On Saturday, May 21st stuff got done. I graduated college. Maybe not in the traditional sense by walking up and getting a diploma from Danny Reneau, but from walking to the graduation office in the back of the registrars office and asking Sheila for it. I finished my first Ironman. In a time of 13:19. That was the hardest 13 hours of my life. And I realized I needed Him again. So let's go through these monumental moments and discuss them.
Throughout the past two weeks I have been struggling with this boring streak going on in my life right now. Mainly through my ministry of Christ. I have been so caught up in the school and training aspects of my life that I have almost forgotten the Word, His grace, Him. I mean I think about Him daily, and pray, but I haven't been constantly spending quality time with the Father lately. And that within itself has been killing me. David describes it pretty well in Psalms.
"You do not delight in sacrifice, but in a broken and contrite heart." Psalms 51. I was brining Christ my "sacrifices" but He has always wanted my heart. I was trying to bring Him the correct actions and lifestyle that a supposed "Christian" has but it was just leading to a non-fulfilling life because He was not at the center of my focus. My actions were. Well yesterday, I realized what needed to change. My focus and my desire. He must be my desire and my focus. Again David with the awesome quote.
"My desire...that I may behold Your beauty." Psalms 14. David had the heart of the matter correct. That the focus of my life, my desire, must be on Him and His beauty. If I can get this then everything else falls into to place. However, this is no easy task. As John Piper says, "Make war." Make war with my body, my mind, my desires and turn them to Him. No where in the Psalms does David ever say that it would be easy, he just said that he would do it. I am no different, war must ensue in order for Christ to be glorified.
Graduation. Three hours of the most boring activity in the world only to have your name called for three seconds and to walk across the stage and be given an empty certificate holder. That was not for me. Like I said before, I simply walked to the Graduation Office and asked for mine. Sheila, the secretary, got up walked to the counter, found my degree and holder, and then handed it to me. It was a beautiful thing. No pictures. No yelling friends or family (not that I am saying I don't like that). No tears from Sheila. Just me and my diploma. It felt good. To hold my college career in my hand and know that all four years of my life at Tech have been completed just for this piece of paper was an interesting feeling. And let us not look the past the fact again that it felt good as hell to know that I was done with college. Done with those dumb tests and homework. Just plain done.
Ironman. If anyone does not know what an Ironman is, it is a type of triathlon. The longest to be exact. Meaning I swim for a while, then bike for a while, then run a little ways. The exact distances are a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run (a marathon). Needless to say, this was one long day. On graduation day while everyone was walking across the stage and receiving their diplomas I was on some mile of the marathon running until I couldn't feel my legs. Now don't let this sound like it was an all together bad idea to do this. I really enjoyed it. Hearing the guy at the finish line yell, "Ruffus Darden you are an Ironman." Was amazing. And it felt good to not have to run anymore. But to me this was definitely the way to finish college because at the end of the day I wasn't just a college graduate. I was an Ironman college graduate. And triggas that sounds awesome.
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