Ain't no P90X in a pile of dirt

 I'm no athlete.  I was not involved in any organized sports in high school. For the first two-thirds of my adult life, I was skinnier than a soda straw in a Diet Coke.  When I noticed my weight had creeped up closer to two hundred pounds a few years back, Vickie and I both decided to start exercising more regularly.  We chose P90X, which when beginning, is akin to torture.  Some folks mute Tony Horton, but I kind of like him...in the same sort of way I like going to the dentist.  I know it's necessary but it doesn't make it any easier.

We've been through portions or the entirety of P90X five times.  It certainly has assisted reducing my waist line and gaining strength.  Pullups were hardly possible when I began.  Now they are easy...up to a certain point.   I will never have the size or strength to compete at a high athletic level, but I certainly have gained a lot of strength.

Enough about me.  Julio, my friend who works at La Palabra de Vida has, I'm certain, never seen the inside of a Lifetime Fitness.  He's never stood in front of a television lifting barbells.  But when he swings a pickax, his blows penetrate twice as far, and he does twice as many as me before he tires.  Julio is not a large man.  Maybe five feet six inches and one hundred fifty pounds.  But a lifetime of labor has given him endurance.


Here's the deal.  Exercising in front of a television or in the gym may tone your figure and build muscle size.  It also will increase strength.  But muscles built in the gym is like beauty achieved by plastic surgery.  It may look good, but it may mask inner weakness and a telling lack of endurance.

You see, I don't swing a pickax, push a wheelbarrow, or shovel rocks, on a daily basis.  Julio doesn't either, but he does it enough that he has great strength, great technique, and great endurance.  He told me I was strong, and a great help, and I broke up a lot of dirt.  He was just being nice, as all Costa Ricans seem to be.

We, you and me, must live our lives as Christ followers in this way.  Knowledge gained seated on high end cushioned chairs is good and necessary.  But you and I will be blustery, short lived, fire hydrants of self-righteousness unless we get out of our church, out of our small group, and practice what we've learned.  We must use what we have built within ourselves.  Otherwise, we'll be of little value to the world, and offensive to God.

Churches are not supposed to be universities, where students may learn for years or decades, and discuss their theories, and write their theses.  We must take and apply what we have learned.  We must do it immediately.  The stakes are too high to be seagoing ships porting with no cargo.

So like Julio, build your strength by swinging away.  Get in the game.  Go.