Have you ever stood at the edge of something so big, so overwhelming, that your first instinct was to turn around and walk away? Maybe it was a career opportunity, a relationship decision, or a calling you felt God placing on your heart. What if the very thing that seems too big for you is exactly where God wants to stretch your imagination?

We've all been there. You work hard, you work diligently, you put in long hours, and you've still got nothing to show for it. You give it your best shot and still come up short. How do we handle discouragement in our pursuit of God’s dream for our lives?

Running a marathon is a pretty good description of how we make our way through life. The writer of Hebrews understood this too, using athletic metaphors that were very familiar to early Christians, and helping us to answer the questions: “How do we deal with difficulties and disasters as we pursue the dream that God has given us. How do we push past the agony of defeat and handle the human drama?”

What one word do you hear over and over if you watch any Olympic events? Dream. The Olympic dream, a dream of winning a gold medal, fulfilling a dream, missing a dream, a dream from childhood. Dream, dream, dream. But what happens when those dreams take longer than we ever imagined? What happens when God's timeline doesn't match our expectations?