The Only Easy Day was Yesterday.

The training to become a Navy SEAL is probably the most rigorous training a human being can be subjected to.

The first phase of the training is seven weeks of almost non-stop physical activity:  timed runs (in boots and fatigue pants), endless sets of push-ups and sit-ups, ocean swims.  In addition to this,
the students are divided into teams of usually seven men, and have to complete certain tasks as a team.  Log PT is a favorite, where the teams have to complete various physical challenges as a team, while carrying a log that weighs usually right around 150 pounds.  Boat activities are also emphasized, with each team being responsible for one boat, sometimes having to complete a beach run while carrying it, paddling the boat in the surf for hours on end, or merely standing with the boat held on the heads of the team mates, while the instructors shovel sand into it to make it heavier.

This first phase of training culminates with "Hell Week", which is 132 hours of non-stop physical activity, in addition to being limited to only about four or five hours of sleep.  That's putting it very dryly.  But understand this:  there are only 168 hours in a week.

Typically, the drop-out rate is between 70-80% of students.  There has been at least one class where no-one was able to graduate.

It only gets slightly easier from there, and the high attrition rate continues throughout the school, as the students learn more and more technical skills pertaining to the world of Special Operations.

On the training headquarters building at the Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado California is a sign with the motto, "The Only Easy Day was Yesterday."

Obviously with a training school like BUD/S, no day is easy.  It's only easy in comparison to making it through today.

How could that motto change the way we think about our Christian walk?

What if, over every doorway at our churches, we had this saying?

As you walk in, you read it.  It will remind you that what you are about to hear may be hard to hear.  It may turn some people away.  It will cause friction and backlash, and it will definately shake the world.

As you walk out, you read it.  It will remind you that the real church is out here, in the world.  It will remind you that you are charged with bringing Heaven down to Creation, and Creation up to Heaven, and that the powers of this earth will not like it.  There will be friction and backlash, and you will definately shake the world.

When I was a wedding DJ, we had a saying as well that ties in neatly with this.

"You are only as good as your last show."

As a DJ, I had to constantly prove myself as a good DJ.  I couldn't slack off.  I couldn't say, "Well, my show two weeks ago brought the house down, so I'm just gonna put the CD player on repeat and chill out."  I had to push myself to bring the house down every single night I was out.

God calls us to do the same in our relationship with Him.

Every day we will face challenges and obstacles.  Nearly every day will be tough.  There will be days when it will be easier to simply follow the path of least resistance, give in to the temptations of the world around us.

But if we recognize that there will be hardships in our Christian life, if always remember that "The Only Easy Day was Yesterday", we will find ourselves better prepared to resist the temptation to evil, and better prepared to follow Christ wherever he may lead us.

jj