Lessons from the Water: keeping good technique

Of the three events of a triathlon (swim, bike, run) the most enjoyable for me is the swim. (well, maybe the bike when coasting down a hill, but that doesn't really count). I've always enjoyed swimming- was on swim team as a kid, was a lifeguard at camp, etc. For the triathlon i'm training for i can do the swim distance (1.2 miles) no problem, so in my training i've been working on keeping good technique, really being efficient in my stroke, and increasing my speed.

If you remember back to the sprint triathlon i did several weeks ago, one of the main things I hoped to glean from that experience was what it was like to swim in open water around a group of people. Well, during that swim there was a moment about half way through that I consciously thought, "i've been swimming this whole time so far without thinking about my technique". There were so many other things to think about... am i headed the right direction, am i staying in a relatively straight line, am i passing on the correct side of the markers, am I kicking someone or being kicked by someone (or was that just algae that brushed up against me?), etc. There was so much going on there was no mind power left to think about the technique that I had been so careful to think about during training. By the time I got to the race, it was either going to be a natural thing that I just did, or it wasn't going to happen.

So I was thinking about how this is like life and my walk with Christ (yes, being on staff at loucon deeply ingrained processing into my everything thinking). ...

There as so many things that I learn in Bible studies, church groups, and camps that God really uses to change something in my life. And when i'm concentrating on those things in those venues, it comes easily, just like working on my technique in the pool during training. But just like all the distractions during the race, being out in the world brings distractions and often i don't take time to really focus on the things I know God wants me to do (or not do) to be more effective for Him. I don't want to realize part way through, "hey, i should be thinking about what God was teaching me and actually do it". I want to learn it so thoroughly that my natural instinct is to do what's right.

And while this is impossible as a sinful human being, God provides the power to help me do this and grace for all the times I forget things (or just choose to ignore the things that I know).