October Newsletter
Your mother and Father taught you better!
October greetings to you all! Fall! My favorite
time of the year as the weather
cools a little
and there is just the right amount
of chill
in the air! Out come the sweaters
and away
go the shorts. All of this, of
course, pertains
to those who actually do experience
a change
in the weather. For our friends
in the southwest
for instance, it goes from being
hot to warm!
We must always remember that
we all live
in different parts of the country
and even
the world and sometimes we may
not be able
to relate to one another on certain
topics.
However, we are unified in our
enjoyment
of fitness and our love for God
and His Son
Jesus who died for us. This,
my friends,
we must NEVER forget!
Lately we have been getting emails from new
bodybuilders who are training
hard, and having
decided to compete, have their
questions
rebuffed by those with experience.
Can you
believe this? One guy just wanted
to know
what the others used to get that
dark competition
tan and was totally ignored!
I say SHAME
ON THEM! The bodybuilding world
as it is,
is a disgrace. Every man is out
for himself.
I wonder that if they could add
something
to the next guy's protein drink
that would
make him lose muscle mass, they
would do
it just for the sake of the win!
You laugh
and say "no way!" But
hey, they
take steroids for that very same
reason,
no? To "get the edge"
or to "get
just a little bit bigger!"
Come on people!
Is the stupid trophy really worth
all that?
We need to help the new guy in
his fitness
quest! The old magazine pictures
and articles
are full of guys training with
each other,
urging each other on for one
more rep. Now
people don't even talk to each
other! Pathetic!
News flash! You cannot share
your passion
for training with another person
when you
stay in your own little world.
You don't
have any training secrets that
someone else
hasn't used in the past - there
is nothing
new under the sun! Walking around
thinking
you are better than the next
guy because
your arms are three inches bigger
only gets
you labeled as an oaf, an egotist
or a self-absorbed
muscle head. That's not how I
would like
to be remembered. Share what
you know, be
a mentor, be someone that the
people can
look up to, not want to avoid.
How about
this one: A guy walks into a
gym, he is obviously
overweight and has decided to
do something
about it. The courage he had
to muster just
to walk thought the doors was
unimaginable
for some, understood by many.
The first people
he comes in contact with are
the desk people.
They are in shape and ready to
make the sale.
Have to meet that monthly quota
after all.
The salesperson mentally notes
that "Oh
boy does he need some work, sheesh!
Why bother?
He'll only quit in a month, but
hey, a sale
is a sale!" Sometimes the
internal grimace
of disgust they feel actually
surfaces and
appears on their face, although
the smile
is ever-present. It is not missed
by the
overweight newby though and he
hedges as
if he may leave. The sales pitch
begins and
he signs on the dotted line.
Once in the
gym, he is lost. Oh, he gets
the obligatory
three training sessions and all,
but to a
new person who has never been
to a gym before,
trying to navigate in and around
the weight
stacks and machinery can be a
nightmare!
He goes to ask a guy a question
but gets
blown off. The guy can't be bothered.
This
happens many times and feeling
dejected and
rejected, the leaves. The sales
person was
right, he quite after a month.
Not because
the training was hard, but because
the people
were rude and self absorbed.
Don't think
it happens? Listen up! We shouldn't
be this
way! We were all the "new
guy"
once. What does it take? Thirty
seconds?
A minute? Just because some are
more genetically
gifted than others does not give
them the
right to look down upon anyone.
There is
always the "bigger dog"
out there.
Greet and treat with kindness,
impart what
you know, teach, mentor, train
with them!
We are all at a different level
where training
is concerned. Some beginners,
some intermediate
and some are hard-core veterans.
However,
remember, they are just like
you. They wish
to enjoy the fitness lifestyle
too.
A guy walks into church; let's call him Joe
- ordinary Joe. He has been looking
forward
to Sunday to hear God's message
be preached.
This is his first time here and
he is a little
nervous. The greeter at the door
is warm
and pleasant and offers a handshake
and a
warm embrace. Once inside however,
the battle
lines are drawn. Off in one corner
is the
office staff, in another one
of the women's
ministry groups chatters away
in a little
huddle of their own. A few guys
from the
men's ministry talk about the
upcoming game
by the coffee area. A board member
strolls
across the lobby and looks down
at Joe with
an air of authority that says
"I am
a board member and you are not,
move out
of my way!" A smile flashes
across the
board members face as he offers
greetings,
but the eyes are still cold and
distant.
Shaken, Joe walks into the sanctuary
already
feeling rejected and depressed.
He has been
on the verge of suicide and he
finally turned
to God for help. He desperately
hoped that
going to church would relieve
him of the
torture he felt, wanting so much
to hear
God's word. Once inside the sanctuary
he
felt isolated and alone as the
little groups
in the lobby made their way to
their seats
while he sat all alone. Praise
and worship
began and he felt his spirit
lift as he gave
thanks to God. Praise and worship
ended and
the pastor approached the pulpit
and greeted
the congregation. He asked for
all to greet
each other with a handshake and
a hug. Joe
stood alone as no one bothered
to offer his
or her hand. He felt so isolated
and sad.
He sat down and wept quietly
as the pastor
preached his message, barely
hearing a word
that was said.
Have YOU seen a Joe in your church? He's
there, just look around. I feel
great sadness
when I witness things like those
written
above. Listen up people! It doesn't
matter
what you drive, it doesn't get
you a better
place in heaven. If you wear
a really expensive
suit, you are NOT any better
than the guy
in the jeans and t-shirt! Neither
should
you treat the better dressed
person more
favorably (For if there should come into your assembly
a man with gold rings, in fine
apparel, and
there should also come in a poor
man in filthy
clothes, and you pay attention
to the one
wearing the fine clothes and
say to him,
"You sit here in a good
place,"
and say to the poor man, "You
stand
here," or "Sit here
at my footstool,"
Have you not shown partiality
among yourselves,
and become judges with evil thoughts?
James
2: 2-4) to do this is to sin my friends. (but if you show partiality, you commit sin,
and are convicted by the law
as transgressors.
James 2: 9)
An old pastor friend said that church is
like an emergency room where
the wounded
are coming in for healing and
salvation.
We, the church members, should
be like a
triage unit, ICU unit, rehabilitation
unit
and finally on-going care. If
you worked
in a hospital and a man came
in with a huge
gash in his neck, would you turn
your back
on him? NO! You'd treat him!
Why do we then
think that we are "more
Christian"
than ordinary Joe? You're a board
member?
Congratulations, but that doesn't
mean you
are any more saved than the poor
man in the
back of the church who just accepted
Jesus
as his Lord and savior. You can
afford a
million dollar home? Great, but
that doesn't
mean you are more saved than
the person who
rents a trailer. Jesus' message
was love,
not disdain, not hatred, not
indifference
or an "I am better than
you attitude."
Or how about this one! I am better
than you
because my skin color is (fill
in the blank)!
Come on now! The only way any
of us will
get into heaven is through Jesus
not Calvin
Klein, Mr. Mercedes Benz or Mr.
Grant, or
Jackson. (Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one comes
to the
Father except through Me. John
14: 6.)
When we were little and our friends would
"call for us," do they
still call
it that? We would invite them
in, offer them
a drink and treat them warmly,
making them
feel comfortable. That is what
our parents
taught us to do. New people come
into God's
house and they barely get noticed,
often
not greeted or acknowledged for
the first
five or six times they go, IF
they make it
that far. Is this what your parents
taught
you? Is it what your Father God
has taught
you? (Matthew 25: 34-46).
And now our prayer. Thank you Father for
your wonderful grace. Grace that
you have
for all. Help us to remember
when we have
felt uncomfortable and unwelcomed
so that
we can welcome others as we would
like to
be welcomed. Help us to love
without judging
appearance, position or possessions.
Help
us to remember that our "station"
in the church we attend is only
for us to
serve others not to serve our
own egos. Help
us to love unconditionally.
|
|
