"...let us run with patience the race that is set before us". (Hebrews 12:1)

When I signed up to do an "endurance" bike ride, I thought it would be a lot of fun. I was really pumped about it (ha, pumped). When we drove into the city where the ride was taking place my brother pointed across the small valley to the side of the mountain and said, "I think that's the hill we are going to ride up". I almost started to cry, literally. If I had known before I signed up for the race I was suppose to ride up that hill, I would not have signed up for the ride (note, it is a ride, not a race). But I did sign up for it. My heart wanted to finish, but my mind was saying that the hill was way too steep and way too long. My brother looked at me and said, "You can do it. Just put your bike in low gear and crank away. Nice and steady until you get to the top. Just keep going. You don't have to be fast, just steady."

I am so grateful for those words. Even today, months after the ride. Because some days the climb is much steeper than others and we must remain steady or in other words, "steadfast", fixed and focused on the goal, the goal being to finish the ride. The Lord has said essentially the same thing, but using different words. "But he that remaineth steadfast and is not overcome, the same shall be saved" (Joseph Smith-Matthew 1:11). We are all in this "human ride" (note it is a ride, not a race) together, not against each other. We are here to help one another, to "edify one another"
(1 Thessalonians 5:11). To edify means: "instruct, school, teach, inform, guide, improve, educate, nurture, elevate, enlighten, uplift" (The Free Dictionary). Wow! What a beautiful way of encouraging each other and cheering each other on in this ride that we are doing together, not racing against one another.

Sometimes, the hill may seem overwhelming and we might feel like stopping. Well, in the bike ride were little rest stops and refill stations along the way to fill our water bottles and quench our thirst and even eat food. We too have rest stops each week to quench our thirst as we "hunger and thirst after righteousness" and we are filled (see Matthew 5:6) as we partake of the sacrament and renew our covenants with our Savior that we will "always remember Him" (D&C 20:77,79) because our goal is to complete the ride and return to Him. "Feasting upon the word" (2 Nephi 31:20) feeds us spiritually and helps nourish our soul to keep us in remembrance of Christ daily. When we "always remember Him" we are focused on the goal, the end and purpose for this ride. It is easier to be "steadfast and immovable" (Alma 1:25) when we are "fixed with a determination to conquer our enemies" (Alma 58:12), keeping our "heart...fixed" (Psalms 112:7) on Christ rather than wavering all over the place (see James 1:6), worrying about how big the hill is and whether or not we will make it to the top. We actually do make it to the top when we "remember" and keep pumping and "pressing forward" (2 Nephi 31:20).

In finishing the ride, I was so tired I actually wasn't even excited. It wasn't until about 2 hours later that it sunk in what I had actually accomplished. I had done something that I hadn't thought I could do. I had actually done and completed a race, a race against myself! We are only racing against ourselves in this human ride, no one else. "...Let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (Hebrews 12:1). We each have a race that is made specifically for us, each hill, each mile, even the bike we are to ride on is made exactly for us to test our strength. We choose to pump and change the gears to fit the speed that will help us make it to the top. Sometimes we may have to get off and run or walk up the hill (see 1 Corinthians 9:24). Guess what? That's okay! "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brighness of hope, and a love of God and of all men...if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life" (2 Nephi 31:20). We can make it to the top with our heart and mind fixed on Christ and "endure to the end" (3 Nephi 15:9) of our "race"  (Hebrews 12:1), no matter how big, or overwhelming the hill may seem. This I testify.