Endurance
I don't like to run, do you?
I know some strange segment of the population lives to run, but that's not me. Nevertheless, I find myself in peculiar relationships with running. I have run thirty or more miles a week for the past few years. It's odd, maybe even more than the idea that some people love running, but I need you to know I was desperate! I was at a place where the strains and challenges I faced were overwhelming—to the point where I thought I would break. So, I began to run.
Life is a marathon, not a sprint.
You may have heard it says that life is a marathon, not a sprint. It's an apt metaphor, especially when trying to follow Christ. When I read the writings of Paul and Peter, the race they describe doesn't sound like a fun run or a couch to 5K or even a 100-meter dash. It's an endurance race requiring perseverance through tests, challenges, and setbacks.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
Unlike me, my oldest son is a runner, and I love watching him race. His favorite race is the mile, and as a freshman, he ran it in under five minutes. It's a fun race to watch because even though it's a fraction of the distance of a marathon, it still takes endurance to run it well. The last two laps are exhilarating because some runners, like my son, tap into a reserve of energy they've been saving up and take off at a sprint, while others have nothing left and slowly run out of gas. It's the same in the Bible; most people you read about in scripture don't finish well. They are full of fire and faith for the Lord for a while, but something inevitably trips them up and gets them off course, where they stumble into eternity. Paul, however, finished well. He told Timothy that he fought the good fight and finished the race. I want to be like Paul.
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
Out of all the creative pursuits, the marathon metaphor most accurately describes game development. In saying that, I'm not cheapening the effort into those other creative acts—birthing anything into the world requires endurance. At some point in every creative process, the fun of making tempers and that initial spark of inspiration fizzles. At that point, the act of creating starts to look more like work and less like play. Only those who roll up their sleeves and endure the perspiration can share their baby with the world. And yet, game development requires MORE. It requires more time and more specialized and disparate skills. All of which need to be need to come together into a unified whole. A triple AAA game taking five years to develop is the new normal. It's probably why every game developer I know has unfinished games and prototypes that never went anywhere.
At this point in my uncomfortable relationship with running, I've logged a few thousand miles. Most of that time, I've spent talking with God, seeking answers, advice, and encouragement. I mix in things like listening to sermons, music, and podcasts, but it's become a precious time between me and God. He's communicated a lot to me, even things I wasn't expecting—for example, most of the ideas for this blog were birthed on those runs. So, I am going to keep running. It's building endurance in me (in more ways than one.)
