Dharius Daniels - The Art of Acceleration

Matthew 14, verse 22 says that immediately Jesus made the disciples get in the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd. After he dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray, and later that night, he was there alone. The boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. «It’s a ghost!» they cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them, «Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.» «Lord, if it’s you,» Peter replied, «tell me to come to you on the water.» «Come,» he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, «Lord, save me!» Immediately, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. «You of little faith,» he said, «why did you doubt?» And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, because that’s always the appropriate response to a miracle, and said, «Truly you are the Son of God.»

I want to talk for the next two nights; this is part one, and I’ll do part two tomorrow night. I want to discuss the subject of «The Art of Acceleration.» Family, during my time in high school, I was primarily occupied with two sports: basketball and track. Although basketball was my first love, and I played it throughout high school and college, track was a close second. My area of emphasis was distance running. Because our team was undermanned, I ran the 3200, the 1600, the 800, and the four by 400 relay. I performed pretty well and ultimately ended up competing for the state championship in the 3200 my senior year of high school. However, my success can be attributed to some peculiarities. You see, I was a track tweener. I was faster than the average distance runner but not as fast as the average sprinter. I couldn’t run as long as the average distance runner, and I couldn’t run as fast as the average sprinter. For a season, I felt awkward until I realized that my awkwardness was an asset. I received a revelation that what I thought was a liability was actually a gift in disguise. Some blessings come wrapped in trouble, and so I switched my hermeneutic, if you will, and stopped looking at it through a lens that led me to conclude that I didn’t have as much speed as a sprinter or as much stamina as a distance runner. Instead of seeing it that way, I realized that I had more speed than the average distance runner and more stamina than the average sprinter. I started using my awkwardness to my advantage. When I ran races, I switched my strategy and decided to stop trying to lead early in the race. I ceased my attempt to set the pace and focused on staying close enough to the leader so that on the last lap, I could use my awkwardness as an asset. Initially, when I began this approach, individuals observing the race would panic and scream, «Speed up! Run faster! You’re losing!» I would simply look to the stands and say, «I got it.» I wasn’t nervous like they were because I knew something they didn’t know. Some people are watching you run the race of life, and they are confused as to why you seem so composed. They feel nervous while you remain calm; they are frazzled while you are steady; they are discombobulated while you are grounded. It’s because you know something they don’t know. They don’t understand why you are here in this sanctuary on a Wednesday night. It’s because you have knowledge they lack. They don’t grasp why you’re praising God when everything around you seems to be falling apart; it’s because you know something they don’t know. So, I wasn’t nervous like they were because I understood something they didn’t. I would stay close enough, in what we called «striking distance.» During the last lap, about the last 200 meters, I had another gear reserved in the recesses of my energy tank. I didn’t expend all my energy in the first part of the race; I kept something in reserve for the final lap. In those last 200 meters, while everybody else began to fade, that was when I would accelerate. I would not only catch up but surpass those who had been leading me the entire race. It would seem like I was losing for most of the race, but I learned that to win, you don’t have to lead the whole time; you just need to win at the right time. I came to tell somebody tonight: it’s your time. Would you help me preach to your neighbor and tell them, «I’ve been winning the whole time, but tonight is the right time»? I could win because I understood the art of acceleration. I realized I could go further, faster. This principle that works on the track also applies in life, as there are times when we feel like we’re losing.