Are You Ready?

I was watching an interview with Michael Phelps’ swimming coach Bob Bowman and I was fascinated by the means with which Coach Bowman trained Phelps. Bowman talked about how he would frequently play tricks on Phelps in practice. He would hide his goggles right before a meet. He would switch out his gear and sometimes hide Phelps’ often seen headphones. Why did Bowman do all of this? To make Phelps ready; ready to face the unexpected. It paid off. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, during the 200M butterfly final, Phelps goggles filled with water upon diving into the pool, causing him to have little to no vision. Phelps still won gold. How did he do it? Phelps had actually been forced to practice swimming with his goggles filled with water so he would be ready for it should it happen. Are we ready for the unexpected? Are we ready for the curve balls Satan is sure to throw us? Are we ready when life doesn’t go as planned? The Bible tells us to “Put on the whole armor of God.” A solider is not ready for battle until he has sufficiently trained.