You Have To Stoop
“He was right,” I said to myself. He was right. Up until that moment, we had walked all the major tourist spots and spent time listening to very knowledgable guides. I’d seen an ancient city, dipped my feet in the Dead Sea, and stood at the Western Wall. The Holy Land was everything and more, and the Bible came to life in ways I never thought possible. But when we approached what is considered to be the tomb where Jesus was buried, I remembered something Max Lucado once wrote. “You have to stoop.”
As an old fitness expert, I can tell you that posture is everything. I probably can’t count how many times I taught about posture in the magazine. I assure you that some of the best advice I ever gave was that no matter the lift - with few exceptions - in order to perform at your best and to put yourself in the best mechanical advantage possible, never collapse your spine. Keep your chest up, abs in tight, back flat and head neutral.
Pastor Paul Tripp once asked, "What will you do with Easter?" He related it to issues of life, money, relationships, and troubles.
What a powerful question for us in the fitness industry. What will we do with Easter when the storms of life arise? What will we do when we're tempted to gloat, to boast, to pat ourselves on the back? What will we do?
What will we do when we get sick? Like, really sick. What will we do when our dreams of gains, of glorious pain, of wondrous work, when the welcome pursuit of fitness is denied us? What will we do?
What will we do when the status call on social media stokes our fear of missing out? What will we do with Easter?
What will we do when our loss of muscle, or our gain of bodyfat, our diminishing bone mass, elevated resting heart rate, our unrelenting atrophy, our irreversible disease progression, or our unmistakeable loss of strength testifies to the truth that we are made of dust, not iron. What will we do with Easter?
When we peer into the empty tomb of Easter this weekend, that's the lens through which everything else in life can be seen, even our bodies. And as fitness people, as hard-chargers, as mile runners, record-breakers, goal makers, and as broken-down, out-of-the-game lifters like me, the empty tomb is full of grace, and joy, and relief. The thought of His victory eternally exceeds our loss or gains in this vapor-quick life.
But where was I? Ah, yes. The tomb. Max assured me, you can walk up to it upright, but in order to enter, you have to stoop. And he was right. The opening to the tomb where Jesus was buried is low. You can’t be proud. You can’t be upright. Unlike the posture of an athlete, you can’t stay neutral. Feel free to do this as you read the sentence, but you have to look down, drop your head, collapse the back, bend the knee. For us to be near Him, we have to stoop. And when we do, we find Him doing the same for us.
- Jimmy Peña
“Years I spent in vanity and pride,
Caring not my Lord was crucified.
Not knowing that it was for me He died.
At Calvary.”
Good Friday: We serve a God that stoops. Amazing, right? Well, tomorrow we will do like many of you and participate in a virtual Good Friday service. Even though we are apart, we will be able to join in the Lord’s Supper as a church family. What a day to be still. What a day to stoop, even if only in heart. And that’s our tradition at PrayFit. We don’t train. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but like the angels for six hours that Friday, we’ll be still. Like the naysayers and doubters, who waited at the foot of the cross to hear Jesus take back His promises, and with the disciples who hid their faces from the enemies who sought them, we’ll be speechless. May God bless you and your family this weekend. Love to you all.
Reminders from Team PrayFit: So many around the country will be rallying with us to help serve those impacted by disability in our VIRTUAL PrayFit Run. Be sure to click the image and register. Join a team or form your own. Gonna be a neat time together even though we’re apart. And in light of what our calling is as Christians in the fitness industry to serve the marginalized, we’re sending our PrayFit RISE shirts out at the end of the month, so be on the lookout for that.
