Have you heard of Tough Mudder?
It is a crazy 12 mile run with 26+ obstacles with a focus on teamwork, camaraderie, and conquering challenges. I signed up with two work colleagues, my brother and some of his university friends. Five days before we were due to take part my friends dropped out, leaving me with my brother and his friends I had never met before.
This is when I really found out what the word ‘teamwork’ meant.
Team Sh’Mudder
(l-r James, Me, Daniel, Tim, Sam, Matt, Bradley and Alex)
As you get ready to set off you are told that it is not a race but a challenge, and that everyone is on the same team, in fact the course is designed so that nobody can do it alone.
In the training process I had been naive, I thought I had the cardio fitness needed for Tough Mudder and that all I needed to focus on was building my upper and lower body strength and working on my core, so I spent hours in the gym focusing on these areas.
I was wrong!
Yes you need to have some strength in your arms, legs and core but the challenges where you need these you have someone giving you a leg up or grabbing your hands to aid you, but when you are running that is all down to you and it isn’t straight forward running it is hilly and muddy and treacherous terrain.
However, this group of guys I had never met before were with me from mile 1 to mile 12 and we all went through Electric Shock Therapy together – as a team! There were times when they ran with me in the centre as though they were protecting me, there were times when they slowed their pace so I could keep up and there were times when cheered me on to keep me going. They didn’t need to do any of that, they didn’t know me, but they embraced the team element of Tough Mudder and were not going to let us be a ‘man’ down.
Just like Tough Mudder, there will be obstacles and challenges on the World Race and my team and squad will work together as one team.
We aren’t designed to go it alone in the world. We are designed to need God and each other. No one has all the skills, gifts, or wisdom necessary for a successful life. Everyone has different strengths and abilities and gifts and these are what we use to serve one another.
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”
Ephesians 4: 11-12 (NIV)
Strong teams, just like strong bodies, are made up of interdependent members fulfilling defined tasks. When the whole team is working for the glory of God, there is no competition but the knowledge that what God is doing requires teamwork on our part.
The value of team work
“Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm,. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.”
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (NLT)
God has created this family that as Christian’s we belong to. He has handpicked each of my Fusion squad members and I am excited to get to know them, to work together with them and most importantly to serve them.
Some of our GoPro footage even made it into this YouTube video.
