SPUR LEADERSHIP | macrichard.com

Momentum matters. Winning trumps losing. But God bless those who stay. Those who stick around and stick to it long enough to see momentum ebb and flow and keep coming back for more.

A few years ago, I was at a small gathering of pastors. And the topic du jour was the recent resignation of a big name pastor and author to follow God into the unknown of what would be next. The prevailing sentiment was that he was acting on deep, abiding faith in this leap into the unknown. But the host of this gathering said introducing that day’s guest speaker: “I know that our friend’s resignation is a true leap of faith. But I don’t want us to forget the faith that it takes to stay. To fight the good fight through years and decades.”

In an age of disposable marriages, church-shopping/hopping/bopping, fractured friendships, we’re missing out on the blessing of staying. Building. Persevering. Resolving. Reconciling. Healing. Growing. Knowing. Reflecting the heart of Christ. Who stayed. And stays.

One of the bedrock principles of Crossfit is high intensity training over a short duration. Toward the end of one of my early workouts, I was doing pushups with a weighted vest on after flipping a tractor tire multiple times (Don’t ask—these people do some weird stuff). As I was nearing the last push of the session, I was hating life and Web, grinding through some pushups when he got on the floor and asked very directly but quietly,

C’mon, Mac…How many can you do when you’re tired?

Within the same week, I saw an ESPN special, All Access: Alabama that spotlighted Alabama Head Football Coach, Nick Saban. One day toward the end of practice, Saban was, um…encouraging his players to stay focused even though they were exhausted. And he told them that the first half of practice was just to get them to this point so they could learn to focus, execute, and perform when they were tired.

How many can you do when you’re tired? That’s really what separates average from excellent, good from great, and getting by to taking flight. It became such a mantra for me in Crossfit that it began seeping into other areas of my life:

• When Julie needed help with something around the house, but I was “off the clock”
• When I felt like I had done “enough” message prep
•  When my son wanted to play 1-on-1 in the driveway 
• When I needed to return phone calls/emails
• When I wanted to sleep in instead of get up and get quality time with God
• When my daughter wanted to download her day at 10:30 at night and I was falling asleep

So many areas of my life grew and improved because of that one question: How many can you do when you’re tired? So much of the good stuff lies just outside of my comfort zone. When I get tired, when I feel like “that’s enough,” is exactly the time to push through and keep going to see what God has just on the other side.

Because of Web Smith (@CrossfitChron) and what he taught me training, pushing, mocking (in love, I think!), mentoring, and teaching, I’ve got a deeper, clearer understanding of how God grows us. One day at a time. One step at a time.

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