Devout

Twenty-plus years ago, fitness was a god. I worshipped it. Maybe not on Sunday (after all, I had been a Christian for years and I wanted to please God and serve Him), but Monday thru Saturday, I was the gym's most devout follower. Daily gratification, success, and even my self-worth were gauged by my body's tightness from yesterday's workout. Ahhh, yes, I longed for it. Soon the delayed onset of muscle soreness would reveal itself, and eventually growth and repair would fill my shirts and jeans, along with my ego.

The overnight fast was devastating to my hopes of growth, so I'd gobble my quick-digesting protein along with both my fast and slow-digesting carbs faster than you can say 'high-intensity interval.' Following that meal, I'd become the judge and jury of an argument in my brain; a paranoid clash between my metabolism and my catabolism. In truth, the relentless balance between growth and leanness circled my brain like vultures. Keep the fire going but don't burn too quickly. Hold your pump, but keep your vascularity. Stay big, but don't spill over. To say nothing about the workout of the day.

The blood, sweat and tears of each gym session were like rain to the Sahara. This is what I was made for; to train, to lift, to grow, to show, to drive, to grit my teeth and push my limits. And of course, then came the day's last meal, and of course the planning, the hoping, the measuring, the needed rest and the deep sleep required to unlock the necessary rebuilding hormones to do their thing. The sun couldn't rise quick enough. ZZZZzzzzzzzz. Tic-toc, tic-toc. And....repeat.

When we seek first the kingdom of muscle, we're subject to everything it requires. We're consumed, blinded, loyal subjects. Healthy? Yep. Ripped? Uh-huh. Strong? One of the strongest. But I wasn't loving God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. I was loving me with all of those things. And of course, I'd try and give God the glory on Sunday (hoping my shoulders filled my dress shirt.) Give God the glory each day? I wasn't giving him 5 minutes. Saved? Yes. Spirit-filled? Beyond a doubt. Honoring God with my body? .............. 
Jimmy Peña

For Discussion: I loved training. I miss it. But I would do it differently if I could go back. I spent so much time honoring my body that I failed to honor God with it. Forgive the free-flow entry today. If my experience is at all helpful or speaks to the lifters among you, I'm grateful. (And oh, if I could still train today, I'd be training with you guys; a little old school and a lot of grace.) :-) 

Your Suffering Is A Sermon

For years, we've said that our health is a means of praise and that our fitness can be a witness, and it's the truth. But if you look through the gospels, you won't find Jesus with the fit and fiddle. You won't find him around the strong, talking about able muscles, clear lungs or stable legs. And He certainly never wanted us to boast or show any of those things off. No. Where do we constantly find our Savior? With the sick. The ill. The needy, hurting, ailing, failing, and wailing. The "fitness is my witness" cliché?  Sure.  But like Max Lucado says, "It's your suffering that's a sermon."

Next week, we'll look back at a few times the Lord allowed me to confess it. And at the same time, I'll ask you to share your life, your pain, your strain and the stories of those you love. Friends, our God is at much at work during our illness as He is during our mountain-top moments. How we handle our pain-free abilities and gifts of good health can serve a mighty purpose - we can't downplay it - but where we go in times of pain and sickness says more to others about the God we serve than all of that combined. 

- Jimmy Peña

For Discussion: In the image above, the verse is taken from Psalm 51; where David is using physical metaphors to describe his heart's agony over sin. I encourage you to read it today.

Take Another Step

I'm gonna wear this song out. Seems I can't enough of the ditty by Steven Curtis Chapman. It's called "Take Another Step." Play, repeat, play, repeat. Thing is, I want to wear this song out; out on my walk, out to my therapy, out to the store. Let's walk and talk.

My eyes had not yet adjusted. After turning out the lights last night, I stood in pitch blackness. You know the feeling. Though your eyes are wide open, you can't see the end of your nose. So I did what you do. I didn't budge. I reasoned that in my condition the last thing I need to do is trip and fall. But Loretta's eyes had already adjusted to the dark. "You're fine, take another step." And there it is. What had to happen for me to move? I needed to have faith that Loretta could see in the dark.

We encourage babies to do it. Patients that surround me at rehab need to hear it. From someone discouraged because they haven't lost a pound, to someone trying to overcome the loss of a loved one, it's the most basic, difficult and necessary action any of us have to do to get through.

Are you in the dark today, unable to budge? Fearful about something? Timid or unsure? The light of your circumstances has gone out and you're standing there blind with your eyes wide open. Friend, He knows how you feel. But He sees in the dark. After all, He is the light. Just close your eyes, hold on to Him and take another step. And another step. And another step. And another step. Before you know it, you're wearing the song out.

--Jimmy Peña

For Discussion: As you step out the door, is putting one foot in front of the other as tough literally as it is theoretically? I hope we can be an encouragement to you to keep going. Praying for you, hoping for you, helping shine His light so you can find your way. If you'd like us to help you pray about something, let us know. We're right here.

(I encourage you to go to iTunes and download the CD by Steven Curtis Chapman called, "A Glorious Unfolding." When you get to "Take Another Step" turn it up for me.)

Honorable Mention

One of my most vivid childhood memories was the time I entered the science fair. It was intense. I was in kindergarten, so you can imagine how involved I was in putting together my project. Well, long story short, my Dad welded a cage together and hung magnets with varying lengths of string throughout. It was awesome. You moved one magnet and they attracted and repelled like crazy. My favorite part was shaking the cage and watching everything go nuts. (I think that was my unplanned grand finale during my presentation.) I figured that move was sure to push me over the top. I remember looking up at the judge as if to say, "Did I win!?" Well, when we arrived back at school that night, the consolation ribbon on my project said, "Honorable Mention."

I got to thinking about that old science fair recently. I didn't place, but I didn't leave empty-handed.

You know, when we say "grace is enough," it's not a consolation prize. It's not a pillow for our letdowns. I mean, we have our goals in life; career, relationships, even those of health and fitness, and if we don't achieve them, we know that grace is enough, right? But grace is still higher than any goal we could ever dream of, let alone achieve. And the older I get I'm finding that there’s more joy and power in preceding any goal -  fitness or otherwise - with that immeasurable truth.

It's beyond comforting, yes, but I guess the key I'm learning is to check my goals at the cross first and then allow them to be molded under and bolster my ability to celebrate the only One that can satisfy, and that's Jesus. Feel me? Empty-handed grace. Not a consolation prize for unfulfilled fitness goals. It is the prize. All else is honorable mention, and most of the time, not.

- Jimmy Peña

For Discussion: Did this reach anyone? It reached me. LIKE today's entry or leave me a comment if you're with me. Much love to everyone.

Whine or Worship

Let's begin this Wednesday with a prayer by my friend, Scotty Smith.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Cor. 4:16-18 (NIV)

     For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 2 Cor. 5:1-2 (NLT)

Dear heavenly Father, the current annoyances and pains in my body (and the illnesses and aches of some very dear friends) give me an unavoidable opportunity either to whine or worship. And since I know where my whining usually takes me, I gladly move to the posture of worship.

First of all, thank you for giving us the important gift of lament. I’ve learned the hard way that if we’re unwilling to grieve our losses then our compassion for others will be significantly stunted. I don’t like brokenness and sickness, and limitation and pain, but if it tunes my heart to care for others, grant me grace, Father, to rejoice in suffering.

That being said, I am SO looking forward to the new body we will receive when Jesus returns, which Paul celebrates in these Scriptures. Our healing will be complete, and never again will we experience sickness and pain in any form. No more cancer or even headaches; no more joint replacements or even runny noses.

Father, thank you that Jesus not only secured the perfection of our spirits, but also the resurrection of our bodies. Even as Jesus was raised from the dead, we too will be raised. We groan now, but will be whole forever. Hallelujah! These “light and momentary troubles” are incredibly inconvenient and bothersome; but our rejoicing will be eternal.

Until that Day, Father, I will seek to take care of myself, and will trust you for healing and health. And by the power of the gospel, please help me be someone in whom the weak, weary, and broken find understanding and encouragement. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ tender and triumphant name.
 

-Scotty Smith

For Discussion: Does any part of Scotty's prayer strike a chord with you today?

In Awe of You

May we leave the gym each day in more awe of God than when we walked in. And may our tiny, infinitesimal muscles with our miraculous neuromuscular system - negotiating lifts and coordinating movements - along with the involuntary mechanisms of lungs breathing and hearts beating - simply stir in us one giant, unmistakeable, instantaneous reminder of His awesome greatness and our gross dependence. Whether we enjoy walking on the treadmill or digging holes in the squat rack, taking classes or teaching them - when we leave the gym - we're not just opening the door after a workout, "whew." 
We're opening the door after a miracle, "Wow!"

We'll never lift better than we live. We'll never run better than we walk. Aren't we glad that - for us - Jesus did both.

Jimmy Peña

You Know The Scene

You know the scene. You've planned your workout with pristine precision. You've prepped yourself with enough fast-digesting protein and slow-digesting carbs to pull a train across town. But as you try to leave the house, you can't find your keys. Once you do find your keys, you realize you have about enough gasoline to get you 10 feet. Ugh. Ok. Gasoline? Check. So, you made it to the gym, but based on the lack of parking, you figure the entire side of town decided to train this day. Really?

Ok. You're in. But dang. The guy at the front desk is moving at a glacial pace scanning membership cards! Doesn't he know how important my workout is and how precious my time is to do it? Good grief. Finally!! You're in. The promised land. Your little kingdom. Your world. You find your locker, use the restroom. You're ready. Then you make your way to the machine your body has been dying to work upon only to find that lo and behold the person on it seems to have put up a mailbox, a welcome mat and a bird feeder. He is not leaving anytime soon. Argh!!

Sound farfetched? Well, if I'm not describing you, I'm probably describing me from back in my gym days. (Boy, do we miss the meaning?) But for all we know, the delay in finding your keys and the empty gas tank allowed an emergency vehicle a clear path to their destination. The full parking lot wasn't a bunch of newcomers, they were visitors from a local shelter that needed to use the showers and facilities. And the guy working the front desk, he's got special needs. He's worked his way through a special school to earn his high school diploma. The gym owner gave him a chance to work a few hours each day. This is his first week on the register. He gets nervous easily and he doesn't remember how to print the receipt. 

And oh, the guy on the machine? The one that seems to have taken up residence? Well, he's just a guy; someone's son and brother. He's battled addiction and he lost his mother to cancer. He's single, and he's given up hope of ever finding someone to love. He doesn't know how to work this machine, let alone what muscles it works. He's just a sweet guy with a soft heart. He shows up at the gym just to be around people and to take care of his health as best he can. He figures the crowded parking lot means the odds are good that he may meet a friend or two. Someone who may smile his way, say hello, or show him how to train on this complicated machine.

"How many more sets you got?" you ask.

- Jimmy Peña

Still Standing

Hey guys, we're coming up on 8 years of PrayFit Ministries. Eight years! Some of you have been around for every one of them. We've been through a lot together, amen? So many devotions and discussions; topics and themes; laughter and tears.

You remember the first book, then The Tonight Show mention, HBO Pay-Per-View Boxing, and eventually the chart-topping DVDs and my cookbook with Simon & Schuster. God allowed us to be featured and discussed on Daystar, The Talk, CNN's Pierce Morgan and so many more. Only God.

And there have been some tough times too. You were here when I lost my Preacher. You were around for the times I got sick and diagnosed with my spinal disorder and colon infirmity, and when I permanently lost my ability to lift.

But here I am. What's left of me. By grace alone, I'm still standing.

As I approach my 45th birthday in a couple weeks and PrayFit's anniversary, there is so much to look back on (and forward to) - and I can't promise we won't be having a review of the things as we draw nearer to the party - but I wanted to fill you in on how I'd love for us to celebrate; by giving.

The iPrayFit Project: We're partnering with our friends and charity:water to help people have access to clean water. Guys, I can't express to you how much I love this charity. They're incredible. And they do a cool thing with birthdays (ahem! - hint, hint.)

But seriously, many of us have no idea what it's like to be thirsty. We have plenty of water to drink -- even the water in our toilets is clean! But many people around the world don’t have that luxury. Every day, about 1,400 children die from diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are simple solutions like drilled wells, spring protections and BioSand filters that help provide clean water to communities around the world.

So I'm dedicating my birthday (and PrayFit's anniversary) to clean water. And the best part is, 100% of the donations will be used to build clean water projects, and when they’re complete, charity: water will send us photos and GPS coordinates so we can see the exact community we helped.  And everything you give is tax deductible.

If you'd like to send me a birthday present, I won't deny it. All you have to do is click this link and give to the iPrayFit Project. Thank you guys. Much love to you.

The soon-to-be birthday boy, Jimmy

Just Like Jesus

In exercise physiology, there's an undisputed, irrefutable, underlying principle. It doesn't matter whether you're an old-school lifter, avid runner, swimmer, weekend warrior in crossfit or otherwise, here it is: the body will only change according to the level at which it is stressed. The principle is called the "overload principle." Speaking as a one-time weightlifter - from the time you pick up a weight - do more today than you did yesterday, and you're more likely to change. Plainly said, make an adjustment, alter the environment, shock and confuse the system (and no, Tony Horton didn't invent that) but something to cause you - to force you - to do just a little bit more to achieve the same or greater output. That's the principle of overload. If you're able to apply it, it's a wonderful gift. The fact that I can't apply it any longer I hope doesn't disqualify me from writing about it.

I thought about the overload principle when Pastor Shawn Thornton of Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village told us his simple prayer that he's prayed everyday for nearly 40 years. "God, let me be more like Jesus today than I was yesterday. Amen." What a simple prayer, right? But doesn't that sum up the journey? Living and loving like Jesus as much as another day will allow. Of course, the pastor admitted - like Paul - we don't always do that. Some weeks it's 2 steps forward, 3 steps back. 

As the former fitness director for Joe Weider at Muscle & Fitness Magazine, men from all around the world would write to me and ask how they can get 18-inch arms. My simple answer? Train for the 20-inch variety. Then I'd give them strategies to accomplish it. Basically, they had to train beyond their goal in order to achieve their goal. Otherwise, they'd always fall short. And even if they achieved their objective, to maintain it, they'd have to apply the principle of overload again, and again, and again, forever. I am willing to bet that the majority of guys that wanted nothing more than to have 18-inch arms back in 1998 either never got there, never stayed there or they're still trying. I'm not knocking them, I represent them.

I say all of that because as I get older, and the more mistakes I make and the more ways I know I've failed the Lord, the more I realize that it's the Holy Spirit that anoints our wounds and encourages us and challenges us, reminds, convicts, and leads us each and every single day. The old gospel hymn, "If ever I've loved Thee, My Jesus tis now" can be new each day. And the fact that God sees Jesus when He looks at us and not our sin, well, that's the fuel, the means, the motivation, the power by which we apply the overload principle to our spiritual lives. If you're a weightlifter, the excellent motivator to hit the gym again today is new muscle. For sinners, the motivator to hit our knees each day is new mercy. 

God, let me be, let me speak, let me listen, let me pray, let me think, let me react, let me walk, let me look more like Jesus today than I did yesterday. Thankfully, gracefully, unlike our physical goals that disappear with time, the closer we  get to glory, the more His goal for us - to be just like Jesus - is coming true.

- Jimmy Peña

A Flood of Hope

"When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth."— Genesis 8:11

If you live in sunny Southern California, today's verse is pretty appropriate this week. It won't stop raining. At all. Ever. Where's the nearest gopher wood vendor when you need him? And we are loving every drop.

When Noah built the ark, those around him probably laughed and scoffed. But we all know the story. The ark was completed, then came two-by-two, and then the rain (a lot of it). A year later, the dove returned to Noah carrying hope; the olive branch meant land was near.

You and I just might be going through a flood this week. Sure, maybe not a literal downpour of rain, but caught in a torrent all the same -- up to our knees in doubt, our waists in worry, and our necks in fear. An olive branch to grab onto right about now would be nice, amen? A little break in the clouds maybe?

It's Monday. A new week. But may this new week be our reminder that the hope we need came in human form and He eventually healed the broken, raised the dead and yes, calmed storms. You know, if I'm not mistaken, I think it just stopped raining.

- Jimmy Peña

For Discussion: Any prayer requests this week? If you'd rather not be specific, please say "unspoken" and we will lift you up by name.

Me Time. His Terms.

I recently watched Francis Chan discuss a chapter from his book "Crazy Love" and in this video curriculum he talked about - of all topics - an autopsy. Fortunately, he said, he wasn't able to be there in person, but that maybe there's something healthy about seeing a body laying on a table and realizing that it will be us someday. Francis went on to say that "Sometimes we have too high a regard for human bodies and life on earth." 

King Solomon said, "It's better to go to a house of mourning than a house that is feasting, because death is the destiny of every man and the living should take this to heart." (Ecclesiastes 7:2)

Nothing like a house of mourning speech to put a spring in our step this Wednesday, but seriously guys, let's set goals. Real, godly goals. What would that look like for us today? Maybe it's as simple as: Get to the gym worshipping. Train worshipping. Leave worshipping. After all, what is it about our workouts that will last 100 years from now? A couple that come to mind: 1) Our conversations with God and 2) the love we have for His children.

So, smile. Invite someone to church. Shake hands. Offer spots. Pray for someone. Ask someone to pray for you. Love more than you lift. Spend your "me time" on His terms. That's crazy love.

-Jimmy Peña

For Discussion: If today were your last workout, how would you spend it? If you knew - that by the time your hour is over, - you'd be face to face with the maker of your little muscles, how would your hour be filled? Would it be filled with more effort or more affection? More diligence or more dependence? More planning or more praying? I'd love to hear from you. This is important.  

Is Strength Inevitable?

I recently saw a popular post on social media that read, "Strength. An inevitable side-effect of effort." 

OKAY. Sounds good. Short. To the point. Strong. Inspirational. But at the risk of disagreeing with something that was so very popular, even loved, I have to ask...is it true?

Is strength inevitable?
Is growth guaranteed?
Is progress promised?

Shawn Thornton once said that while we represent Jesus on earth, Jesus represents us in Heaven. While we bleed for Him, He pleads for us. Despite our sin, He's our advocate, and He's never lost a case.

John Favel famously wrote, "They that know God will be humble. They that know themselves cannot be proud."

My blog won't reach millions. My post won't win awards for popularity. It won't draw crowds or summon much attention, but then again, I'm not pleading my case. 

Despite what the fitness industry will want us to believe, rewards of this earth are not inevitable; especially those that require our physical effort. That's not to say that strength, growth and progress aren't - at times and under certain conditions - byproducts. But they are - under every circumstance - on loan.

Temporary treasures. Perishable gifts.

The only sure thing about every aspect of our lives is Jesus, and the grace He gives our souls. May our response to that truth be inevitable.

Jimmy Peña

For Discussion: We don't always get what we work for, but we know for Whom we work. And that's far more motivating than the temporary, perishable outcomes that come from our puny physical effort. Anyone else find that comforting?

The Difference Is In Me

The confetti is all but cleaned up, the streamers are in the trash, and the calendar is brand new. Deep breath...ah, so this is 2017! But it doesn't take long for things to feel normal again does it? For some reason, the commute this morning is still bumper to bumper, co-workers are still grumpy, and junk food made its way to your lunch box. Seems last year's ho-hums and habits still cast their shadows.

Truth is, a new year is only new if we make it that way. For you and me, a change in year only matters when it changes in here (this is me pointing to my heart). So starting today, no matter what seems old, let's find a way to make it new. The morning workout doesn't happen unless we've spent time in God's word. That commute? Try seeing it as an extended quiet time with the Lord. Those co-workers? Be the only one in the office unwilling to gossip. And at lunch, be the first to push away from the table as a way to praise the Lord for the gift of health. Slowly but surely, we'll realize the difference is in us. Seems those weren't shadows after all. It was shade.

- Jimmy Peña

God Makes My List

Well dear friends, here we are. I've missed you over the break. Many of us are cleaning out cupboards, jotting down training schemes and setting our goals and objectives for a happy and healthy new year. And for that, we are so excited. We can't wait to be a resource of encouragement and motivation. And like many of you, I want God to make my list. But not as an item to be checked off, but that He actually MAKES my list.

Sure, I may have my own plan for the year, but honestly, I want His plan for my life! What about you? As you clean your cupboard, have you allowed Him to clean your heart? Like old food, what on the inside of us needs to be removed (or added) for next year? The list isn't easy, so let Him make it and then get excited about what God has in store. As you do, consider the changes you can make for His glory. We spend hours in the gym, running miles, swimming laps or on social media, but rarely spare 10 minutes a day in His Word or on our knees in prayer. Will that change for you this year?

COVER YOUR EARS FITNESS INDUSTRY: We can hit every single fitness goal imaginable and completely miss honoring Him with our body. Remember, it's not the height of our health that matters, but the depth of our hearts. Like I said, the list isn't easy, so let Him make it.

And if you don't know Jesus as your Savior, we pray that's at the very top. You will never be the same once you do. Jesus in a life makes all the difference. Your health is worth fighting for, no doubt, but your heart was worth dying for. Thank Him for it. Accept Him. Invite Him into your life. Be filled with grace, then spend the rest of your days out-of-breath trying to live it and give it.

Have a blessed new year -- a year of genuine faith and a wholehearted pursuit of health. And if God makes your list...you will.

–Jimmy Peña

For Discussion: Like I said, I've missed writing each day over the break. What are some things you're praying for? Loretta and I would like to pray with you and for you. List it here or say "unspoken" and we promise to lift you up by name.

Describing Everest

To say that I have been less than adequate at conveying the message of Ecclesiastes upon the subject of fitness would be like describing Everest as tall or the ocean as deep or the end of the universe as far. True, if I were aiming for true, but as adequate descriptions? Absurdly short of the mark. If this sounds like an apology, please accept it. If it sounds like some sort of qualifier that will excuse me of all inadequacy, then this is me begging you to allow it. But that said, give me a few minutes to try and put a button on this for us.

Guys, King Solomon came to this conclusion, and with his announcement we come limping to this brittle end of our series: The pleasures in life mock us. The quest to find meaning or satisfaction in life is like chasing the wind. So as fitness-minded individuals, how do we conclude our trilogy?

At the end of the Teacher's book, he concludes that the most important thing about life is to fear the Creator of life and to do what He says. "In old age, your body no longer serves you so well. Muscles slacken, grip weakens, joints stiffen. The shades are pulled down on the world...Hikes to the mountains are a thing of the past. Even a stroll down the road has its terrors. Your hair turns apple-blossom white, adorning a fragile and impotent matchstick body...Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends. The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it. "It's all smoke, nothing but smoke, says the Teacher. "Everything is smoke." Fear God. Do what He tells you." (Ecc 12:3-8 and 13).

What does that mean for us? (I type that with almost a smirk as if the fact that we train means we are somehow excluded or somewhat excused from Solomon's warning. Right? As if the gym - and what it stands for -  has a force field around it and everything  within it comes first.) But the fact is, and you and I can recite this as clearly during the first rep of each set as we can the last, that the sum of all life, and all effort, and all striving and all toil and all blood, sweat and tears will add up...to nothing. And because we all have an appointment to keep with the Creator, the best thing to do while we do our best to stay young, fit, strong and able is to fear God while we're young, fit, strong and able. 

And that fear of God, that humble reverence, that blessed burden on our hearts that whispers to us between sets that there's more to this life than what we see in the mirror, should be heeded above all else. Fearing God is a good thing. About the fear that Solomon urges, Alistair Begg says, "To fear God, and to trust God, and to love God, and to know God are all the same thing. The fear that is referred to in Ecclesiastes 12 arises from the discovery of the immensity of God's love. It's the fear of a child of a father. That even though I've done so many bad things, still my father loves me and that fills me with awe. That's the fear. It's John Newton's fear. Twas grace that taught my heart to fear. And grace my fears relieved." 

This is not your - kiddie pool faith and fitness, let me pose for the camera, smile and flex with a verse on my tank top - kind of truth. No, my friends, Solomon was the first and we can allow him to be the last to tell us, warn us, urge us to fear God while we can, while we're young because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. His grace teaches us to fear God more than we fear losing muscle, and to fear God more than we love to gain it. And the precious irony is that even though it's all meaningless,  it doesn't mean we're not called to be good stewards of the gift of life. Like our time, our resources, and our money,  the stewardship of the body is holy business that requires the grace of God, and helps produce and display our fear of Him.  

• It's the fear of God that won't let you bring yourself to train unless you've read your Bible.

• It's the love of God that allows you to help those in need once you get there.

• It's the trust of God that compels you to be modest and humble when everything inside you wants to show off your hard work.

• It's the knowledge of God that comforts you when He alone knows what you're dealing with on the inside.

• And it's the fear of God that protects us from the enemy.

Fitness; meaningless without God and only meaningful because of Him. Grace has taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved. The world can have the gym. I want Jesus. 

Did I mention Everest was tall?
 

-Jimmy Peña

The End

The Naive Optimism

We will never, never, ever, ever be satisfied with anything other than God. How's that for an opening line? Did anyone do their homework? If you did, then you know the gross, impossible task of trying to lay the wisdom of Solomon upon our health with a few devotions, and from a ham-n-egg writer to boot. But...we push on.

When I got out of grad school with thesis in hand, I was ready to conquer the world. (I studied the effects of endurance training on muscle size and strength in competitive weightlifters.) That thesis eventually landed me writing gigs with magazines until ultimately, I was the worldwide fitness editor for the most popular muscle magazine in history. And most of you know the story. I wrote a few books, made a name for myself, and the emptiness and hollowness followed. 

And it's that emptiness and hollowness that comes to mind as we travel along the oft jagged and piercing edges of these verses in Ecclesiastes. 

“Oh, I did great things: built houses...amassed silver and gold...became greater by far than anyone...I refused my heart no pleasure...Then I took a good look at everything I’d done, looked at all the sweat and hard work. But when I looked, I saw nothing but smoke (everything was meaningless); nothing was gained under the sun. 
(Ecc 2: 4-11 msg)

— The Teacher

Personally speaking, it was at the peak of my fitness lifestyle and resume that I began to realize the dilemma in my heart and mind; that in my work, there would be no real fulfillment because of the longing placed there by God.  It's a longing placed within every human that ever lived. Indeed, you and I have a burden placed upon us by God that can only be satisfied when HE is pleased and when we are content in pleasing Him.

That's why, like we touched upon yesterday, there's no surprise that we keep such eating, resting and training routines; justifiable as we attempt to make them. We're breaking down. As you read this sentence your body is betraying the efforts you placed upon it 5 minutes, or 5 hours, or 5 days, or even 5 years ago. In its natural delivery of your health, it's saying to you that no matter what you do, load it with protein, fill it with carbs, lift a million pounds of mindless metal for the rest of your life, you will not be able to prevent its demise.

To some of us - and I know it could have been said of me at one point - it's borderline insulting to read this series. It's offensive when someone diminishes the importance of something so important to us. We almost find ourselves coming to the defense of fitness, of striving, of effort and byproduct. We are called to honor God with our bodies, and we easily find refuge in that as justification for week, after week, after week of "time well spent."

Eugene Peterson once wrote, "We read Ecclesiastes to get scrubbed clean from illusion. It challenges the naive optimism that sets a goal that appeals to it and then goes after it with gusto, expecting the result to be a good life."

If I can pass the baton to the final leg of our brief run through a few thoughts from this wise book, it would be with this: Until we allow God's word to expose our complete and total incapacity to realize meaning in our lives apart from God, we will continue to mine bottomless pits. Have you ever needed to be scrubbed from illusion? Ever needed to be pulled from the wreckage - out from under the delusion that you can live your life on your own terms?

-Jimmy Peña

For Discussion: Tough stuff, right? Maybe it's just me, but if everything is meaningless according to the wisest person in the Bible aside from Christ, how does this trilogy end? I'd love to use something you say in tomorrow's entry, so please share. 

Chasing The Wind

As promised in yesterday's devotion, "The Fleeting" , we're going to spend a few days considering - for our health - the wisdom of a few passages of Ecclesiastes. Now, having spent the last few weeks studying it intently on a daily basis with Loretta (led by the wonderful teaching of Alistair Begg), I am more certain than ever that I am the least qualified to lead us through it. But with that said, if there's a life-topic capable of delivering the point of this book or a genre able to display itself as a prime example of the message of Ecclesiastes, it's "fitness."

And so, over the next few days, we'll peel back just a few layers to try and reveal some of the Teacher's intent and then we'll try our best to apply it to our daily lives. And because the book of Ecclesiastes is written by "the Teacher, son of David," let's pretend we're in school together as the lesson begins. So pull up a chair, or a bench. Put down the weight, rack the bar, turn off the music. Let the gym of your heart quiet and the yearning end, even if just for a minute.

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless. (v. 1:2)

— The Teacher

 For many of us, Sunday night is meal prep. We measure, weigh, package and display (often with a polaroid for social media) our next 5 days of culinary mastery, not for its appearance so much, but merely to boast and alert anyone that we eat with a purpose. But this isn't a jab at our reluctance and outright obliviousness to those that are hungry, but rather it's to help us realize just how hungry we are. Hungry for, well, let's follow the pattern of the chase; best if you read the next sentence with increasing speed of cadence. 

We meal prep, we seek sleep, we wake early, we eat, to train, to work, to eat, to sleep, to wake, to eat, to train, to work, to eat, to sleep, to wake, to eat, to train, to work, to eat, to sleep, to wake, to eat, to train to work, to eat, to sleep to wake. Week after week, after week, after week, the chase continues. 

Eugene Peterson once wrote, "Everything we try is so promising at first! But nothing ever seems to amount to very much. We intensify our efforts, but the harder we work at it, the less we get out of it. Ecclesiastes is a famous - perhaps the most famous - witness to this experience of futility. It's a John-the-Baptist kind of book. It functions not as a meal, but as a bath. It's not nourishment, but a cleansing."

Speaking of an experience of futility, as soon as we end our training session, the molecular bodies within us begin repairing the damage we've done, right? No big surprise. Many of us - whether consciously or subconsciously - erroneously base our joy on the limits we find for ourselves and the measurements we can calculate and compare over time. But there's close to a justifiable reason for it. Our bodies - along with our very souls - know they we were once formed perfectly. And I'm not talking about before our birth, but before Adam.

Since the fall, we deal with a broken world and breaking bodies, but that longing you and I have for pristine health isn't a mistake, it's in our divine DNA. Our bodies know what they were intended for and capable of within their God-given makeup. We strive for perfection because that was the original intent. Our cells yearn and our fibers long for their original design and ideal conditions. 

But the second the striving ceases, the body begins the rebuilding process of progress, which ironically is the first phase of its retreat, of its weakening, of its slowing.

And so here we are. A group of sinners saved by grace; a group with a passion for health and a fire in the belly to pick heavy things up and set them down with rhythmic regularity; a group sitting in gym class with our hearts at a rare steady rate, listening to the Teacher bring home the message for us loud and clear: We're chasing the wind. 

-Jimmy Peña

HOMEWORK: Read Ecclesiastes. (And if you have access to it, try reading the message translation for this short series of ours. ) Any thoughts at this point? Talk to me.

The Fleeting

“The pleasures of life mock us because they are fleeting.”

— Alistair Begg

Taking the wonderful Alistair Begg's quote and applying it to our vein would mean simply and profoundly that every physical accomplishment that you and I can make in this life, whether in the gym, on the road or in sports - everything we do mocks us because it's all so temporary. So fleeting. 

My wife and I have been studying the book of Ecclesiastes over the last few weeks, and I'm not so sure that any book has had a more tangible, practical impact on my life than this one in recent memory. I'm collecting my thoughts and heart around a few of its passages, and I hope to write about them week, but if I were to be so bold as to try and summarize the book of Ecclesiastes for us as fitness experts and health-minded believers, it would be this: Fear God. Fitness is meaningless. 

Now, I would pull that punch or at least provide some sort of qualifier for the other foot to drop provided my short summary, but here's the thing, it's true. Mind you, the writer of Ecclesiastes is incredibly wise (probably - with the exception of Jesus - the wisest that ever lived), so I urge you to read it this week. And for the purpose of the common denominator of physical stewardship that we share, try and strain your health through each chapter. And as we'll see together, once you and I begin to fear God, the less we fear losing muscle. And at the risk of sounding crazy to some of you (or to my younger self), equally true is this: The more we fear God, the less anxious we are about the gain of muscle.

Truth is, and from experience, the mirror can mock us in its praise as much as it can mock us in its critique. But that mocking - whether by flattering us or offending us -  will only take effect, it will only land and take root, it will only disturb us if we have yet to settle our hearts on that which isn't so fleeting. 

-Jimmy Peña

For Discussion: Are you being mocked by the pleasure of health or the pain of its loss? I hope you plan on joining me next week as we go through our last full series of the year before we dive into the Christmas season. And please be praying for me and Team PrayFit as we head into next week. Speaking of, let's go to the Lord together. It's been a while since we've had the chance to meet like this, so if you have a prayer request or a need that you'd like to share, please list it in the comment section. If you'd rather say "unspoken" please do so and we promise to pray for you by name.

Blessed with Nothing

Do me a favor and hold out your hands. Palms up, spread your fingers out. Everyone in position? That says, "I have everything, I possess nothing." Now close your hands. Make a fist. Squeeze. That says, "I have what I want. I possess. Mine."

Neat week. Thanks guys for walking with me through this precious work by Tozer. If you believe there is a "blessedness of possessing nothing" would you say amen in the comment section? But I admit, when Tozer prays, "Father I want to know you, but my cowardly heart fears to give up its toys," I am particularly convicted.

Like you, I can find myself worrying about my fleeting health, my dwindling bank account, my depreciating assets, my lack of influence, my staggering status, my place at the table. But if I've learned and am learning anything over the last few years, it's that I realize I really, really, really don't possess anything.

With my health in particular, even my finest and fittest days won't be a footnote in eternity. Bless God, as much as I miss the chalk flying and tightening my belt for battle, I'm finished and done with training to compete with my "yesterday" or working to determine my reflection of tomorrow. Sure, the science guy inside me will miss the principle and I will continue to care for these aging bones, but I'm focused on several lifetimes from now. I'm thinking long-term. When it comes to my outlook on training, I have 10,000-year goals.

Anything less than an eternal outlook of the body is a tragedy.

"Father, please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that You may enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for You will be the light of it."

It may not happen today, but I pray each of us can stamp our heel into whatever "thing" has had us bound. Could be body image, social media pressure, status, supreme fitness, debilitating illness, name it. In a world that demands that we possess everything - may we raise our weary hands, turn over our palms, open our little fingers and say, tis blessed to possess nothing. I have Jesus - my everything.

-Jimmy Peña

The Sweet Theology

When we concluded yesterday's entry, Tozer had just summarized Abraham's situation as God says in effect, "It's all right Abraham. I never intended  that you should actually slay the lad. I only wanted to remove him from the temple of your heart that I might reign unchallenged there."

Abraham has just made his heart right with God. He realizes his rank. He knows his place. And more importantly, he knows God's place. And God allows Abraham the gift of Isaac, and in effect all of the promises of God and the future generations.

Fast-forward to a weary, broken down fitness writer sharing his thoughts on the screen with some fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that he loves dearly. (That's you and me.) What does Abraham's story have to do with us all these years later? What does the temple of his heart have to do with the temple of ours? 

Tozer says, "Now he (Abraham) was a man wholly surrendered, a man utterly obedient, a man who possessed nothing. Everything he owned was still his to enjoy: sheep, camels, herds, good of every sort. He also had his wife and his friends, and best of all he had his son Isaac safe by his side. He had everything, but he possessed nothing. That is the sweet theology."

Guys, before we conclude our brief and humble trace of Tozer's chapter tomorrow, what does he mean when he said that Abraham had everything but possessed nothing?  And if we were to distill this story down into its most basic parts to try and relate it to our fragile health, what is the lesson? Help me write tomorrow's entry.
And get ready....

-Jimmy Peña