Finding Our Inspiration

Well last night at the gym I had another lifter come up to me and give me what is certainly one of the greatest compliments you can be given in this world.  He told me that he always enjoyed seeing me there lifting and that I was a great inspiration.  Now this is a guy that I have nodded to a couple of times in the past and who I have overheard saying things as I've been in the middle of a set (generally some profanity laden comment about how much weight I was training with) but not a lifter who I have ever actually talked to.  I told him thank you very much for the compliment and introduced myself.  We visited for a bit and then I went back to my training.

The lifter that gave me the compliment was probably in his late 20's to early 30's.  I suppose to him seeing somebody in their mid 50's still training heavy is inspirational at some level.  To me though I really don't think I'm the right person to aspire to emulate.  Rather, I see two others that train at our gym as much more inspiring.  

One is a gentleman in his early 60's who has already suffered several strokes, along with several other serious health issues and who just went in to have a mass removed from one of his kidneys.  This man, up until his recent surgery has always been there at the gym, pushing as hard as he can and making improvements in his abilities.  The worst of his strokes has left him with a stiff gait and one leg that he has to basically drag along.  But still, he trains legs just as hard as he is able.  To me, this gentleman is an example of what to aspire to when faced with difficulties in this life.  Never give up, never surrender.  He also happens to be a strong Christian and I have no doubt that this is a large part of what keeps him moving forward.

The second is a gentleman who is in his early to mid 50's and who has suffered a serious brain injury.  He is confined to a wheelchair as his legs just do not respond correctly to his brain's commands.  Yet this man is there at the gym training on the machines and even using the leg machines to the best of his ability.  Last night he even pulled himself up onto a treadmill and was walking on the mill (at the lowest speed) as best he could manage.  Another gentleman (who is also long in the tooth) and I were already walking on the treadmills and we kept shouting words of encouragement and praise over to our friend as he trudged along.  You could see that he was quite pleased with himself as he shuffled along.

Personally at age 54 I do not consider myself to be 'old' so I certainly don't think I'm 'inspirational'.  Honestly, when I'm lifting weights, my body feels no differently to me than it did when I was training in my 20's.  The one's who I find inspiration in are the two men I've just mentioned, and another man that I haven't seen around for awhile who comes into the gym and trains while dragging an oxygen tank along with him.  Now that's dedication!  He could easily give up (and most do) but instead he tries to do whatever he can manage in his current condition.

Which brings me to a point where I ask myself that question, "who should we as Christians look to as our inspiration".  Well of course the obvious answer is Jesus who is the Christ.  However, I hear so very often "well we can't be like Jesus", and even I have said to my students in Sunday School that "I can't be like Jesus, nor do I think I can live up to Paul, but maybe, just maybe I can be like Timothy".

I've come to now believe that this is a problem for us, if we don't think we can live up to Jesus' example then unfortunately few of us even try to live up to Timothy.  My late Mentor Jesse was especially critical of this phenomenon.  He felt that we as Christians have come to focus far to much on the Divine Christ and not nearly enough on the Human Christ.  We cannot obviously aspire to be the Divine Christ but we absolutely should aspire to emulate the Human Christ.  Jesse constantly pointed out that Jesus never once asked for us to worship him, but rather he asked for us to follow him, to be like him, to walk in his path and his ways.  And let us not forget that the early Christian Jewish movement was referred to as 'The Way'.

Jesse was of course (as he was so very often) absolutely, spot on, dead ringer, CORRECT.  We spend so much energy singing praises and worshipping Christ that we simply forget to walk in Jesus' shoes (and here I am certainly to be criticized, I may be the worst offender of all).  Now walking in Jesus' shoes does not to me anyways, mean doing big and grand missionary projects and traveling halfway around the world at great expense to spend a week helping out in a foreign land, (not that these things aren't important for other reasons and other means) but what I personally think it means to walk with Jesus, is how we live our daily lives, how we interact with our family, our friends, our business contacts, those we pass on the street.  Are we following the example of Jesus?  Of course a few years ago there was the great 'WWJD' movement (what would Jesus do) which I very much liked and I still like.  But, if our image of Jesus was of Jesus who is Divine, well then we're busted before we even start... we simply cannot live up to that mark.

We need to aspire to live like the fully human Jesus.  The man who feared to walk the path that he was called to walk, but who walked it anyways.  Not because he was God and he knew he would rise again on the third day, but because he was a man who had unwavering faith in his God and who in spite of all his fear and apprehensions walked that path that God called him to.  This is the Jesus we must follow... Jesse was right, we need to worship Christ a bit less and follow Jesus a great deal more.

May this blog post find each and everyone who may chance upon it richly and sincerely blessed by the Spirit of our Lord.

In God's Unwavering Grace & Love,
Roy