My two oldest girls are rowers. I don’t know why they do it. It hurts. A lot. They went up to Connecticut a few weeks ago to meet with a German trainer who made them do an hour and a half warm-up on the rowing machine before they raced a 6-K. Then while they were erg-ing, he took multiple blood samples from their earlobes so he could measure their lactic acid levels and determine an appropriate training program for the coming winter.

They did this voluntarily.

Last week, based on their blood samples, he sent them a ridiculous training schedule that they will follow religiously for the next few months in preparation for some erg competition in which starburst circles of rowing machines are set up all over a convention-sized space, separated only by multiple industrial sized garbage cans (use your imagination) as rowers from around the world come to erg their hearts out in hopes of a competitive score.

When the girls got their training schedules, there was an animated discussion over dinner…a lot of compare-and-contrast and a healthy dose of trepidation. I am convinced they both take secret pleasure in knowing that if they actually do these arduous workouts over the next three months they will emerge uber-fit and ultra-fast.

Relationship with God isn’t something I have to earn. There is no training schedule, no rote way of getting closer to God. Relationship with God NEVER demands I “get better,” it only asks me to spend time with Him so He can do the work of transformation. But that’s hard for someone like me who likes control. Relationship with God demands I give that up.

In fact relationship with God asks me to let go of just about everything…my way; my picture of how things should turn out; all “shoulds”; the concept that I have sufficient foresight to know which events in my life and the lives of those around me are “good” and which are “bad;” the notion that I know what’s best for anyone, including myself.

God asks me to turn life back into that grand adventure – – back into the way I experienced life as a child – – taking everything as it comes with no expectations of how it should end up, only a genuine and open curiosity about what is going on right now. He wants me to engage in my life, not tip toe around it, endlessly examining what it is, if it can hurt me, how it might turn out, and only jump in once I have my strategy, execution and escape plan thoroughly thought through.

He wants me to take a running start, bare feet flapping and hurl myself into the deep end because He is there waiting for me, in the middle of my messy life, arms open wide. He tells me again and again, “Do not be afraid,” and in that same Divine breath, He is also asking me to trust Him. NOT easy. But so simple.   So I want to spend time with God, every day….because I want to be that kid careening toward the pool, hair slicked back and dripping, chin lifted up towards the sun, arms flailing and feet running in the air until I cannonball right in the center of my own life – – the one GOD has prepared for me. I want to be that kind of uber-fit and ultra-fast…spiritually. And if all it takes is time with God, I am all in.