I was recently talking to a guy who had just finished his first marathon. We talked about how your mind takes over around miles 18 to 22 and screams at you to stop running because you are killing yourself. This experience that almost all marathon runners have is called hitting the wall, and until you have experienced it, it is hard to understand. But once you have experienced it, you are amazed at how much power your brain has to control your actions, even when they are contrary to what you really want to do. If a person runs multiple marathons, he learns how to run through the wall by ignoring the thoughts that pour into his mind to quit and replacing those thoughts with positive; I can do it thoughts. On the second marathon I ran in Vancouver, British Colombia, I got to mile 18, and there was the beginning of a one-mile-long hill. As I started up the mountain, my mind started whining and complaining, and then a spectator stood up out of his lawn chair and held up a sign he had written that said, “You can do it.” He shouted, “Hey, number 440 (my bib number), I wrote this sign just for you”. It was amazing how powerful that sign was. It shouted out encouragement at the perfect time, changed my self-talk, and I kept running and improved my first marathon time by 30 minutes. Our minds are like spoiled children; we must train them to be strong and tough. Our mind is connected to our Old Nature, which is selfish, lazy, self-absorbed, and likes comfort. The people who accomplish the most in life train their brains and take every thought captive to obedience to Christ.