“Hurdling is the act of running and jumping over an obstacle at speed.” – Wikipedia
Hurdling is a major sport in track and field, and has quite the interesting history. Originally started in the late 1800s, a race was invented where people would jump over a wooden barrier and then land on both feet. They would come to a complete stop and then start again until they got to the next barrier. The sport has improved and now the runners clear the hurdles in quick succession as they are in a full run. The hurdles themselves are designed with this type of running in mind.
Hurdles is a crazy idea. Lets see who can run the fastest and do it while jumping over obstacles. The really fun race is the steeplechase. This is also an Olympic sport. It started with horses in Ireland, but now is a race where people have to clear large obstacles and also jump over water while they race around a track. I think a 3,000 meter steeplechase has 28 obstacle jumps and 7 water jumps. That is in my mind, the perfect analogy for our lives.
The obstacle is not something to get around, or to avoid. Rather, the obstacle is the way. Just like in Hurdles or Steeplechase the obstacles in our life are there for a reason. We need to clear them and do so with enthusiasm or face penalty. Obstacles should not be viewed as a bad thing, they are part of the plan, they are part of the race. You are going to face many of them and in frequent succession. So, we should quit trying to find away to get away from or around them, but rather just work on clearing them just like a runner in a steeplechase would do.
Guy Reams
