You Can’t See Where You’re Going

You are moving toward a finish line you cannot see.

Every stroke of every race, you are propelling this boat in a direction that is directly behind you. The finish line is ahead of the bow. You are facing the stern. You know where you are going because someone told you and because you have been on this course before — but you cannot look at the destination while you are racing toward it.

That is a genuinely unusual way to compete. And it is one of the most interesting spiritual pictures in all of sport.

Read this passage slowly.

Let that sit for a second before you move.

Confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. The writer of Hebrews could have been describing the position of a rower mid-race. Faith is not certainty about what is visible. It is the assurance of something that is real but not currently in view — the trust that allows full investment in the direction of the destination even when the destination cannot be directly observed.

Rowing requires its athletes to do this in a uniquely literal way. The stroke is executed with full power in a direction the rower cannot confirm in real time. The course is trusted because it has been verified before the race started. The coxswain’s information is trusted because the relationship established in practice has made it trustworthy. The rower cannot see the finish line, but they know it is there, and they pull toward it with everything they have.

Most of life works this way. The destination is real but not currently visible. The direction is confirmed by something other than direct observation. The investment is made on the basis of trust in the one who can see what you cannot — who has been on the course before, who knows where it ends, who is calling out the information you need to get there.

Pull hard toward the finish you cannot see. It is there. You have been told where it is. Trust the source and row.

This question opens into personal faith conversation. Create safety and give it room.