Keys To Success

Accountability is a two-dollar word that basically runs on the same concept as Peer Pressure. And let me tell you, Accountability is powerful.

Let's "for example" this real quick...

Having been wanting to get back into jogging since I got the okay from my foot doctor about three weeks ago. Every night, I put my alarm on. Every morning I hit snooze. Every afternoon I make plans to go for a jog, and by evening I'm still sitting on the couch. However, yesterday I go my buds together and we decided we would meet at the track at 6:30 AM for a light jog/walk. Sure enough, when that alarm went off-- because I knew I had Run Brothers that would be waiting on me-- I rolled out of bed and got ready.

But the power of Accountability doesn't stop there.

On our jog, we discussed how far we would go. The consensus was two miles. (Mind you, I have not run in two months so this was pushing it for me.) When we got well into the first mile, I began feeling pains. Those pains that mean, "Quit! Go back to bed! Are you crazy?" And I wanted to start walking. For a little bit. I rationalized that I deserved to walk. But the crazy thing is... I had three other guys with me. And we were all jogging. And no one was stopping. So I wasn't going to stop either.

At the end of the two miler, I thanked my Run Brothers because I wanted to stop at certain points but I didn't because they weren't stopping. Surprisingly, all three of them said they were thinking the same thing. They all at one point or another wanted to slow down to a walk, but because of the power of accountability, we all finished strong.

Let me speak just to the men: Can we not apply this to our Christian journey? We have the tendency to isolate ourselves and try to do things on our own. And when temptations comes or when we just want to quit, we simply give in or give out. But if we have others in our life-- a support chain-- that run this Christ race with us... When we begin the dangerous task of rationalizing,