It’s always inspiring to watch people compete at events like the Olympics. Seeing folks trying to attain their dream makes us a little warm inside, too. Finding out about the challenges many of them overcame sometimes makes our lives seem a little easier. Pastor Mark is teaching about the same kind of exertion for us but on a spiritual level. He is telling us about the Apostle Paul’s life and the hardships he faced as he was writing these letters. In them we get no indication of the horrible things he was suffering physically, because his focus was on something he considered greater.