Grace...Cleans and Jerks...
Alright. After a fairly long time away from my blog, I'm back. I could offer some excuses like, "I'm too busy at the box" or "Work has been demanding" or any other number of reasons. But when you find out I've had time to watch several movies and an entire season of 24.... the excuses don't hold any water (since when did excuses hold water in the first place?)
Let's get down to business (to defeat... the Huns!) Just kidding! But seriously...
Many of you on facebook have seen my most recent photo album that kind of chronicles my weight loss journey. If you follow me at all, you see plenty more about CrossFit and Paleo. What you might not see is the testament of the grace of God in my life. And that is to my shame. So many of you have asked about CrossFit and Paleo. You want to know details. And I've shared them with you--gladly, excitedly. But all CrossFit and Paleo does is change temporary things. Sure you can slim down. Sure you can get that 6 or 8 pack abs you've been wanting. Increase your strength. Run, jump, climb, lift...farther, faster, longer. Sure you can live a "full" life. An exciting life. But what happens after this life? What happens if on the way home you are involved in a car accident that claims your life? What happens if you get hurt in such a way you can no longer CrossFit? What then?
I can find almost any way to bring up CrossFit in a conversation. What I don't do, is find any way to bring Christ into the conversation. I just realized in irony, that today's workout was named Grace. It involves cleans and jerks. Actually, it's all cleans and jerks. Thirty of them. Irony in the name "Grace". Look up on Webster's dictionary and one of the definitions of "grace" is, "a favor rendered by one who need not do so." Grace. God granting us favor by sending his son--Jesus--to die in our place. An example would be a commanding officer (God) sending a police officer/soldier (Jesus) to jump in front of a sniper's crosshair's to save the life of the bad guy (us--me included). Here's the better part. That commanding officer is the same one who pulls the trigger. In some ways, the gospel is more complicated than that, but that is the short of it. We deserved to die. Christ didn't--but he did. He died when we should have.
In the workout Grace, you have to clean the bar--that is using a technique to get the bar from the floor to your shoulders--and then either "jerk" or push the bar from your shoulders to over your head. In our relationship with Christ we have to allow him to clean us up. He brings us from the bottom and says, let me help you. And then because of this, we are pushed and allowed to become closer to the Father. Probably not the best part of my analogy, but it is what it is.
Friends, forgive me for not being as passionate about sharing this with you as I am about CrossFit. I hide behind pretenses-- the biggest of which is I hate arguments that arise out of Facebook topics and blog posts like this. That is no excuse. How dare I share something that will change your life here on earth and NOT share something that will change and shape your eternity! (Oh, and it will change your life on earth too.) One of the things I heard when I started CrossFit and believed myself was "I have to get in shape to CrossFit. Once I get in shape, then I'll CrossFit." No. You CrossFit to get in shape. Any workout can be modified to meet you where you are at. But you better not stay there! You better push to get that Rx! The same excuse is used when presented with the opportunity to try to be like Christ (the ultimate Rx). "I'll clean my life up, then surrender and follow Christ." No. We can do no good deed on our own. Choose to surrender and follow Christ. Then let him change your life and push you to become better one day at a time.
Let's get down to business (to defeat... the Huns!) Just kidding! But seriously...
Many of you on facebook have seen my most recent photo album that kind of chronicles my weight loss journey. If you follow me at all, you see plenty more about CrossFit and Paleo. What you might not see is the testament of the grace of God in my life. And that is to my shame. So many of you have asked about CrossFit and Paleo. You want to know details. And I've shared them with you--gladly, excitedly. But all CrossFit and Paleo does is change temporary things. Sure you can slim down. Sure you can get that 6 or 8 pack abs you've been wanting. Increase your strength. Run, jump, climb, lift...farther, faster, longer. Sure you can live a "full" life. An exciting life. But what happens after this life? What happens if on the way home you are involved in a car accident that claims your life? What happens if you get hurt in such a way you can no longer CrossFit? What then?
I can find almost any way to bring up CrossFit in a conversation. What I don't do, is find any way to bring Christ into the conversation. I just realized in irony, that today's workout was named Grace. It involves cleans and jerks. Actually, it's all cleans and jerks. Thirty of them. Irony in the name "Grace". Look up on Webster's dictionary and one of the definitions of "grace" is, "a favor rendered by one who need not do so." Grace. God granting us favor by sending his son--Jesus--to die in our place. An example would be a commanding officer (God) sending a police officer/soldier (Jesus) to jump in front of a sniper's crosshair's to save the life of the bad guy (us--me included). Here's the better part. That commanding officer is the same one who pulls the trigger. In some ways, the gospel is more complicated than that, but that is the short of it. We deserved to die. Christ didn't--but he did. He died when we should have.
In the workout Grace, you have to clean the bar--that is using a technique to get the bar from the floor to your shoulders--and then either "jerk" or push the bar from your shoulders to over your head. In our relationship with Christ we have to allow him to clean us up. He brings us from the bottom and says, let me help you. And then because of this, we are pushed and allowed to become closer to the Father. Probably not the best part of my analogy, but it is what it is.
Friends, forgive me for not being as passionate about sharing this with you as I am about CrossFit. I hide behind pretenses-- the biggest of which is I hate arguments that arise out of Facebook topics and blog posts like this. That is no excuse. How dare I share something that will change your life here on earth and NOT share something that will change and shape your eternity! (Oh, and it will change your life on earth too.) One of the things I heard when I started CrossFit and believed myself was "I have to get in shape to CrossFit. Once I get in shape, then I'll CrossFit." No. You CrossFit to get in shape. Any workout can be modified to meet you where you are at. But you better not stay there! You better push to get that Rx! The same excuse is used when presented with the opportunity to try to be like Christ (the ultimate Rx). "I'll clean my life up, then surrender and follow Christ." No. We can do no good deed on our own. Choose to surrender and follow Christ. Then let him change your life and push you to become better one day at a time.
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