Conditioning

Conditioning
(a brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

I was never an athlete.

For many of you, this comes as no surprise. For the rest of you, believe me, it's the truth. And should someone try to tell you different, just tell them I said it was that OTHER guy with this last name; not me. In fact, it's not so much that I wasn't an athlete as that I was horrible at anything athletic.

The closest I came to team sports was one brief summer in Little League. That was a disaster; couldn't hit, couldn't run, couldn't pay attention . . . Best to draw the curtain on that right now. And my situation wasn't for lack of others trying. I had older cousins who, seemingly, could do just about anything. They tried to teach me how to hold the bat without choking up, how to run from base to base ("No! Not THAT way!"), how to catch, and how to slide. I actually got pretty good at sliding. But the rest of it just didn't take.

That left PE class . . . the dreaded Phys-Ed.

Starting with the 7th Grade, my fellow students and I spent a portion of every other school day participating in a 40 minute version of whatever sport was in season. In the fall, we played football in PE (never understood the rules, so I was always a Lineman). In the winter, we played basketball (couldn't move AND dribble, terrible shooter). On rainy days (for some reason), we played dodgeball (big and slow, easy target). And in the spring, we played baseball (see above) and/or track & field (still hate this).

All through this, we were subjected to a form of torture called "conditioning." And that is the part I hated the most: sit-ups, chin-ups, rope climbs, push-ups, and running the bleachers. Imitating sports wasn't so bad: you got knocked down, you got up, you got knocked down again; simple. Exercising just to exercise?! Madness.

Many of my friends from those years (all of us "back of the pack-ers"), would be shocked to see me now. As I write this, I am recovering from my second night this week at the gym ... with a trainer ... doing *gasp* conditioning! Odd as it seems, I now pay someone to lead me through many of the very activities I hated when I was in PE class all those years ago. Things DO change :-)

Why, you may ask, do I do this? Spend two, three nights per week at a gym? The short answer is this: there are things I want to do---improve my health, lose weight, shape up---and I need a trainer to ensure I reach my goals. When I read this week's Lectionary passages, I immediately saw a parallel between the the Luke and Acts passages and my times at the gym.

When I am working out, I am focused on the moment; but my trainer is thinking about all of it: where I've been; what I'm doing right then; how that activity, in concert with others the trainer has planned, moves me toward the objectives; and what's next. It's kind of like that for the Apostles in those passages. They are told to expect someone who will serve as teacher and guide, someone who will help them achieve the goals set before them. They didn't know what was coming. But they believed the one who told them a helper would come. And they acted from within that belief.

When I'm in the throws of the third set of repetitions, and flagging, it is the calm voice of my trainer that keeps me going: "You can do this. Just a bit more. Almost there." My trainer knows what I'm capable of; knows how much more I can bring to the task; knows how much more will be required of me before I can rest.

The Spirit is like that with us. When the going gets hard, we need to listen for that voice deep inside: "You can do this. Just a bit more. Almost there."

###############################
READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

Ascension of the Lord (May 17, 2012)
Acts 1:1-11
Psalm 47 or Psalm 93
Ephesians 1:15-23
Luke 24:44-53

We're getting together Friday morning at 8:00 at Cafe Cappuccino (downtown on 6th, near the Courthouse). If you're in Waco, join us for breakfast and discussions of the coming week's passages.

No sit-ups required :-)

Enjoy the week!
Steve