Sometimes It Takes A Mountain
“It means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.”
Three more months. That’s what we’ve been told.
As I type, I can hear neighbors talking from window to window and door to door. Delivery trucks up and down the street, dogs barking. Life. Questions. Uncertainty. Strangeness. Life.
I just got back from making a trip to the market. Masks, lines, quiet.
On the way home, I was listening to my friend, Frank Sontag from the Frank Sontag Show. He had me on as a guest a few years ago as I was promoting a product. Anyway, as I drove down the street, he was playing a 50-year old recording of a sermon by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Left lane turn signal on, "If you want to be important, wonderful. If you want to be recognized, wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.”
Intersection. Waiting for green light, “It means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.”
Left turn up my block, “You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.”
Pulling into my parking spot at home, “You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve.”
Car in park. Staring out my driver’s-side window, “You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.”
Loretta and I have been reading through the Bible in chronological order and today I read in Psalm 33, “The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations and thwarts all their schemes….The Lord looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race…He made their hearts so he understands everything they do. The best-equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior.”
Opens door. Brings groceries in. Sits down in writing corner…
Even in the midst of a pandemic, we all have our calling, our work, families, hobbies, passions and pursuits. We try and navigate this strange time, dodging the weirdness, accommodating the strangeness, enduring it all. But one thing remains a constant. Service. People in need still need. Those in isolation still need to be reached. Those that can’t move still need mobility. Crazy. The Church is still the church and believers in the fitness industry are still just that.
A few years ago, sickness and illness were my mountains. Sidelined by unforeseen illness and debilitating sickness, I was on my back; helpless. Today I’m plugging away, planning incredible things through PrayFit, working on projects. But I’m a different man. A weaker man. A smaller man. Just a man gaining a clearer perspective of my place and the grace that carried me here.
An old Gospel hymn,
"Sometimes it takes it mountain,
Sometimes a troubled sea,
Sometimes a desert,
to get a hold of me.
Your love is so much stronger,
than whatever troubles me,
sometimes it takes a mountain,
to trust you and believe."
Anything getting a hold of you? Something bringing you to your knees or making you want to climb? Are you learning more about who God wants you to be during this time? Are you finding fresh ways to serve? You know, troubled seas come in all forms: job loss, health woes and distance. Sometimes all it takes in order to trust and believe is a quick trip to the market. Sometimes it takes a mountain.
- Jimmy Peña
JUST LIKE US: Pictured atop the entry is Ali Keller; PrayFit’s newest team member. A sports medicine student with a heart and soul for kids impacted with disabilities, Ali is a climber of 2nd mountains.
PRAYER REQUESTS: Let’s go to the Lord together in prayer. If you have a request, please list it here. If you’d rather not be specific, simply say, “Unspoken” and we will pray for you.
RISE
Will you help us spread the message of serving others by sporting our most comfortable t-shirt ever? RISE is shipping as we speak. Three colors, one message. (And because of something we have coming soon, now is the time to get this.)
