Dare to Prepare

In October of 1911, two teams set out in a quest to become the first expedition to reach the South Pole. For one team, it would be a race to victory and a safe return home. For the second team, it would be a devastating defeat, reaching the pole only to find a wind-whipped flag of their rival planted 34 days earlier. All five members of that second team perished - from exhaustion, frostbite, and freezing to death as they wrote the very last words they would write to loved ones back home. Two teams, two different outcomes....both believed, but only one achieved. Why? Because simply believing is never enough. And yes, it's not lost on me that I'm the BELIEVE guy, but I can tell you from personal experience that believing is just the first step. While it's gotta be in place, you can't fly solo with it. In three weeks I run Boston. I believe I can run the 26.2 miles, but if I don't prepare (work my butt off), race day could be a miserable experience.

Norwegian Ronald Amundsen led the successful team's 1400 mile journey. He did it 20 miles a day, every day, with consistency regardless of the weather conditions. To prepare, he biked 2000 miles from Norway to Spain. He experimented with eating raw dolphin meat as a source to energy should he get shipwrecked en route. He spent time with Eskimos in advance to adopt their cold-weather survival techniques and see how they used dogs for sled pulling. He gathered 3 tons of food for 5 men. When asked why the depth of intentional preparation, Amundsen said

"You don't wait until you're in an unexpected storm to discover that you need more strength and endurance. You prepare with intensity, all the time, so that when conditions turn against you, you can draw from a deep reservoir of strength"

England's Robert Falcon Scott chose not to train his body in advance. He chose ponies over dogs to pull supplies, never having taken the time to study the Eskimos. He brought one ton of food for 17 men. He left no markings for his return back from the pole, which ultimately doomed him. Perhaps most importantly, he picked and chose which days his team would hike. When the weather was poor, they stayed in their tents. And consumed the food they eventually would run out of. The ponies proved a poor choice to pull supplies in the conditions they would face, and all would die before Scott's team succumbed to the elements and hunger. Scott's journal entries prior to his death typically said

"Our bad luck continues, another terrible day"

Believing is a must. But it's nothing without the will to prepare. Dues must be paid, sacrifices made. Anything worth achieving comes at a cost, and most of the preparation is the non-glamorous behind-the-scenes stuff that nobody really enjoys doing, but without which outcomes aren't possible. You can have all the faith in the world, but without the action, you'll be dead in the water. Or stranded at the South Pole. Are your preparing? Will you be ready? For in life, it's not matter of if, but when, a storm will hit.

Believe. Prepare. Achieve.      
 
"In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead". - James 2:17