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The Process Holds You When Strength Doesn't

I used to think climbing a rope was about strength.

It wasn't.

At least, not the kind of strength I thought.

That lesson began during Marine Corps boot camp, but it took years before I understood what I had actually learned.

The rope was only the classroom.

The lesson was about process.

The Confidence Course

One obstacle on the Marine Corps Confidence Course was unlike anything I had ever experienced.

A one-hundred-foot rope stretched over water.

You began roughly thirty feet in the air and worked your way down the rope, lying chest-down with one leg hooked over for balance.

Simple... until a half-dozen of recruits were on the rope at the same time.

Every movement traveled through the rope.

Someone ahead shifted.

You felt it.

Someone behind lost balance.

You felt that too.

The rope never stopped moving.

Eventually, it spun me underneath.

Now I was hanging upside down.

My hands gripped tighter.

My feet slipped.

I tried to recover.

Couldn't.

Then...

I hit the water.

At the time, I felt disappointed.

Years later, I realize something else happened.

The course continued.

Failure wasn't the end.

It was simply one obstacle.

Life has a way of convincing us that one failure defines everything.

God rarely sees it that way.

The Rope That Changed Everything

A few weeks later, I was running another obstacle course. The legendary O-Course which ended with a twenty-foot rope climb.

By the time I reached the rope, I had almost nothing left.

Every obstacle before it - high bars, walls, crawls, runs - had taken something from me.

My lungs burned.

My forearms ached.

My legs were exhausted.

I looked up and honestly believed I couldn't finish.

The funny part is...

I'd climbed ropes before.

Failed the first couple of times.

I kept pulling harder.

Using only my arms.

Trying to overpower the obstacle.

Every attempt ended the same way.

Failure.

Then one day, one of my drill instructors, Staff Sgt. Rooks, walked over.

He grabbed my boot.

Positioned my foot around the rope.

Looked at me.

And just said:

"Now stand."

No motivational speech.

No lecture.

Just two words.

Everything changed.

The rope didn't.

I did.

Process Changes Everything

Looking back, that rope climb has become one of the clearest pictures of my faith.

For years, I believed growth came from trying harder.

Being more disciplined.

Working longer.

Pushing through.

Eventually, I learned something far more valuable.

Transformation usually begins when someone teaches you a better process.

Marriage works that way.

Parenting works that way.

Leadership works that way.

Faith works that way.

God often answers our prayers by showing us where to put our feet, not by removing the obstacle.

Reach. Pull. Lock. Stand.

Standing at the bottom of that rope during the obstacle course, I prayed a simple prayer.

"God, give me the strength to finish."

Then I stopped thinking about twenty feet.

I only thought about the next movement.

Reach.

Pull.

Raise my knees.

Lock my foot.

Stand.

Again.

Then again.

Eventually, I looked up.

The beam was within reach.

One final pull.

I slapped it and shouted,

"Recruit Martinez. Platoon 3078. On top, sir!"

At the time, I thought touching that beam was the victory.

Years later...

I don't think it was.

The real victory happened every time I chose one more faithful movement instead of quitting.

Biblical Reflection

The Christian life rarely unfolds all at once.

God doesn't usually reveal the entire climb.

He reveals the next step.

Psalm 119 says,

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

Not a floodlight for the whole mountain.

A lamp.

Just enough light for the next step.

That's often how faith works.

Practical Application

Where are you trying to muscle through life?

What obstacle have you convinced yourself requires more strength...

when what it really needs...

is a better process?

Maybe today isn't about climbing twenty feet.

Maybe today is just about making one faithful move.

Reach.

Pull.

Lock.

Stand.

Then do it again tomorrow.

Questions for Reflection

• Where have I been relying only on my own strength?

• Who has God placed in my life to show me "where to put my feet"?

• What process have I been resisting?

• What's the next faithful step God is asking me to take today?

Closing Challenge

Stop measuring your life by how much mountain you've conquered.

Measure it by whether you made the next faithful move.

Prayer

Lord,

Thank You for the people You've placed in my life who have quietly shown me a better way.

Teach me not to rely only on my own strength.

Give me the humility to learn.

The discipline to trust the process.

And the faith to keep making the next faithful move, even when I can't yet see the top.

Amen.

The Work Continues

One rope.

Two lessons.

A lifetime of understanding.

The rope never became easier.

I simply learned where to put my feet.

And maybe...

that's exactly what God is teaching all of us.