle courses and physical challenges are the best. There is no drama, no fighting over each other’s husbands or boyfriends, no fights where the tables go flying.

In an obstacle course, you either make it through, or you don’t. Whether you master the Big Balls or run up the Warped Wall, there is no arguing with either one.

I wish life were more like an obstacle course, with clean, chlorinated pools below for a safe landing when you miss your step or your grip.

But life is more like a mud run: messy, unpredictable, and downright dirty, more like an episode of Real Housewives than I’d care to admit.

Some of these mud runs happen where cows and horses have been pastured. There’s more in that mud than just water. 

You’re gonna get tired.

It won’t be pretty, and you won’t smell good when it’s all over.

But what helps the most with finishing a mud run are the others along for the journey. 

Most of us who have done a mud run don’t do it alone. We have a team, and we do it together, sometimes in sparkly tutus and matching T-shirts.

It doesn’t have to be a competition, either. Sure, there are those who can chew up a mud run course like Army Rangers, but most of us just want to make it through to the party at the end. 

With a team, you can get a helping hand or a friendly shove to get you over the wall. You can run (or walk–we’re weekend warrior amateurs here) with your friends and talk along the way. 

We might have a hard time running up those high forever hills, so we do the best we can, huffing and puffing our way to the top, but somehow it is better with others at our side.

Facing obstacles is easier when we’ve got our teammates to help us through.

But we don’t like obstacles in our lives. Obstacles are complications meant to test us, to try us, and it feels like at times, to break us. We would much rather continue on our way; let’s just “please and thank you and have a nice day” around the obstacle.

You can do that in a mud run.

But you can’t always do that in real life. And it seems that the obstacles that we intentionally go around always find a way of coming back to greet us.

You don’t have a choice but to square up, look it in the eye, and prepare to go through it. 

But you do have a choice about who’s on your team.

Who is on your team when you’re fighting the obstacles that only you know about? Who can hear you quietly whisper, “Help me,” when you’re barely hanging on to the rope? Who can give you exactly the kind of encouragement and motivation you need to cross that bridge, crawl under the wire, and swing across the pit?

“With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.”

Psalm 18:29

---

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:9

The journey will continue. You may be caked with mud, but you’ll still be moving. You might have a few bumps and bruises, but you’ll still be making progress.

For you’ve got the best Team Captain you could ever have.

Keep going. 

The finish line is in sight.

He is with you, and He is waiting for you.

You can do this.

And at the end, there’s feasting and celebration with your friends and your Team Captain saying, “Well done.”

I’d much rather have that than a cheap medal.