I don't ever want to hear I can't!

This morning a good friend and I went for an extended bike ride.  We left the house plenty early and set out across the Northwest Arkansas country side.  We talked as we rode and decided to leave town on a route that put us on a pretty good climb almost immediately. 

He might have accused me of being crazy. 

In truth, I was just a glutton for punishment.  The night before I had looked at the route on the internet and checked the elevations just to know what we would be up against.  After looking, I didn’t sleep very well. 

Back to the ride.  After 38 miles, we stopped for a Coke in a little town called Goshen.  We stretched a little and tried to mentally prepare for the pain that what coming.  Several miles down the road was a 4 mile leg-searing climb up out of the White River Basin.  And it was in my head.  

Normally when I am riding I don’t think about much.  Today was different.  Midway up the climb, over the sound of my own pulse, I heard my dad’s voice.  I time-traveled to1982 when I was learning to waterski.  I thrashed and struggled trying to get my ski binding back on after a fall.  I wanted to quit and I told him I told him I couldn’t do it. 

He said, and I quote… “I don’t ever want to hear I can’t!” 

I got mad.  And now as I was entertaining thoughts of walking, I was mad again.  Mad at myself.  Mad at the hill.  Mad at my bike. Funny thing is though, the same fury that helped me get my ski binding back on drug me up that hill.

Later that afternoon, as I was on my way to a lunch appointment it occurred to me how appropriate that lesson was for certain seasons of life.  Let’s face it, life is uphill.  Sometimes we get to coast, most of the time we climb.  In truth the buildup is much worse, but we still have to make it up that hill.  And with every fiber of our being, we press on toward the goal (Philippians 3:14). 

And we tell ourselves… “I don’t ever want to hear I can’t!”