Takeru Kobayashi is an impressive man. Some of you may know him as “The Tsunami” or have seen him on ESPN when working as a competitive eater. It is a gross sport to watch, but somehow fascinating too. The guy’s been known to eat 66 hot dogs and buns in ten minutes. Surely Kobayashi didn’t start off this way; he had to make baby steps in eating too.
Our twins have been home since Monday evening and we have been feeding them every three hours since. As many of you probably know, we all have an instinct known as “suck-swallow-breathe.” In preterm infants (such as ours), this instinct is under developed, but comes in time. In order to leave the NICU they had to be able to take all their food by mouth which requires a good suck-swallow-breath coordination. While they have this coordination, it isn’t quite perfect yet. They get pooped out at times, forget to swallow or (at worst) forget to breathe. Fortunately, we’re seeing their endurance being developed. While at the beginning of the week it took 30 minutes to finish a bottle, now they are throwing it back in 10-15 minutes while increasing the amount. Seeing their strength increasing is so encouraging. At times I feel like a strength trainer helping them get stronger (and ironically fatter).
Endurance is a funny thing. We often don’t realize how much we truly have unless someone is there pushing us. I can’t help but think of God and his incredible endurance with me. My favorite description of God is found in Exodus 34:6-7 where God is described as loving, merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. My own suck-swallow-breathe coordination, when ingesting what life serves me, doesn’t always work like it should. I cough, choke, sputter and even spit it back up. Despite this, God is right there, loving me faithfully and enduring with me. No matter what he gives me, he will give me the grace I need to handle it and be patient with me when I can’t. I can always rely on that. His grace is sufficient and his power is made perfect in my weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9) and we can endure all things through Christ who gives us strength (Philippians 4:13). Let us not forget that this certainly (if not primarily) includes the hardships and suffering we endure. There is a great blessing in suffering and pain. We must not waste our suffering or our pain. Instead, let us relish in God and his revealed character to us and depend upon his enduring faithfulness.
My hope is that my kids will see the grace, patience and faithfulness of God through me whether in eating or any other venture in life. More importantly, I pray that they will see my dependence on God for these attributes and humility to admit my need for grace when I fall short as a parent, husband or person.
Ryan Boyer is a husband, a father of twins and a pastor. He and his family live in Idaho.
