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

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.