Deep down in your bones, you know that exercise, or working out is important to your long-term health. You've known this since childhood.

How often do you pause to think beyond the vague promise of a healthier life? How often do you consider a deeper reason for our sweat and tears?

Working out is hard. It’s uncomfortable. It often hurts. And it pushes you to the breaking point on a regular basis. All that pain and all that suffering have to be about more than the promise of avoiding sickness. There’s no guarantee your time in the gym will help you avoid a cold or prevent real systemic disease from darkening your door. That promise can’t be made.

So why put yourself through all that difficulty and pain, if there isn’t a guarantee?

Because working out is about far more than empty promises and disease prevention. It’s about preparation. Preparation for future challenges of both a physical and mental nature.

Running and lifting get your body ready for the next physical task. Be it a competition or a fight. It disciplines your body by exposing it to a milder form of pain today to prepare it for far greater pain at some later date.

Showing up every day builds the discipline and mental toughness you need to conquer challenges that take place in a different arena as well. If you’ve been getting under the bar and placing yourself in uncomfortable situations for months and months, you’ll be less uncomfortable and stressed by life’s trials. You’ll have the mental resolve to power through and finish no matter how hard things get.

Workouts become training sessions in this new light. Each workout takes on a new meaning and purpose and either moves you closer to your goal or farther from it.

Make each time you walk in the gym the training ground for life’s next great adventure. Look at all that sweat, time and pain as your best friend. Because that’s exactly what discipline is.

It’s a brand new year. The lights and excitement of the Christmas season linger in the air, and everyone is enthralled with the excitement a new year brings. Most of us are beyond ready to turn the page on a new year. Just about everyone I talk to has the same word to describe 2016, hard. It was a year smeared with the most tumultuous and interesting presidential election any of us has seen in our lifetimes, and we all feel relatively dirty as a result.

2016 was also a year of immense personal hardships. Friends and family alike have shared stories of loss, pain and disappointment that are too numerous to count. My wife and I are no different. Family members were in and out of the hospital, loved ones passed away, and searing loss darkened our door in the form of a miscarriage. It was simply a difficult year.

We walked through the lowest of lows and lived to tell the tale because of the Lord’s faithfulness. He showed up and showed off in so many ways the last twelve months. The Lord’s goodness, faithfulness and the hope we have in Him have us chomping at the bit to see what 2017 has up its sleeve.

There are so many things to look forward to, but chief among them is seeing the birth of our first baby boy. It’s still sinking in but in a few short months my whole world will change in an instant as I look into the eyes and hold the little guy for the first time. I can’t wait. Who will he look like? What color eyes will he have? What about his hair? What will he enjoy? Who will he become? While some of these questions won’t be answered in 2017, the road to discovering what the Lord is up to in not just Hudson’s life but ours begins in a few short months.

I’ve shared what has me most excited about next year, now it’s your turn. What are you most looking forward to in 2017?