Be more

Be more

Just sliding this one in the last minute but it needs to be written as some things matter more than a workout

Background: Two weeks ago, I went with my church’s youth group, and my oldest daughter, on a mission trip to Asheville to serve with YWAM (Youth With a Mission). We ministered to the Travelers and Homeless in Asheville. One of my convictions is I knew more names of homeless in Asheville than Monroe. That is not loving my community well. Careful what you are convicted on….

Pre-Run:
4 for a 5 miler around uptown Monroe that included seeing an armadillo. Didn’t know those were a thing in NC much less near uptown Monroe but apparently their range have been spreading north. Weird stuff

The Thang:
Hoffa, slowly, pulls up on his little bike. Come on Hoffa!!! Guess I should just be happy he hasn’t cussed me out yet so let’s go.
Mosey to the courtyard

SSH IC x25
IW IC x20
Windmills IC x10
Mountain Climbers IC x20
Low, Slow Squats IC x20

Mosey to the new parking lot.

Starfish points:
1) Run to the playground and 10 donkey kicks on the swings
2) Run to the tables and 10 step ups each leg (20 total)
3) Run to the main parking lot and do 5 burpees (burpees are half off today)
4) Run to the rails for Tonawandas (Rail Slide w/ Merkins)
5) Backwards run up the hill and do 10 bombjacks at the top

After each point, come back to the new parking lot and do 10 jump squats

We each went to #1 first, back to the lot and then all four of us went to #2 where there was a homeless guy sitting on one of the tables. Well, I gave my conviction above and we finished #2 but instead of running back, we took a moment to talk to the homeless man named Benjamin and to get his story. Then we asked if we could pray for him and what we needed to pray about which he said pray that the system will remember him basically. So, right there in the middle of the workout, we prayed for Benjamin. Then we took off again to finish the starfish.

Round 1 done.

Round 2, we double everything.

This time at point #2, it had hit me that the least I could do was to invite Benjamin to Juds with us afterwards so I did and he accepted. Told him to hang around till 8 and he could go with us.

We finished Round2.

Mosey back to the playground for some extra work.
Supine Pullups using the swings x10
Donkey Kicks using swings x10
Decline Merkins w/ feet in swings x10

Repeat for 15
Repeat for 20

At the new parking lot, lunge walk across. When across, backwards lunge walk back.

Mosey over to the hill for 7s.
Backwards run up and lbcs at top. Run back down the hill and on your back, do knees up to chest. Combine for 7.

Mosey to the rail
Tonawanda Rail Merkins x3 full rounds.

Got like a minute before planned Mary so sprint up the hill to the flagpole and then back down on the other side.

Mosey to the courtyard.

Rosalita IC (en espanol) x25
Protractor
Backscratchers IC x20
Feet 6 inches high and hold arms out in front of you until the time hits 8. About 30 seconds worth I believe but the groans of not knowing how long we would be like that were awesome.

DONE!

Prayer
Grab Benjamin and off to Juds we go.

Moleskine
What are we? Are we just a group of guys working out? Are we anything more? What are we here for? Is it for us? Is it for something greater? If we are honest, these questions haunt us. Most of us are Christians and so we think we have these mostly figured out but then we are bothered in those quiet moments when we reflect on how we are living out our Christian lives. Jesus hung out with the outcast yet we avoid them. And we all think that’s not us and it’s those other Christians not doing their job but we know the truth whether we admit it or not. It’s also us. It’s also me. Jesus loved the least of these and I tend to avoid the least of these as much as possible. It was my conviction and here’s the blunt truth, we had seen Benjamin in the park before. We, no I, had avoided him mostly. Does anyone think Jesus would have avoided him?

Here are some Benjamin facts: He is homeless. He was very appreciative we invited him to eat with us at Juds. He used to work. A car accident left him with a severe back injury and if you’ll watch, you’ll see his hands jerk some which is due to nerve damage. He doesn’t like pork product so he avoided bacon and sausage at Juds. He laughed at how angry Hoffa is. He has 11 brothers and sisters. He has one book bag of clothes and a sleeping bag. He was recently robbed of some items while at the homeless shelter and is rightly upset that people would steal from him.

I’ll give one more fact: He is loved by Jesus. He should be loved by us and not avoided. We can’t solve all his issues. But, I did invite him to breakfast every week with us. He has an open invite at 8 AM to meet us at the park and go to Juds and we can make sure he gets at least one good meal that day. Isn’t that the least we can do?

I pray we get to know Benjamin more and we can learn how to serve him even better. We can’t just ignore and overlook the Benjamins of the world. Not when a Savior died for him on a cross just like us.