3 MAJOR THINGS YOU NEED IN ORDER TO STAY AHEAD AND FINISH WELL by Cobus Kruger

Cobus Kruger, is a professional triathlete who is passionate about evangelism, leadership and community development through sport.

He writes thus:

It is not about the start, it is for sure about the finish. Not too long ago I had a profound and life changing experience through one of my triathlon races. I started the race with the goal of winning the total race event. I began with a real strong swim, where I came out of the water with the first pack of three swimmers. Then I had a fast transition and was first onto the bike. I biked really strongly and kept ahead of the rest of the competitors. I was first off the bike at the start of the running and leg well through the first two laps of a 4 lap, 10km run. Then it happened at the 7km mark into the run. I started to feel really tired and my pace slowed down considerably. During the last 3km of that
race I dropped from a winning position to 6th place. It is never a good feeling if you lead a race for about 97% of the time and then lose your lead in the last 3% of the battle.
How did he fail to win the race?
1.NUTRITION ; Just as the right nutrition is important for athletes,also right spiritual nutrition is important for spiritual athletes.We need to feed our spirit, day by day with the living water of the Word (Jesus) through spending time with God through the Holy Spirit.
2.FOCUS SHIFTED FROM YOUR OWN RACE TO OTHER RACERS People start to look at the success of others, and focus on the progress and dreams of others and in the process they lose their focus on the prime calling that God has given them as individuals. If you are tired and feel you cannot go on, start to refocus on your prime Godly calling and vision and press forward into that.
3.START TO RUN TO STAY AHEAD RATHER THAN TO WIN THE RACE This is a pothole that I see allot of people stumble over as their ministries and callings grow. They begin to try to stay ahead of another person or ministry, or they become afraid that the other person or ministry will grow bigger and stronger than their ministry. By doing this they lose focus on what they are called to do as individuals and as a ministry serving the Kingdom of God. You see, although we talk about winning, we only win if the Kingdom of God is growing, and the Kingdom of God grows best when all our ministries and callings are focused on serving God and not on competing with each other.