A Trust Account

In a fascinating, one-on-one ‘Off Camera’ interview with renowned photographer Sam Jones, Ethan Hawke covered a lot of good and fertile ground. In one of the many highlights for me, he described a powerful lesson from his early work. White Fang was about a relationship between a boy and a wolf. In one particular scene, he was shown to have made friends with the animal by feeding him from his hand. But Hawke says that it took forever to get that moment on film, because a wolf can tell if you’re acting. He can smell the phony.

“He can sense if you’re faking it,” says Hawke. “If he thinks you’re full of it, he’ll run away.” So Hawke said he basically had to build a camp and sit in silence and stay busy to convince the animal he was serious. Eventually, the wolf believed him and ate from his hand.

A day away from a new year - like me - you’re ready. But 2021 isn’t coming with that, oh how would you describe it? That expected freshness? It doesn’t have that same “New Year” vibe. I suppose it’s because when we wake up on Jan 1st, the pandemic, shutdowns, social media nonsense, and the divided mess of our reality will linger like a stray. New Year, New You? We wish.

THE CIRCLING WOLF
I remember when January was a big month for PrayFit. Through the years, Simon & Schuster and Lionsgate Entertainment both scheduled launch dates for our books and products each January to help people step into new habits of spiritual and physical stewardship. National bestsellers, we hit #1 on Amazon 4 times. Boy how times change.

For me, personally and professionally, 2020 found my chin. In January, we launched our most precious initiative in 10 years to focus on our 2 areas of vocation and passion: Respite and Mobility. The 2nd Mountain as I often refer to it was primed to usher us into a new decade of significance. I had dreams of becoming the “Charity: Water” of the fitness world in how we served those with special needs and disabilities. We dreamers have our way.

A few short months later, COVID broke through the sediment of our little path and it stopped our ascent in its tracks. But because we didn’t bring any “quit” in our backpacks, we did what determined climbers do in storms. We made camp. Stayed busy. Improved processes. Made a short film. And waited. Truth is, non-profit organizations like ours were hit especially hard. Like a cunning, circling wolf, COVID measured us up. Sniff. Sniff. Were we for real?

A CLARIFYING DARKNESS
On the way to Romania last year with Joni & Friends to help deliver hundreds of wheelchairs to those in need, I situated my seat and got comfortable for the 11-hour jump to Europe. Thing is, I don’t sleep well in my own bed, what makes me think I could sleep on a plane? So, I measured my options of books, magazines and movies. I settled on the title for a flick about which my mind often yearns: SILENCE.

In a Gospel Coalition review of Scorcese’s film: “Silence” is an indelible reflection on faith, doubt, and the inscrutable mystery of God. This is a literary masterwork, but recommended to any Christian interested in a window into the persecuted church and the clarifying darkness of suffering.”

My review isn’t nearly as poetic, but here I go: SILENCE is a brutal film about the 17th-century persecution of Jesuit missionaries in Japan. It’s uncomfortable to watch. Basically, you either suffered for being silent, or you suffered for trampling on your faith; a literal reference because the test of whether or not you were a Christian was whether or not you would step on a picture of Jesus. Apostatizing meant an end to the pain. Staying silent prolonged it.

WHATEVER IT TAKES
Gina Spivey, pastor and director of the Calvary Special Abilities Ministry, recently sent an update on the progress of the construction of our new room:

“This wing of our building is designed specifically for the needs of our most special families including vital components like: private bathroom with adult sized changing table, large sensory/quiet room, increased space for movement and learning, self-contained outdoor learning and play areas, secure doors and check in systems and MOST importantly…a location on the first floor right by the entrance to our building. This new wing will increase convenience, safety, and functionality for our entire ministry for many years to come.”

For those of you that have poured into PrayFit - whether you participated in The PrayFit Run, purchased our merchandise, built fundraisers, or if you are one of the 35 committed monthly donors that make up the heart of the Body, you are helping complete this project. Gina, her team and the kids and families that will walk, run and roll through those new doors are the very souls PrayFit is committed to serving even in the smallest of ways.

Not sure if we’ve helped supply a little paint or a little door, but the parents of these amazing kids are those that I’ve described in our latest film as ones that “can’t stop.” They’re who I think about as I warm my hands on the steep side of this mountain and wait for the storm to pass. Sitting here in silence reminds me that I’m weak and prone to wander. It occurs to me that I’m vulnerable to every kind of pressure, capable of every kind of sin and susceptible to descending, not only down the mountain but in despair.

NOT PLAYING
Meanwhile, I am reinventing myself in pursuit of additional work. A former hospitality executive - turned author - turned disability advocate, I’m doing whatever it takes to pay the bills and maintain the ministry.

Yeah guys, 2020 revealed some things; things like character, faith, hope, resilience, our treasures, our hearts. It stripped many of us of health, jobs, opportunities, graduations, weddings, retirements and even funerals. It kicked us when we were down. And for my little part as I secure myself alongside this cliff in silence, 2020 served as a clarifying darkness, bringing into perfect focus my depravity, smallness and my God-given mixture of limits, hustle and tenacity.

The wolf is still out there, of course. But I think he’s getting the message.

- Jimmy Peña

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JOIN US

If you’d like to come alongside us in ministry to provide respite and mobility to kids and families impacted by disabilities, click the button below. You can give a one-time gift or join the committed few that give an average of $25/month; affectionately referred to as “The Heart” of the Body.

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PRAY WITH US

Lord, we love you. We praise you for who you are. We confess that we have sinned against you in what we have done and the things we have not done. As we approach the end of one year and the begin another, we simply fall on your grace and beg your mercy. We can’t lift a finger unless you allow it. We don’t hold a candle against our enemies without your strength. You gave us our limits. We can’t exceed them, but we can face them with you.

As we steward the gift of health and navigate our illnesses, free us from our sin habits and our soft targets. Obedience means more to you than resolutions. Please rid the earth of COVID and our hearts of wrongful ways. Help us love more than we lift. Help us walk better than we run. In the end, we just want to look more and more like you in what we think, say and do. Whatever we look like on the outside for that to be true, let it be.

Help us serve those less fortunate and to do so quietly for you. For the glory of your grace, we move.

Live Jesus, in our hearts, forever and ever. So very, Amen, we pray.

We Wish You Jesus

Newly strung outdoor lighting and beautifully taut shade sails hang above the congregation. A light wind is blowing and beams of light are breaking through the tree lines. Like a concert in the park, I’m sitting on the grass while music can be heard echoing off neighboring buildings. This feels good. Worshipping the Lord outside with some sunshine on my face and some solid preaching? Yeah, this is cool.

I look around at the congregation. Masks on and socially distanced, every person here seems to be doing 2 things: celebrating Christ and praying for a cure. You can see it in their eyes.

Funny what strikes you at times. Here we are waiting for a cure in the season of Advent. Adhering to laws, abiding by rules and desperate for real healing.

Isn’t it true? As we focus on divinity, our humanity is in full swing. We are susceptible. We have never been healthy on earth. Even during our best workouts, we’ve been sickly. Amid our fittest days, we’ve been vulnerable. We have never been immune to illness. We’ve seldom gone days without pain or anxiety. Our pride kills us and our bones break. And now, we are one stray droplet of Corona away from a new disease.

I know, some of us may not feel its symptoms but may only be carriers. Others of us find our loved ones in emergency rooms. Some of us believe we need to let it run its course to allow our immune systems to knock it out, while others of us won’t leave our homes. It’s a mess. The whole thing is a mess. Famine. Pandemic. Pride. Hatred. Rebellion. Laws being written. New rules being made. To think, that’s how it was 2,000 years ago.

Oh guys, how we need that silent night. Right? Imagine hearing the sounds of a new family making room for the baby. The baby. Crickets chirp, animals eat, shepherds guard and the cry of Jesus speaks for us all. The cure was here. His birth meant the end to laws and regulations. Freedom to live and move and have our being. Masks off. Deep breaths. Smiles and hugs and food and laughter and joy. The antidotes, grace and truth, in one name. Jesus. His birth meant our lives.

I suppose I could go on and on with the metaphors and parallels but in the words of Pastor Steve Day, “I wish you Jesus.” Amid pain, illness, suffering, and loss. Among the hurt, worry, uncertainty and agony, we just wish you Jesus.

TO DO:
Look above the masks. Today when you’re in the supermarket, or in the gym or in line outside the store, look above the masks. We need a silent night. We need the star. It’s Advent. You can see it in their eyes.

Jimmy Peña

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DID YOU MISS GIVING TUESDAY?
There are still plenty of days left in the year to give to PrayFit in order to help us serve our 2 causes of funding mobility projects and respite programs. Here is the quickest way for you to either give a one-time year-end gift or to become a 2021 monthly donor. Thank you to all of you that have chosen to come alongside us. To watch our latest video or to swiftly donate, click here!

The Wrestler

When you're down on the mat, and the wrestler has his grip on you - the grip that has made you powerless - fighting isn't the way out of his grasp. Surrender is.

Last week in “Possessing Nothing” we said that the only way to destroy the foe of self - even the self of fitness and health - is by the Cross. Are you wrestling with the foe of self? Of fitness? Of health? Of status? Of comparison? Followers? Significance? Perhaps significance as a brand?

I am.

Tozer says. "The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty. The blessed ones who possess the Kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing. These are the "poor in spirit." But the ancient curse will not go out painlessly. He will not lie down and die in obedience to our command. He must be torn out of our heart like a plant from the soil. He must be expelled from our soil by violence."

Plainly put, if our pursuit of fitness (or our dealing of illness) isn't leading us to a deeper knowledge of God, then that ache - the deepening root - that buries itself within our fibers and nourishes our desire for great health needs to be uprooted by force. And guys, it's not painless. It doesn't go away easily. It doesn't lie down in obedience. But it's when we stop fighting, stop comparing, stop striving, stop masking; that's when we overcome the enemy. It's when we tap out - even if it means being in worse physical shape - that we gain all things. It's when we surrender that-  "ours is the Kingdom of Heaven."

-Jimmy Peña

For Discussion: I may have mentioned that Tozer is like Nolan Ryan pitching to me as a 5-year old, well, any disagreements? From the last couple of entries, what phrase of Tozer has stood out to you. One that we could spend a week on is "the lonely valleys of soul poverty." What does that mean to you and how can we relate soul poverty to our pursuit of physical stewardship (whether in fitness or health)? Is there any connection? I think there is...

Poll:
Do you enjoy the weekly edition or do you miss the daily perspective? Let us know please! How can we serve you better? Have you visited The Body?

Possessing Nothing

With my beloved Yankees officially out of the playoffs this year, I would like you to imagine a little boy stepping into the batter's box to face Nolan Ryan in game 7 of the World Series. An oversized helmet hangs over his little eyes as he tries to hit a 100mph pitch with a baseball bat he can hardly lift off the ground. Got the visual? Good. That's how I feel as I sit down to wrap my mind around A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God. Although, it's actually not the entire work I'll be taking a swing at, it's just one chapter. Well, I say "chapter" but it's really just a few pages of the chapter. Ok, so let's call it a few lines from a couple of pages of one chapter. Batter up, kid.

On my heart lately is something Tozer called, “The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing.” And if you've read it, you realize the impossible task before me. Nonetheless, there is a blessedness of possessing nothing; even muscle, endurance, strength, breath, ministry, vocation, and life. Anyone up for a book club?

PrayFit Book Club
Today's reading of Tozer

"Before the Lord God made man upon the earth He first prepared for him by creating a world of useful and pleasant things for his sustenance and delight. In the Genesis account of the creation these are called simply "things." They were made for man's uses, but they were meant always to be external to the man and subservient to him. In the deep heart of the man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to come.

Our woes began when God was forced out of His central shrine and "things" were allowed to enter. Within the human heart "things" have taken over. Men have now by nature no peace within their hearts, for God is crowned there no longer, but there in the moral dusk stubborn and aggressive usurpers fight among themselves for first place on the throne.

This is not a mere metaphor, but an accurate analysis of our real spiritual trouble. There is within the human heart a tough fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets "things" with a deep and fierce passion. The roots of our hearts have grown down into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God's gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution.

Our Lord referred to this tyranny of things when He said to His disciples, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it."

Breaking this truth into fragments for our better understanding, it would seem that there is within each of us an enemy which we tolerate at our peril. Jesus called it "life" and "self," or as we would say, the selflife. Its chief characteristic is its possessiveness: the words "gain" and "profit" suggest this. To allow this enemy to live is in the end to lose everything. To repudiate it and give up all for Christ's sake is to lose nothing at last, but to preserve everything unto life eternal. And possibly also a hint is given here as to the only effective way to destroy this foe: it is by the Cross. "Let him take up his cross and follow me." - A.W Tozer

For Discussion: Tozer wrote this in 1948. You'd think he was writing in 2020. Imagine what he would think about this "selfie" generation. But that aside, have the roots of our hearts toward the pursuit of health grown deeper than God intended? Or if I bring it even closer, have I allowed the roots of ministry do the same? I highly encourage you to read this excerpt again. And this time, try and direct its meaning toward our common denominator here at PrayFit or toward your own life and pursuits. Has our gift of health taken the place of God? Have the roots of our hearts grown so deep into the body, physique, performance and health that if we pull one little root out, we feel like we'll die?

- Jimmy Peña

Some People

“And looking up to heaven, He sighed...””

— Mark 7:34

Down the street from our condo here in the valley sits a row of our top stops. We have our friends at Trader Joe’s, our local diner where owner, John Saffell, greets every table with the day’s specials and an update about his kids. And then we have our UPS store. They know me well there. They even check my box when I forget my key. Total VIP. Around here, I’m known. Fuggedaboutit.

Last week on my usual walk I came upon caution tape and sawdust. “UPS is temporarily around the corner. We are making some necessary upgrades.”

New mailboxes? That’s probably what they’re doing. The place was rundown. More room for the oversized copier in the lobby area? I bet that’s it. As I was imagining the obvious possibilities, the manager on duty interrupted my thoughts:

”Yeah, some people said something and complained that we weren’t up to standards, so here we go.”
”Standards?”
“Yeah, ADA, or whatever. Gotta do what ya gotta do, am I right?”

He disappeared into the back and I began my walk home carrying boxes of heavy irony. While aesthetics would have been fine and expected, the store was not ADA compliant. Basically, if you were a wheelchair user, you would have no way of entering the front door. For over a decade, the very spot I’ve been shipping out goods and materials wasn’t special-needs friendly. His words bounced around my brain, “Some people said something.”

SOME PEOPLE
Arguably my favorite stories in the Bible have anonymous heroes. From the generous widow, to the Samaritan, to the friends that tore through the roof, the unnamed always seem to be the ones that make a difference. As Alistair Begg says, “The work of the Gospel is undertaken, not by names and significant popular individuals but by a vast anonymous throng. Unknown to us. Known to God.”

“There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”).” (Mark 7:32-34 emphasis mine)

A few things from this story are to me both caution tape and sawdust. First, some people that brought the man to the one performing miracles were given no credit. Nameless. Awesome in obscurity. If this were a Broadway show, they were the extras in case the extras got sick. These days that probably wouldn’t fly.

Hey, uh, Mark? If you’re taking notes, name’s Jimmy, last name, Peña. That’s P - as in…uh…Paul, E - as in Everyone will know me now, N - as in Not gonna lie this feels pretty good…you get the point.

We don’t know if Jesus gave away kudos to his friends, but we do know that he took the man away from the crowd. He then proceeded to speak to him using sign language and communicated in a way the man would understand. I love the visual of Jesus stepping into the man’s quiet world.

In fact, as Jesus gets face-to-face with the sufferer, turn the volume all the way down in your mind until the silence is ringing in your head. Watch as he puts his fingers into the man’s ears. “See these?” Jesus motions. “These are about to work.” Then he touches the man’s tongue. “Yes, this too.” As Jesus looks up, I picture the man following Jesus’ eyes and tilting his head back as well. And then it happened. Jesus sighed. My favorite part.

NOT FOR LONG
The sigh is a response to despair. Max Lucado says of the sigh, “In Heaven, you will be healthy. You never have been. Even on the days you felt fine, you weren’t. You were a sitting duck for disease, infections, airborne bacteria and microbes. This is a sigh of sadness, a deep breath, and a heavenly glance that resolves, “It won’t be this way for long.”

It’s true. On earth, we have never been healthy. Jesus knew that. And his compassion and amazing pity came through that day for the deaf and mute the same way it showed up when Jesus cried outside of the tomb of Lazarus. His heart breaks at the thought of ours stopping. We lose our memory, eyesight, and coordination. Cancer overtakes us and anxiety overwhelms us. Sleep eludes, fear consumes and minds forget. The result of sin’s presence by the fall of man rears its ugly head until we can’t lift ours from the pillow. Such susceptibility took Christ’s breath away.

Scientifically, a sigh is the brain’s way of telling the lungs to re-fill themselves, and it comes at times of great sadness and emotion. When some people begged, pleaded and implored of Christ on behalf of their needy friend, Jesus sighed as deeply as He cared. But rather than roar like Aslan, He tugged on ear lobes and touched a quiet tongue. It won’t be this way for long.

Oh, and I walked by UPS yesterday. There’s a new ramp and rails and the doors will open automatically. I doubt they wore capes or had super human strength. They could have rolled in on skateboards with ball caps. But some people just came into town and said something.

- Jimmy Peña

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NEED SOME HELP
This Friday, October 2nd is PrayFit’s National Leg Day. A day of awareness for those around the world in need of the gift of mobility; s simple wheelchair. Mobility, as you know, is one of our two areas of focus at PrayFit. Along with respite care, mobility changes everything. So whether you are a runner, walker, cyclist or weightlifter, we implore you to join us on Friday in our awareness campaign. Mobility means access to church, school and work, not to mention helping boost local economies. We’re building a sign-up sheet here.

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LADIES, ARE YOU LOOKING FOR COMMUNITY & WORKOUT IDEAS?
Our brand partner and encouraging friend, Jenny Mire of Think Fit Method has provided workouts, meal plans and encouraging messages in support of all we’re doing. As a faithful member of The Body, Jenny and her team have come alongside us in really powerful ways this year, guys. You can join her on social media, read her blog, circle with other ladies in community, receive her workouts and so much more by clicking here.

Move With Compassion

Where the Beautiful Gate in the ancient city was exactly, I’m not sure. I’ve been to Israel a couple of times and somewhere beneath two centuries of life is the entrance near Solomon’s porch where Peter and John healed the lame man.

Max Lucado describes the scene this way:

”The needy man saw the apostles, lifted his voice, and begged for money. They had none to give, yet still they stopped. “Peter and John looked straight at him and said, ‘Look at us!” (Acts 3:4). They locked their eyes on his with such compassion that “he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them” (v.5). Peter and John issued no embarrassed glance, irritated shrug, or cynical dismissal but an honest look.”

God Will Have To Build It
When I began serving in the special needs department in our church, I admit I was a bit startled and a little timid. Some of the pain and suffering I witnessed caused my throat to tighten. Using just her eyes and a look, special needs pioneer Pastor Gina Spivey would urge me, “Suck it up, Peña.” She is as natural with those impacted by disabilities as I am with breathing. Over the years, she’s taught me that not everyone with special needs is in pain, but from my own experience, many are. And for some, it’s bad. It’s not for the faint of heart.

Disability is not easy on the eyes.

When I was in Romania last year, a young girl was brought to the Joni & Friends outreach. Being the photo journalist on the trip, I would often escort therapists outside as they received their next patient. One girl in particular stands out in my mind. She was lying across the back seat of a car. Her face was puffy and pale. She was drooling and moaning. Her face was so swollen I couldn’t tell if her eyes were open. A tiny tube designed to remove fluid from her lungs every hour was in her nose and taped to her face. I noticed that she was dressed for winter while the rest of us were in t-shirts. She will never walk, talk, play with friends, hold a book or meet a boy. I struggled to hold it together. Where was Gina when I needed her?

Catching only bits and pieces of my interpreter’s broken English, I came to realize the woman who brought the child was her grandmother. The young girl’s parents had died a few years earlier, and the man who brought them wasn’t the dad, just the driver; the taxi driver. Which explains why - as everyone else was working to carefully transfer the girl inside the facility - he was leaning against the hood to light another cigarette. Meter running, I suppose.

I’ll never forget standing behind the curtain with physical therapist, Colleen, as she surveyed the rows of a hundred donated wheelchairs and random parts; one hand on her hip and the other supporting her nose. “I don’t know how I can help this little girl. God will have to build this chair.”

A Gut Feeling
I was witnessing compassion. Colleen gave up her vacation and paid her own way to join a rag-tag team of other volunteers in the distant outreaches of Bucharest. Without her brilliant, bio-mechanical mind, the people in need would not be measured correctly for their chairs. But without her heart, the little girl from the back seat of a rented taxi would not have been truly “seen.”

A modern-day Peter and John, Colleen saw this little girl for the child of God she was and went to work to make it a little easier for her caregivers to get her around. If the grandmother ever describes Jesus to her family, she could very well describe him as a middle-aged woman in scrubs with thick glasses who spent a lot of time making sure the foot rests would accommodate growing, paralyzed legs.

That was Colleen. Military units have words to describe people like Colleen. Brave, trusted, equipped, selfless and compassionate.

I’ve learned the word compassion has its root meaning as being somewhere “in the bowels.” The belly. The gut. The bowels I understand were once thought of as the seat of “love and pity” and an ancient word that describes the impact to someone’s deepest parts. I have a sense it’s where we get the phrase, “a gut feeling.” And that day, my gut told me that a little girl who couldn’t walk, speak or see was going to receive a newly constructed wheelchair no matter what.

You Can Spot A Fake
Back in my old fitness magazine days, we would often used fake weight on photo shoots to help save the models from wear and tear. The weight would need to resemble the workout plan’s prescription, of course, but in order to get all of the shots over the course of a day or two, we needed the load on the bar to appear like 400 lb., but to really be half that. The sweat on the brow was real, but the look on the face was an act. (I would know.) I would call for the model to “grit your teeth,” and “squint the eyes,” or “smile through the pain.” Not only was I the resident fitness director, I became an expert in facial expressions.

Reminds me that in the old city, the Beautiful Gate that led to Solomon’s temple was likely a very popular place for the blind, the lame as well as for con artists to congregate. Some sat there each day in desperate need of anything someone could give. Others were there to swindle all they could get.

I tell ya. I’ve been to every stop along this faith and fitness road. I’ve seen just about everything. I’ve seen the healthy body stage, the stewardship phase, and the self-worth craze. I’ve seen congregations turned into runways where authors like me could strut. I’ve been around long enough to know what’s real.

Move With Compassion
Anyway, a few hours later, we were again outside on the dirt road about to lay that sweet girl into the backseat as we tried to fit her custom-made wheelchair in the trunk of the cab. Unsure of the circumstances this little patient was going back to, Colleen - exhausted mentally and physically - was under the arm of teammate who was praising her work.

Per tradition, we needed a photograph of the moment. We placed the sweet child and her new chair up against the wall and asked Colleen and others to surround her. When it came time for me snap the pic, Colleen tried to smile. She couldn’t. Tears raced from the corners of her eyes to the corners of her mouth. I suppose I could have asked her to smile through the pain, but I know a fake smile when I see one.

Lowering the camera down from my eyes, I stood there realizing that God’s antidote for people in dire need can come in many forms; even in the form of washed-up weightlifters and wanna-be writers like me. Beautiful gates, it seems, can be found in every corner of the world. You just have to find them. You may have to step out of the shadow of the squat rack, social media, and the perfect filters, but when you do, you may just find yourself walking alongside Peter, John and Colleen. And if you find someone in pain or need, you just need to follow their example. Stop, look, and help.

I’m not sure how an old fitness fanatic can become a disability advocate, but I think it has something to do with grace.

- Jimmy Peña

P.S.
The blurry banner image at the top of this entry is a pic of the little girl we had the humble privilege of serving. We wanted one of her alone. And when everyone stepped back, I like to think she smiled.

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Be Moved
On October 2nd, we’re having a national day of awareness, “PrayFit’s National Leg Day” to help people around the country know there is a crisis; for lifters, cyclists and runners to help us send a message that people all around the world can’t move without help. The mobility crisis is huge, and we’re not going to solve it, but you can bet your sweet September that I’m gonna make a noise about it. Whether you’re a runner, walker, lifter, cyclist or otherwise, I hope you’ll join us. To sign up for updates on National Leg Day or to simply give to our cause, click here.

A Final Chapter

“Be obedient and leave the consequences to God.”

— Dr. Charles Stanley

I once had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Charles Stanley in Atlanta, Georgia. I've met a few celebrities in my career, but none of them ever made me nervous. Like, not really. But friends, my hands were sweating and my legs were shaking when I had the honor of speaking with him. You can’t be proud in the presence of the humble.

Well, yesterday morning I got the news that Dr. Stanley was stepping down as Senior Pastor in Atlanta. At 88 years old, he felt it was time to move on to other areas of ministry. He doesn’t believe in retiring, so he made certain to share that he will still be preaching the gospel and active in other areas of ministry.

Shepherd. Stud. Saint.

It was in his church that I experienced one of the first and most powerful moments with someone with special needs. I happened to be sitting behind a man who was paralyzed from the neck down. It was interesting to me that when the choir director asked the congregation to stand and sing, you could feel the collective reluctance of the crowd and could see the slow-moving wave rising to its feet. I thought to myself, I wonder how fast this sweet man would stand if he could.

The next song we sang was 'Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless His Holy name.' You know what? This man's voice was the loudest one around me. When we were asked to stand, he already was.

I wrote in my journal that week, “It’s true that life is not about the body, but if you have health and ability, use it as a means of praise. And Jimmy, if you're called to stand and sing - and you can still stand up and sing - then you stand up and sing!"

DISCIPLINE DETERMINES DESTINY
Well, anyway, I ended up including in my latest book that Dr. Stanley delivered a message entitled, "Discipline Determines Destiny." Of course, he made it clear that he wasn't talking about eternal destiny, but that he wanted to discuss our earthly effectiveness; how we handle our money, our time, our relationships and ohhhh yes, while I was at the edge of my seat, he said it..."how we handle our health and illness."

None of the other topics received much of a reaction (perhaps because they were expected), but when he asked the question, "Who wants to live a long, healthy life?", there was a noticeable murmur. When it became quiet, Dr. Stanley simply asked his congregation how they expected to live abundantly when they're facing avoidable and preventable road blocks of health. Hearing it from me is one thing, but when Dr. Charles Stanley says it, it's another thing altogether.

As he preached, I scribbled. He used words and phrases like,

The value we place on our health will be evident in our diligence... Fulfilling, achieving, orderly, less stressful... Aimless and lethargic versus Godly and confident... Feeling good about yourself... Nothing to do with age... He still has the best in mind for you... Positive impact on others...health can be a way to witness... Build better health and a better faith...

Folks, go ahead and quiet the murmur in your mind and settle your thoughts on this one: Your health and illnesses are important to God. Any personal justification you've otherwise convinced yourself with, is false. Discipline determines destiny, and if you're reading this, yours is still unwritten.

--Jimmy Peña

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THE WHEELHOUSE: NATIONAL LEG DAY
SAVE THE DATE.
PrayFit's National Leg Day is on October 2nd. We’re bringing awareness to the crisis of mobility. Millions are in desperate need of wheelchairs.

When founder, Jimmy Peña, launched the non-profit arm of PrayFit - The Body - (something he affectionately refers to as his 2nd Mountain), he had two goals in mind: 1) fund respite programs for parents and caregivers and 2) help purchase wheelchairs for those around the world caught in a mobility crisis.

Two causes - RE2PITE & WHEELCHAIRS.

On October 2nd, we’re climbing to the top of that 2nd mountain to help raise awareness of the global crisis of mobility. When we get to the top, all you have to do is what you do best. Train. Do what you love with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. LIFT. RUN. WALK. RIDE.

To join us, simply tag @prayfit and use hashtags #thewheelhouse & #nationallegday. Please invite 5 friends to join you in the cause. We can’t wait to see you in the effort. Mobility changes everything. Mobility means access to church, school and work for countless people. Many of those in the middle of this are placed into back bedrooms and left there.

Thanks to you, PrayFit’s National Leg Day on October 2nd will help raise awareness for those around the world that can’t move.

See you at the top.

- Team PrayFit



My Interview with Sylvester Stallone

In 2006, I fulfilled one of my childhood dreams by sitting down for an exclusive one-on-one conversation with Sylvester Stallone. He was promoting a new product, and so my editor-in-chief -- knowing just how special the moment would be for me -- sent me to chat with him. The interview was scheduled just a few months before Rocky Balboa would hit theaters.

Walking into the host hotel, I remember Loretta straightening my tie before I headed up to the suite to conduct my interview. It was a moment I'd never forget. I even carried my master's thesis with me so Stallone could sign it where I had given Rocky praise nearly a decade earlier.

Sitting there, just the two of us, was both surreal and motivating, to say the least. I remember wishing that I could convey just how much of an influence he had been on my life. But before I could, he said something that I repeat to myself to this day. In fact, you've likely heard it repeated in commercials or motivational videos. But to one of my questions, he said:

"Jimmy, in my next film, I wrote that the world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much can you take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done.”

FUTURE GLORY
In Romans it says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Romans 8:18-25)

Funny, I don’t know if I’m winning in life, but I do know that my weakness will never fail me. Grit doesn’t absorb life’s punch. Grace does. My muscle? It wasted. Strength? It faded. When I fail in my workouts these days, I chuckle in worship, grin in surrender and shake my head in praise. Beat that with a stick. My weakness is only getting stronger. Looking inside the old thesis, the irony hit me. Even though Sly told me it’s not about how hard you hit, he wrote what he said to Apollo at the end of Rocky III, “Keep Punchin.”

I will buddy. Life is not all sunshine and rainbows. Like Paul Tripp so delicately wrote, “God is willing to break your bones in order to capture your heart.”

- Jimmy Peña

Your Place In The Sun

A small town 100 miles east of Los Angeles is storied training ground. Resting 9,000 feet above sea level and surrounded by the San Bernardino National Forest, Big Bear Lake is seven miles long and about 1/2 mile wide and has over 300 days of sunshine each year. It’s above the pollution, above the clouds, above the noise. And along with two of our friends in a borrowed 2-story cabin, that’s where Loretta and I spent the last week.

Here’s a quick recap of my routine on the lake. Each day I’d wake, stretch and drink coffee on the wooden balcony while I watched the same two squirrels chase each other up the redwood trees.

The four of us would then hit the unbelievable trails, come back for lunch and take naps. And for those like me that never nap (either because they never make time or because they fear not sleeping at night), it was amazing. I actually fell asleep in the middle of the day! So strange and so awesome. Another quick shower, a little more sightseeing, dinner, and then we would end the day playing cards. Does that sound like the best time? It was.

But Loretta knows, all the while, my brain was cranking about so many things. While the week was a time to recalibrate and refresh, it was also a time of simmering, praying and planning. We dreamers have our way. Vacations can be an exercise of faith; a life-interrupting, plan-disturbing, goal-delaying, ego-disrupting process.

DIVINE CREATIVITY
On one of our daily hikes, I noticed a group of kids sitting on some rocks along the path. Each one had their iPhone out and I could hear YouTube videos and I saw thumbs scrolling and scrolling. I was reminded of something Max Lucado once wrote, “We live in a world of divine creativity and yet we are content to gaze only at the carpet.” As I looked at them, I wondered if that’s how God sees me. After all, my face can get buried inside my phone. My moment of self-righteousness was met with a sobering truth.

Well, one afternoon we took a guided tour on the lake and came across one of the nation’s only solar observatories, which brings me to the point of this entry. I mentioned the 300 days of sunshine, well, while most observatories track the stars in space and study the moon in place, this one just stares at the sun. At such an elevation and with ideal weather conditions, few places on earth have as little between us and the heavens, so it’s the perfect spot to gaze. If you know me, I wrote this entry on that boat.

TRAIN HIGH, WORK LOW
Years ago I spent time training in an altitude chamber. As you may know, training at altitude helps you better perform at sea level. The more time you spend up high, the better you perform down low. As a physiologist, that makes good sense to me, but as a believer, it points me in the right direction; which is exactly where we're going.

”Blame it on Copernicus,” says Lucado. “The world was rocking along pretty well until he came along in 1543 and announced that the sun, and not the earth was the center of the solar system. Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus with his maps and drawings, taps us on our collective shoulders, clears his throat and says, “Excuse me, I’m very sorry to be one to break the news. But the center of our solar system is out there. And lifting a lone finger he pointed toward the brightest star: the sun.

The announcement was not well received. People didn’t receive demotions well back then. We still don’t. We still like to think the universe revolves around us. And we don’t like to be told otherwise. But isn’t this the message of the Bible? Doesn’t God do what Copernicus did? Tapping the collective shoulder of humanity he points to the Son and says, “Behold the center of it all.”

PRODUCTS OF PLACE
A few weeks ago, Loretta and I were at a get-together with boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya. Big Bear Lake is where he’d train for his bouts against Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. But as it turns out, that little lake up the road from Los Angeles can also serve as storied training ground for old and busted fighters like me.

Aaron Cohen once wrote, “Boxers are products of place; inevitably where they come from is how they end up in the ring and how they fight once they get there.”

Ten years ago I sponsored Robert Guerrero, a fighter on HBO Pay-per-View Boxing (pictured above). Some of you were there for that one. I put PrayFit.com across his trunks in hopes that the world would visit my little website. They did. I only wish that I was fighting then the same fight I was fighting now; a fight for those that need respite or for those that need the gift of mobility.

Ten years ago - it ALL revolved around me - or so I thought.

- Jimmy Peña

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Lord, thank you for being the center of it all, even when (and especially when) we don’t act like it. I find it easier to worry than to pray. Easier to fret than to have faith. But thank you for the times when you take us up above the muck of life. Thank you for reminding us that the best place to fight is from our knees. Please be with our fragile country, our leaders, teachers, students, caregivers and law enforcement. Please be with those in our circles that have been touched by this nasty virus. We lift up our spouses, our parents, siblings, our pastors and our friends. Many are hurting with pain unknown. You are the center of it all. You came low. We need you for every breath and thought. Somehow you assemble these fragments of mine into something you alone understand. May they bless each reader. In your precious name, amen.

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Would you like to join our fight for those that need respite care and mobility? Click the link below and get involved.

Self-battle > self-hug

“God, you called, shouted, broke through my deafness; you flared, blazed, banished my blindness; you lavished your fragrance, I gasped; and now I pant for you; I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst; you touched me, and I burned for your peace.”

— St. Augustine

Peace.

Lift two fingers in the air and you have its symbol. Wave a white flag in the air and you make a plea. Summits are held for it. Deals are made in its name. We want financial peace, peace of mind, peace and quiet. But what about physical peace?

When I was the fitness director at Muscle & Fitness Magazine, peace had a price. Peace required blood, sweat and tears. Peace came with a pump.
Peace ran with my two homies whose names were “Pain” and “Progress.” 

Most will try and comfort you by saying a little progress is better than no progress. But even that falls flat on its pitiful Instagram face. Progress brings about as much peace as a low fuel signal on the 405 freeway at rush hour.

Anyway years later, peace was stubborn for me. Peace hid his face. He knew his place and kept his own pace. Make no mistake, peace wasn’t shy, he ignored me. Flat out saw me coming and turned around.

Peace only came when the pain went away.
Peace came when the surgery took;
when the medicine worked,
when the suffering ceased. 

Today’s quick theme is about being at peace with everyone, if at all possible when it depends on us (Rom 12:18). And the body, our health - no matter its state - is a means by which we do that. True story. Whatever your state of health as you read this sentence is your opportunity to be at peace with others.

How we handle our gifts and abilities could produce that truce. And where we go in times of sickness is a real chance at a treaty. Isn't that the real point? It really isn't about being at peace with my body. God-forbid I minimize the topic down to the preservation of self-acceptance, self-esteem, self-love or being comfortable in my own skin. That kind of peace calls for a self-battle, not a self-hug.

Truth is, to be absent of the body is to be present with the Lord. Chew on that. The divine irony for the fitness-minded - as we battle gravity and decide who gets the glory when the byproducts are revealed - is that when we finally lose the skin we're in, that’s when we'll realize it.

To live and love like Jesus in the fitness industry I'm convinced is to steward the body but be absent of it.

- Jimmy Peña

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THE NEW BODY
“Vocations have testing periods,” says David Brooks. “Periods when the costs outweigh the benefits - which a person must go through to reach another level of intensity. But a person who has found a vocation doesn’t feel like he or she has a choice. But to quit would be a violation of their nature. When the issue lies at the very heart of who one is, it becomes unthinkable to turn away.”

I thought of that quote by David Brooks recently as Team PrayFit was working on the Body page in order to make it easy for people to get involved in our vocation of providing respite and mobility. From creating simple ways for you to pledge birthdays and dedicate workouts, to making it incredibly easy to become monthly subscribers and partners, to our new DONOR WALL with YOUR NAME ON IT, the passion in these climbers that have tethered themselves to this second mountain is a product of inner triumphs, not outer ones.

And I marvel as I catch them out of my periphery as we scale up and down - often in silence - in order to best serve you. Because the better we are at serving you, the better we will all be at what we have been summoned to do. Check it out. Click any of the images to see the new page.

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Suffer Strong

“I’d be happy to pray, but let me first say…”

After meeting in college, Jay and Katherine married and moved to Los Angeles to pursue careers in law and entertainment. At that time, they were living on campus at Pepperdine, where they were the young parents of little James.

Just three weeks before Jay was set to graduate, Katherine suffered a rupture in her brain from a mass known as an arteriovenous malformation (AVM). Many of you know Jay and Katherine and their ministry and books and their powerful voices. I think in this day and age, amid the cultural, political and health crisis, theirs could be some of the most needed voices for the believing world to hear.

Well, anyway, watching a video of theirs at Passion Church a few months ago, Katherine was asked at the end of the service to pray for the viewers. She said, “I’d be happy to pray, but let me just say….”

Katherine had a promising career in entertainment, modeling, maybe acting; living in Malibu, married to a soon-to-be lawyer and with a newborn filling the house with joy and life.

If you’ve ever been to Malibu and specifically to Pepperdine, the sunrise and sunsets dancing off the Pacific ocean have eden-like features and characters. Every morning seagulls sing, whales wale, and deer graze the steep, vast, manicured lawn of the campus as the mist begins to lift from the shoreline across Highway 1.

I picture Katherine squinting and grinning as she opens up her blinds to let the light in. Life was good.

As written in Hope Heals, following her stroke, Katherine was rushed to UCLA Medical Center and one of the world’s best neurosurgeons, Dr. Nestor Gonzalez, “just happened” to be on call. It was the largest AVM he has ever seen, in the worst location. She was not expected to live, but despite the grim prognosis and the lawyer husband, he decided to take the case.

Today half of her body is paralyzed among other physical battles as she and Jay continue to speak truth about suffering well - if not strong - to millions around the world. So when Louie Giglio asked her to pray at Passion, she said,

“I’d be happy to pray, but let me just say, “God gives hidden treasure in the secret places so that we may know him and live differently because of the treasure we get to take hold of and cherish and champion for the rest of our lives. That treasure - (and this is a deep comfort) - is only available when we are in the deep darkness. We get to hold it and let it inform how we live moving forward. That is special stuff. Don’t miss it in the darkness. Get that treasure and let it change you.”

God could have used Katherine Wolf to impact millions through movie roles and modeling gigs, but God chose her for the vocation of suffering. He sent her to the deep, dark places beneath layers of health and wealth to the deepest recesses of pain and desperation and hollowness and pitch blackness. It was there that Katherine realized the treasure has nothing to do with the physical; be it in the world or of the body, the treasure is the promise of Jesus and His sacrifice and the knowledge that we will be with Him for all eternity.

I’ve said it before, but you may not come out of times of suffering healed or better or progressing at all, but you do come out different. In some cases both weaker and stronger. But that doesn’t happen unless, as Katherine implores, unless we get the treasure and hold it and cherish and champion it so that it informs how we live. I think that’s what she means when she says for us to suffer strong.

- Jimmy Peña

Prayer Requests:
During this time, are you a dark place? Maybe amid this pandemic or with school decisions or with loss of work or loss of loved ones or your own health? I am in my own, and I covet your prayers for me, my family and this ministry. If you would like us to be praying for you, list it here or simply say, “unspoken” and we promise to pray for you.

Help Us Keep Writing:
If you’ve been blessed by PrayFit’s The PER2PECTIVE all these years and you’d like to help us sustain and continue the work that God has called us to, you can help us by becoming a monthly member of The Body. Some can give $25/mo (less than $1/day). Some can give more and others can give less, but every monthly gift allows us to continue our vocation of helping provide respite care, provide mobility, merchandise and resources like this devotional each week. Thank you for your generosity.

all donations are tax deductible. PrayFit is a 501c3 non-profit organization.

Borrowing God's Smile

The last of all the brothers to pass in front of Samuel, the Lord said, "Rise up and anoint him. This is the one." (1 Sam. 16:12)

I know I've talked about David in the past -- about how he chose stones to defeat his giant, but something in my reading caught my attention. As he was being brought before Samuel, the Bible says of young David, "He was glowing with health..." Neat right?

This is the way they described
the shepherd boy from the pastures of Bethlehem;
the shepherd boy who would drop the armor and then drop Goliath;
the shepherd boy who would hide in caves, fight entire armies, lose private battles and write Psalms;
And above all, this is the way they described the shepherd boy who would come to be known as a man after God's own heart.

Now, let’s be clear. God never called us to perfect health. In fact, honoring God with our bodies doesn't mean we'll be fit at all. (A show of hands of those that have been hit with an unforeseen illness.) Besides, you and I know too many missionaries who can't climb ropes to save their own lives, but they've offered themselves up to help save souls.

Believers in the fitness industry need to stable the high horse. If we have the gift of ability, we may glow with health, but may we never gloat with it. If you listened to yesterday’s “The 2nd Mountain” podcast it may help shed light on the fact that sometimes the byproduct of obedience means more muscle and sometimes it means less.

But it's a heart issue. And the only one who sees the heart is God and God alone. The God who sees us through the thick and thin, because He loves us all (the thick and the thin.) Our job is to love. Period. And for that we don't need to pose. We need a pulse, and a heart that beats for Jesus.

Joni Eareckson Tada once said that the struggles of daily life can threaten to overwhelm, especially when pain and discomfort dominate. But God has the resources - physical, emotional, and spiritual - that we need to “make it,” one day at a time. “We may sometimes need to borrow God’s smile and simply rely on God’s strength to give us the emotional energy we need for that moment.”

Yeah, guys. What does the Bible say? The joy of the Lord is our strength. I’m leaning in that direction today. His grin for my grimace. His wink for my wince. His peace for my pain.

And that’s the end of the lesson. Whether we’re glowing with unmistakable health or crawling through an invisible hell, it’s God’s smile - on us or borrowed by us - that people see.

- Jimmy Peña

FOR DISCUSSION
You can glow as much with health as you can through illness. Where are you in this scenario? Are you borrowing God’s smile allowing His eternal grace to exceed your weak grit? Talk to me.

SUBSCRIBE:
Our latest short podcast from “The 2nd Mountain” is up and hopefully you can take a listen. If you have specific topics or questions that you’d like me to address, please send along. You can email us at [email protected]. If it’s cool that I mention your name on the show with your question, let us know.

Clear Eyes Again

“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”

— Romans 12:3

Scotty Smith once prayed, "Heavenly Father, nothing is more daily and revealing than our words; the conversations we carry on in our minds, and the communications we share with our lips. We don't want to contradict our love for you by a graceless use of our words. We want our hearts to be SO full of your loving-kindness today, it'll be difficult to waste our words on self-deprecation or self-exaltation." Wow. 

”It'll be difficult to waste our words on self-deprecation or self-exaltation.”

Man, guys. Are our hearts so blasted by the gospel that we despair to either think too low or too high of ourselves? Are we finding it as difficult to be anxious about our illness as we do to boast about our fitness? I hope so. But the battle is fierce and daily. The goal of PrayFit is to help us all see both our sickness and our ability through the same gospel; to realize that either state is a chance to reveal the glory of His grace. After all, our healthiest moment may come on our sickest day.

John Piper once asked, "Is the glory of God the brightest treasure on the horizon of your future?" What a perfect question for us. Whether you're a fitness-minded believer trying to either gain perspective, battle through illness, engage with an invisible disability or just lose a few inches, this is the question we need to ask ourselves.

If the answer is yes, it throttles us, does it not? It controls the desire, tempers the enthusiasm, or it ignites a passion to honor God with better choices of food and fitness.

The glory of God - like an unexpected reflection of the sun - blinds us, forcing us to shut our eyes, turn our heads and wait for our vision to adjust.

Whether you’re about to train or enjoy your morning coffee, PrayFit (God-willing) provides that period of time of necessary adjustment.

Blink, blink, blink, blink. Ok, bursts gone, shadows removed. Clear eyes again. May the light of His glory and grace make it difficult for us to see ourselves as anything more or less than what we are.

- Jimmy Peña 

For Discussion: Are you a fitness-minded believer? What is your testimony in one sentence? Do you battle illness? Are you a “faith and fitness” advocate? Did your fitness fail you or did you fail it? Let me know in the comments section. I’m taking a poll.

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We Applaud God

“We may not emerge out of times of suffering healthy, strong or healed, but we do come out different. Changed. Some even come out with a vocation. As if the dust that has settled formed a path of purpose, with the first sign of clean air allowing for a deep inhale and a look of resolve. Picture me looking down that road as I type this sentence.

“Suffering drags you deeper into yourself,” says David Brooks. “It smashes you through a floor you thought was the bottom floor of your soul, revealing a cavity below, and then it smashes through that floor, revealing another cavity, and so on and so on. The person in pain descends to unknown ground. Suffering opens up ancient places that have been hidden. When people are thrust down into these deeper zones, thrust into lonely self-scrutiny, they are forced to confront the fact that they can’t determine what goes on there. It shatters the illusion of self-mastery. It teaches gratitude. We realize how undeserving we are.”

If I can ascend up into the gym or studio - the shallow periphery that I know as well as any and better than most - when was the last time you and I praised and applauded God for His allowance of our limits? Forget our basements, but what about for our ceilings? Limits are both above and below.

And if the world hears that as an admission of weakness, they're right. Only, we know it as applause. An applause that echoes off the bottom floor of our despair to the rooftops of our ability. An applause from us; the stoppable. When we own our weakness, we applaud God.”

- Jimmy Peña

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30 for 30

“Yes, to walk is a wonderful thing. I haven’t done it in decades, but I recall very well the joy of running, skipping and jumping. But there are far more important things in life than standing up and walking.” - Joni Eareckson Tada

The longest indoor wheelchair ramp on the planet supports the wheelchair of the second longest surviving quadriplegic in the world. A diving accident in 1967 left Joni Eareckson Tada, then 17, a quadriplegic. She eventually founded “Joni and Friends” in 1979 to share the hope of the Gospel and give practical help to people impacted by disability worldwide. She and her friends have been changing lives around the globe for the past 40 years.

Well, if you’d help me, we’re giving a HUGE SHOUT OUT to Joni, because this weekend marks 30 years since Joni helped President George H.W. Bush sign into law the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA is one of America's most comprehensive pieces of civil rights legislation that prohibits discrimination and guarantees that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else to participate in the mainstream of American life -- to enjoy employment opportunities, to purchase goods and services, and to participate in State and local government programs and services.

You know, during a time when we are all ready for the end of quarantine and closures, Joni would likely tell you of people in back bedrooms all over the world that have never left their homes because they lack the most basic of mobility resources. Imagine if we were told we could never again go to the gym or leave the house for that matter. What we would do? We probably wouldn’t stand for it. There’s a painful irony there too deep to deconstruct.

30 for 30 Pledge
So here we go. We’re asking 30 of our readers to join The Body between now and Sunday and pledge $30/mo (just $1/day) in honor and celebration of Joni’s work and to help us in our efforts of providing the gift of mobility to those in need.

Just $1/day to help solve the mobility crisis for someone. And if you become one of our generous givers, we will send you a free gift of anything in the store, plus the new MORE ABILITY mission shirt as a thank you for helping us celebrate the occasion.

We’re looking for just 30 passionate and determined individuals to please come alongside us and help us be a part of the solution to this crisis. We’re following Joni’s lead. Let’s do this together. Mobility changes everything. It’s a gift. Let’s give it.

- Jimmy Peña

The Pool

The pool of Bethesda was known for its crowd. But not just any crowd. The hurting kind. The desperate kind. Max Lucado describes the scene, “Picture a battlefield strewn with wounded bodies, and you see Bethesda. Imagine a nursing home overcrowded and understaffed, and you see the pool.”

Why did they congregate? Well, underground springs would cause the water to bubble at the surface. It was thought that the bubbles were the visible sign of the dipping of angel wings. And if you were close enough to be the first to touch the water after the angel did, you’d be healed.

The scene sends me back to my time in Israel, Romania and most recently, Brazil; to the lines of people waiting to visit their own Bethesda. Ladies sitting in the dirt, waving away the stubborn fly while wearing their favorite dresses; men in suits that were two-sizes-too-big and borrowed ties, children being carried in by grandparents that have adopted them as their own because their parents either ran away or passed away.

A modern-day Pool of Bethesda. They came in on their hands wearing their Sunday best. Why? Because it was the most important day of their lives. It was the day they were to receive their first wheelchair and likely their first Bible.

When you’re suffering, you go to the pool.

AMONG THE SUFFERING
”Can you picture it? Jesus walking among the suffering,” writes Max. “It was the Passover feast. People have come from miles around to meet God in the temple. Little did they know God was with the sick. Little do they know God is walking slowly, stepping carefully between the beggars, the lame and the blind.”

God is where you least expect Him. Fast-forward 2,000 years, if Jesus were confined to one location, where would He go? I’m not sure. Ringside at HBO boxing? Court side seats at Madison Square Garden? Maybe he’d attend the CrossFit games, but up in the rafters to accept the point of praise from the champion. My sinful heart doubts it. No, I double-down that He’d be in hospital rooms watching kids point to where it hurts. I think He’d be at the Pool of Bethesda.

In a few weeks, we begin our courses at PrayFit U with the schools of Grace & Suffering, Exercise Physiology and Culinary Arts. It’s a way to raise funds for our higher calling of helping fund The Body for those in John 5. We don’t have anything against Madison Square Garden or the CrossFit games. It’s just, nobody is waiting for us there.

- Jimmy Peña

GIVE. ENROLL. LISTEN. SHARE.

Whether it’s by becoming a part of The Body (monthly donors dedicated to helping us continue our cause), or by enrolling in PrayFit U (self-paced, personalized courses with Jimmy and others beginning this August), you can help us at PrayFit. Thank you for leaning in and joining us as we seek to serve those impacted by disability through the fitness industry. Please share this post on social media. Maybe some of your friends and family would be interested and willing to come alongside us as well.

PLUS: SUBSCRIBE to Jimmy’s new podcast, “The 2nd Mountain.” In this inaugural episode, he explains the meaning behind the “2.” Enjoy.

The First Class

As most of you know, PrayFit was born in the fertile landscape of ability but uprooted by the blessing of adversity, sickness, setbacks and suffering. The motto of PrayFit Ministries has always been, "We Are The Body” and well, PrayFit U and “The Student Body” is the natural extension of that mission.

Dedicated to excellence in 'higher' education with the mandate to serve those with disabilities, PrayFit U is a seasoned coalition, building the most complete array of grace-based curriculum in the industry. Classes (with me) begin in less than 20 days. We will have more instructors and teachers as the months continue. (If you’re interested in being an instructor or an affiliate, email us at [email protected].)

PURPOSE of PRAYFIT U
We have two primary mountains we climb at PrayFit: 1) fund special needs ministry with things like respite and facilities, and 2) help solve the mobility crisis by funding the purchase and distribution of wheelchairs to those around the world. Proceeds from The School of Exercise Physiology, The School of Culinary Arts and The School of Grace & Suffering will help us fulfill that vocation and sustain our charity.

School of Grace and Suffering: IN FOCUS
In the School of Grace & Suffering, we’ll circle together around the sovereignty of God for our collective sanity. This is not your kiddie pool “faith and fitness” environment. You just don't splash around in chronic illness and disorienting pain. From Biblical weakness to unforeseen illnesses, together we will mine the well of wisdom of God's Word along with heroes of the faith like A.W. Tozer, Charles Spurgeon, Paul Tripp, Joni Eareckson Tada and many others as they guide us down forever road. Our restored bodies in Heaven will make sense of these broken bodies on earth.

In Master Class style, primed with video tutorials, audio lectures, handouts, homework, quizzes and certificates, the first course available is “The Unprecedented Journey,” designed for….

The fitness enthusiast. For the person who has a passion for fitness but who also wants to wrap their hard-charging heart around the purpose and idea of real suffering.

The trainer. For the person who teaches others how to be fit, or how to lose some weight or improve strength, flexibility and endurance not knowing their clients may have disorienting pain (or who are perhaps aware) but want to have a fresh, godly perspective on - and sensitivity for - their client’s travail.

The dietitian. For the person who knows the value of healthy nutrition and teaches others how to manage macronutrients while also wanting to know the Biblical perspective of pain and chronic illness for themselves and their clients.

The Gym Owner. For he or she who employs those with invisible, chronic pain. It’s for the gym owner who serves guests and customers with invisible, chronic pain. It’s for the gym owner who has invisible, chronic pain.

It’s for the caregiver, family member, friend who needs to know a stitch of the ‘why’ and ‘what’ of suffering and pain and how they can rest in the sovereignty of God for their own sanity while providing genuine care and comfort to those they love.

This course is for the healthy and strong; for the one who may have never battled with anything before; never a blip on the radar in terms of pain or setbacks. It’s for those that still believe you always get what you work for; that health is earned and strength and ability are measures of how much you “want” it.

And this course is for the sick, the hurting, the pain-stricken and constant sufferer. The one that wants to know the Biblical view of suffering, the theology of it, and a few thoughts and perspectives from some that have gone through (or are living through) the travail of pain.

If you suffer or you know someone who does, I wrote this course for you.

- Jimmy Peña

Passion For The Long Haul

The two lived on the same block as kids. Both had strict, loving parents. Daily chores included loading hay, carrying feed and helping in the fields. Their young backs were growing strong because of it. After school and homework, they'd meet up in the streets to play childhood games till dark. They were tight-knit. Best pals.

As it turned out, the two had a mutual friend that lived down the street. Their same age, he couldn't walk; paralyzed from birth. But that didn't stop him from telling a good joke or razzing the game's underdog. He was part of the crew. One of the boys.

As years passed, they grew into strong and able men with families of their own. Except, of course, for the one who was crippled. His two buddies checked on him daily though. He had a place at their table on holidays. He was the full-time ref in neighborhood competitions. They worshiped together each weekend. Indeed, after all the years, still tight.

Well, when news arrived that He was in town, the two ran toward each other's homes. In fact, they met in the middle and took turns catching their breath as they talked about their plan. Strong boys became strong men, and carrying their friend all the way across town to the One they say was able to work miracles made all those childhood chores worth it. And in fact, those chores made it possible.

The crowd around the house made it tough to get inside through traditional means. Holding the ends of the bed, the two looked at each other as if sharing the same memory of hauling hay, hoisting feed, playing games and growing up. Only one thing left for friends to do. Lift.

Most of us are familiar with the actual Biblical account of the friends who lifted their friend through the roof to be healed, but isn't it neat to wonder what got them there? What we do know is that Jesus forgave sins, healed bones, and read minds.

Part of me likes to think Jesus was pleased with the faith of those guys; a faith they exercised with their backs. And I like to imagine the three of them walking home together don't you? Who knows, maybe they played a street game for old times sake. Someone had some catching up to do. 

- Jimmy Peña

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PASSION:  If you have the gift of ability and health, you never know who it's for. Go quickly. Those two boys represent our 2nd mountain: to raise money for those impacted by special needs and for those in need of the gift of mobility. If you’d like to join us, we could use a few backs to help us lift. Join us in our effort by clicking here. It takes passion for the long haul. Passion. It’s a gift.

The Glory of His Grace

I will not yield my glory to another. (Isaiah 42:8)

God said that. God doesn't share glory with you. He doesn't share glory with me. God created the Heavens and the earth, along with your neighborhood, and the mountains, and your little gym, and billions of galaxies, each grain of sand on every seashore, the hummingbird’s wings and the brittle bones of the hands typing this poorly constructed sentence for one purpose: for the glory of God's grace. That's it.

Why does He allow for both fitness and suffering? Why does He approve health and illness? To display the glory of His grace.

John Piper says that, "God created man in his own image. What was the point? The point of an image is to image. Images are erected in public to display the original. Point to the original. Glorify the original. God made humans in his image so that the world would be filled with reflectors of God. Images of God. Billions of statues of God. So that nobody would miss the point of creation. Nobody could miss the point of humanity...namely...God! Knowing, loving and showing God."

As we march toward PrayFit U in our efforts to use our fitness to serve the disability community, God wants every single thing we think, speak, and train for to reveal just that. Your best health will come when your body points others to Christ. That may not be your idea of an "ideal" weight. That may not mean after your best lift, run or set. It may even come on your weakest, toughest, sickest day. But the best moment your body will ever experience is when the glory of His grace is on display.

- Jimmy Peña

GRACE BUILDING
You may not recognize the Grace building, but it’s in NY. We took pictures in front of it the last time we were there. The best is when you get under grace and look up. We’re all grace buildings, I suppose.

PrayFit U: PrayFit was born in the fertile landscape of ability but uprooted by the blessing of adversity. The motto of PrayFit Ministries has always been, "We Are The Body." This education center will soon open and it’s the natural extension of that mission. Dedicated to excellence in 'higher' education with the mandate to serve those with disabilities, PrayFit U is the field's most accomplished and seasoned coalition, building the most complete array of grace-based curriculum anywhere. The store for The Student Body is being filled. Check it out.

The Student Body

In preparing for the upcoming fall lectures and courses within PrayFit U, the team is inspecting what we’re expecting, while I am doing my homework. As we prepare to enroll the first class of The Student Body, I’m knee-deep, preparing myself for group studies and my one-on-ones with you.

Sure, the exercise physiology and nutrition time together will make office hours fun, but it’s The School of Grace and Suffering that I’m most excited about. The lectures are intense. It’s where I will probably be spending most of my time. It’s home. Workouts are worship - yes - but suffering is a sermon.

From Spurgeon, to Joni, to Tozer, to Tripp, I am being poured over by giants in the field. Funny, I came to Los Angeles initially to work for a man who was the best in the world at showing off muscle. Now all I want to do is serve those that can’t move a one.

With proceeds from each college to benefit those impacted by special needs through The Body and The Wheelhouse, we are gearing up for a really neat semester. And the the gift we have for trainers and dietitians is a dream come true.

CLARITY
Alistair Begg once said that suffering can clarify things like nothing else can. He’s so right. In fact, when I wrote Extra Lean for Mario Lopez, we had an amazing time educating millions of people on the importance of practical, balanced eating. I remember sitting off-stage on shows like Ellen and The Today Show watching him masterfully deliver his lines. If you can picture me at the curtain’s edge, you’d see me mouthing his next sentence with a grin. And although our book made “the list” and we skyrocketed to publishing’s Cooperstown, I was still pretty fuzzy on my purpose. Success did not bring clarity. It was actually disorienting in ways.

A few years later, I’m in the green room of Regis and Kelly with another friend of mine waiting for our time to be on stage, when Kelly Ripa walked in and asked if her dress was too short. A few in the room thundered, “No!” She looked great, don’t get me wrong, but I reluctantly nodded, “Yes.” She thanked me and eventually changed her dress. Great rooms are often the wrong ones.

Moments like that were mile markers on the road to significance. I’ve made too many mistakes in my life. I battle demons of sin, regret and shame, but grace taught my heart to fear.

Fast-forward to yesterday. I’m in a closet-turned-sound room downstairs in my condo. Those aforementioned awards and accolades are uprooted and somewhere in a box in the garage. Sound-proofing, microphone, script taped on the walls, I am completely alone. Not even an echo challenges me. My team is around the city, the state and the world while I deliver content to 50,000 email subscribers along with context for a tired “faith & fitness” genre. I’ve been where everyone wants to go, but it’s a dead end. (For the fitness expert, that may offend you now, but it will make sense someday.)

Fitness, even if under the guise of faith may not develop character or perseverance, maturity or humility, but suffering will. Fitness may not keep us on track or deepen our insight to God, but suffering can. And you can bet your sweet month of June on this…fitness will reveal what you love, especially when you lose it, leaving God’s glory in its wake.

- Jimmy Peña

The Student Body

PrayFit was born in the fertile landscape of ability but uprooted by the blessing of adversity. The motto of PrayFit Ministries has always been, "We Are The Body." This education center is the natural extension of that mission. Dedicated to excellence in 'higher' education with the mandate to serve those with disabilities, PrayFit U is the field's most accomplished and seasoned coalition, building the most complete array of grace-based curriculum anywhere. Join The Student Body.