I have a younger brother named Peter, who is a young adult with Down syndrome. Wintering in the same house with him this past year, we’ve had a lot of free time to hang out. One of the ways we like to spend time together is playing Mario Kart Wii. He adores the fast-paced racing and quirky animation, and it’s something we can both enjoy with our different abilities.
As I steer Yoshi through the twists and turns of each track and lob shells at other characters, I keep an eye on Peter’s progress and offer shouts of encouragement. Call me cheesy, but our games got me thinking about how the Bible often likens the Christian’s life to a race. Sometimes, we all need to be reminded of the same lessons Peter’s learning. Here are some nuggets of wisdom gleaned from late-afternoon Mario Kart races with my brother:
Go forward, not backward!
I’ve learned a lot about Peter’s personality quirks through playing Mario Kart with him. For example, he’s very competitive, but he likes teasing me even more than winning. Instead of blasting forward from the starting line like everyone else, he prefers to either let his vehicle sit still or hit reverse until I notice and call him out on it.
It’s funny in a game, but too often we as Christians also feel more comfortable staying where we are or retreating from change. It’s not enough to be stagnant—God wants us to keep moving forward and growing, not stand still. Even Paul said of himself, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). No matter where we are in our walk with Christ, we can always move forward because none of us have reached the end goal yet.
If you’re going the wrong way—turn around!
In the Mario Kart game, if a racer’s vehicle gets turned around on the track and starts heading back away from the finish line, a little character floating on a cloud will appear holding a flashing U-turn sign until the racer turns around (Google tells me cloud guy’s name is Lakitu). Peter gets a little annoyed with this guy, but unless he returns to the right direction, he’ll never finish the race.
A similar thing happens in the Christian’s life when the Holy Spirit calls us to repent or warns us of error. To “repent” means to “change one’s mind” or “to turn” (Merriam-Webster). And repentance isn’t just for new believers coming to Christ for the first time; we all need to change our minds and correct our path sometimes. In simplistic terms, we can either be headed toward Jesus—toward His will for us to be like Him—or away from Him. When we find ourselves facing the wrong direction—away from Jesus—we need to repent and turn away from our sin or error and back toward Him.
Sometimes you fall off the track and have to be put right.
In the game, Lakitu (cloud guy) also appears with a fishing pole to rescue racers who have fallen off the track and return them to the race. In some courses, it’s extremely easy to fall off the course (I’m looking at you, Rainbow Road!), and if you do find yourself plummeting into the abyss, there’s no way back except to be rescued.
Sometimes our Christian walk can also feel like it gets completely derailed. Whether it’s through a traumatic experience, doubt, faulty doctrine, or some other hindrance, we may find that we have gotten off track and we’re not where we need to be to make progress. When this happens, God will always be there to answer our plea for help. As Philippians says, be “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). He will help us get back on the right track when we can’t manage it on our own.
Don’t get discouraged!
Finally, Peter often comes in last, especially on challenging courses. This sometimes upsets him, but I tell him it doesn’t matter. It’s okay if he’s not the fastest or the best racer. What matters is that he finished the race (and had fun).
Sometimes we’re not at the point we want to be in our Christian walk. Sometime it feels like all the other eleven characters are on lap 3 and we’re still finishing lap 1. “Why is everyone else so knowledgeable about the Bible or about doctrine, and I’m not?” “Why does everyone else have these moving experiences of closeness with God, and I don’t?” I’ve had thoughts like this many times. If you feel this way, remember this isn’t a competition. There’s no need to compare yourself to anyone else. You are you, and God loves you. In Mario Kart and in the Christian walk, as long as you’re going forward on the track in the right direction, you’re doing great. Therefore, “let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a) so that we can say at the end, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).