The "T" Word

The past 16 years or so my life have been defined by tests. Vocabulary tests, spelling tests, tests on punctuation, chemistry, history, geography, geology, biology, addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, and anything else that ended in -y or -tion that a teacher could write a question about. I remember back about six months ago, I was walking out into the courtyard of Wilson Hall after taking my Research Methods final, the last test of my entire life. Or so I thought...

This past Sunday I took yet another exam. 200 questions, five hours- all in hopes of becoming a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. I won’t know how I did for six to eight weeks, but I did leave the exam knowing one thing.

Even though we may be out of school, the tests never cease.

In the Bible, James writes that we should consider it a gift when tests and challenges of any kind come our way. He says that when under pressure our faith-life reveals its true colors, and that through these tests, endurance and maturity will grow leaving us perfectly complete.

You see, during that 5 hours I came across questions that were easy, I answered them right away and could explain why it was the right answer. I also came to questions that I knew the right answer, but just couldn’t put into words why. Then there were those questions that I had absolutely no idea, but the most frustrating were the ones I answered then a few hours or even days later realized I messed something up.

It’s kinda like our faith-life. Sometimes we just know the answer, sometimes the reason is seemingly to grand to put into words, sometimes we have absolutely no idea, and lots of times we kick ourselves, realizing the error in our ways. But no matter the outcome of the test, we can have confidence that our faith is growing and that there will always be another test to prove ourselves, to face the test, to answer the questions with Truth.