A Man Worth Following

As a coach, I am constantly reminded of the fact that others are looking to me for answers. "How do I do a muscle up?" "What am I doing wrong when I snatch?" "How can I get stronger?" These are questions that I am asked almost every day, and they are questions that I must know how to answer. What has humbled me time and time again is the way my athletes respond to my directives- with complete faith. Despite my youth, they trust that the cues I give them will ultimately lead them to moving more efficiently and confidently. There are so many questions they could ask, and so many reasons why they could choose not to follow me. But by the grace of God they do, and often times are better for it.

What I have discovered is that at the root of it, both my and their desires are the same- joy. They believe that by following me, they will move better, thus bringing them more joy. I give them the cues that I do because I have faith they will help them move better- if I didn't, I wouldn't give them. Ultimately, we are both out for the same thing- not just better movement patterns, but joy.

As I reflect upon the gospel narratives of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, I am continually stuck by how easily the disciples first followed Jesus.

"As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to be fishers of men." At once, they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him."
-Matthew 4:18-22

What was it about this Jesus that made these men drop everything and follow him? Was it His demeanor? Was it the tone of His voice, or maybe the look in His eyes? Whatever it was, I believe their conscious decision to follow Him was rooted in the hope that it would bring them more joy. How else could they leave everything they knew and everyone they loved to follow a man they hardly knew? They must have believed that in following Jesus, their lives would be richer, fuller, and more joyful than if they were to stay behind. Christ surely knew this when He held out the invitation, for in the end He is after our joy.

The call to follow Christ is not always an easy one, but it is one that will bring us life. Deitrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian, put it best when he stated that "when Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die." That death is a death to self, a denial of the flesh and the former ways of life, and in turn a regeneration of the soul that brings abundant joy. Remember, Christ is not after our begrudging submission, but rather He came to "give us life, and life to the full!" (John 10:10). It is in following Him  that we find life most fulfilling, most satisfying, and most joyful.

"Follow You" off Ben Rector's newest album

Blessings

Europa War Games

Yesterday, I competed in my first sanctioned Crossfit competition. The 2013 Europa War Games consisted of 145 teams broken up in to Rx and Scaled divisions. At the end of it, we finished 23rd, missing the cutoff for the final WOD by a mere 3 spots. I couldn't be more proud of and thankful for my team. In looking back, there were several big things that I learned this weekend.

Lesson 1: There's always someone better

"The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord."

-Proverbs 21:31

                                               

I had a very naive view of my fitness level coming into the weekend. I do well in WODs at our box. I would consider myself fit. That means absolutely nothing when you compare me on a regional scale. This became apparent while in registration, I stood next to Jen Jones, the 6th fittest woman in the WORLD. I was surrounded by monsters, guys who crushed butterflies like it was their day job. We moved FAST in our first thruster workout. The transitions were smooth, and besides two quick shake outs we went unbroken on our sets of 12-10-8. The winning team still managed to beat us by 1:15. The second WOD, we again were moving at what I thought was a pretty good pace. It was a 10:00 AMRAP, and besides me dropping from the bar a few times we moved through with a good pace. The winning team beat us by 200 reps. How is that even possible? It was a humbling experience for sure, one I needed. What I learned is that if you want to be the best, or at least competitive with the best, there can be no holes in your game. You must be strong, fast, gymnastically skilled, have phenomenal anaerobic capacity, and be extremely mentally tough. I have some serious work to do in each of those categories.

Lesson 2: Competition Intensity vs. Training Intensity

"My flesh and my heart may fail me, but the Lord is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

-Psalm 73:26

Notice the hands on the knees... I was smoked

For some reason, I thought I was superman and was gonna crush both of these workouts. "30 thrusters at only 135#? No big deal!" What I learned very quickly is that you can be perfectly capable of doing something in training, but that there is no way to simulate the intensity of a team competition. 30 thrusters for time is not that bad when you are by yourself in the box. But as soon as you are in front of a thousand people, and you don't want to let your team down, 30 thrusters will make your quads and shoulders feel like they are about to explode. There were several times in the second WOD were I was starting to burn out, but refused to set the kettle bell down because I knew Kyle would have to stop. I also wanted to stop my burpees or drop from the bar, but I knew he would have to pick the kettle bell back up. There simply is just no way to get that effect in the box. In training, when you get too tired you stop- in competition, when you get too tired you keep moving until you want to puke. Through this experience, I was reminded that though there are times when my body will fail me, the Lord will never fail me- He is perfectly sufficient to sustain me, keep me, and fill me with abundant joy.

Lesson 3: The Value of Support

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends."

-John 15:13

The CFWR Family in support

I spend so much time walking around our box yelling "there's only 2:00 left! Keep moving and finish strong!!!" These words were ringing in my ears as the 2:00 hit during the second WOD yesterday. I wanted to quit so badly, but I refused to stop moving because of the people who had come to support me that I didn't want to let down. When you are in the zone, you can't hear anything. Im sure they were yelling at me "theres only 2:00 left, suck it up and move Haden!" I never heard a thing. But their mere presence made me move faster than I ever would have if they had not been there. 

Love my team

More importantly though is the value of support that comes from a team. What a blessing it has been having a team that I not only get to do crossfit with, but get to share life with. These are people that I love and respect deeply, and that translates over to the way I perform in the heat of battle. I wanted to stop so bad. I literally contemplated just walking out of the arena about 6:00 in to our second WOD. Im pretty sure at one point I told Kyle to "not pick up the kettle bell" because I knew as soon as he did I would have to jump back on that bar, which was the last thing in the world I wanted to do (thank God he didn't listen to me). The truth is that had it not been for them, I doubt I would have had the courage to compete in the first place, the strength to keep pushing when I was tired, or the joy of knowing that I gave my all and left it all on the dirty floor of that arena. In the end, to me it is about perspective: I know that I will never reach the crossfit games, and likely will never even make it to a regional level. But crossfit is fun, and the fun is exponentially greater when you have people you love to share it with.

Lesson 4: Warm Up

I think that I was so concerned with the competition itself that I neglected a proper warm up. This won't happen again. In my defense, it was a cool 60 degrees in the Expo Center, and the warm up area was the size of my closet....

Lesson 5: Boy, do I look good in red shoes

I mean but seriously, do I even need to explain this one...?

All in all, it was a fun, humbling, and eye opening experience for me. After the first WOD, when everything still hurt really bad, I thought to myself "why do you do this? This does not  feel good at all..." I do it because I love it. I believe we were created to move, to breathe, to feel (both the good and the bad), to experience joy and community. In many ways Crossfit embodies this. What a blessing it has been in my life, and I hope to continue to share it with others. I can't wait to compete again, but I have some serious work to do. Thanks so much to all who came out and supported me, and to those who couldn't make it but support me from afar. Much love to each of you.

Flow

According to wikipedia (so it must be true, right?) flow is "the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task."

I remember when I first learned to play the guitar. I had to think so hard about what I was doing, making sure my fingers moved into the right positions and my hand strummed the right tempo. It was frustrating, and I couldn't focus on the music itself because I had to devote so much of my focus to the playing of the instrument. Years later, after thousands of hours of practice, I arrived at a place where I could truly experience flow: the closing of my eyes and turning off of the mind as I drifted off to another world while I ripped off a solo. At that point for me, it was about more than just the performing of a piece of music and its associated notes. It was almost spiritual in a sense, as I let myself go and get lost in the music. It is a difficult emotion to describe- joy, freedom, energy, flow. Guitar should never be about having to do certain things, though you do have to do certain things to play guitar. You have to pluck strings and press down on frets. But if all it is about is the plucking of strings and the pressing of frets, you've missed the point. Guitar is about expressing yourself, about letting the music guide you, about flowing.

The greatest flow musician of our generation

Crossfit is no different. At first, all the movements were so foreign to me that I had to think super hard about what I was doing. So much effort had to be devoted to just doing the movements correctly that not much effort was left to give to the WOD. In time though, as the movements became second nature to me, and as my body learned how to just do them without thinking, I experienced flow. Now, I can pour my heart into a WOD without having to give to much thought to doing the movements. I can go to that transcendent place of pain and joy. Crossfit should never be about having to do certain things, though you do have to do certain things to do crossfit. You have to push your knees out, you have to keep your back tight, you have to use your hips. But if all crossfit becomes is me thinking about pushing my knees out and keeping my back tight, I have missed the point. Crossfit is about moving, feeling, breathing, flowing. Flow opens up so many doors, and all those doors lead to joy and life.

Kyle exemplifying how to flow on the rings

Nowhere is flow more important than in our walks with Christ. Far too often we are overly concerned with the do's and don'ts. Go to church. Read your bible. Pray. Tithe. Don't smoke. Don't drink. Don't cuss. Blah, blah, blah. If this is all we are concerned with, we have missed the point. The point is not to do certain things and to not do other things. The central point of the Christian walk is the adoration of Christ- the lifestyle flows from that. One can play the game for only so long before it becomes burdensome. What we need is not to do do do- what we need is a regenerated heart, a humble disposition, a deep appreciation for the cross, and an exalted view of the Lamb of God. Everything else flows from that. We treat others as better than ourselves because Christ considered us before Himself in going to the cross for us (Philippians 2). We abstain from things because we see Christ as more lovely and more worthy of our affections. We give to others because Christ gave of Himself for us, and we love others because Christ first loved us (1 John 4:19)

"Whoever believes in me, rivers of living water will flow from within them" -John 7:38

Blessings

Guest Blog: If Jesus Worked Out He’d Do CROSS-fit

Morgan's first ever time front squatting: set the gym record

Today's post is a guest blog written by a dear sister of mine, Morgan. As her coach, I have had the privilege of watching her grow from a complete beginner in her elements class to one of our more gifted athletes. She has a knack for the sport unlike anyone I have ever seen, coupled with a deep desire to become better each day than she was the day before. Her natural giftings paired with her work ethic and passion for the sport will one day lead her to become a fantastic competitor at the regional, and maybe even games level. Her potential is only surpassed by her humility and love for Christ, as displayed in this beautifully written blog post.

Crossfit has become a part of my daily routine. If it is not one of the five days out of the week that I am in the gym, it is a rest day. On rest days, though my body is not competing my mind is moving. I think about past WODs, eating well, and studying successful competitors and their approach. I have recently become concerned regarding the consuming nature of my interest in the sport. In my concern, I have taken time to analyze what is it that I find so attractive about Crossfit. In seeking, I have felt a stirring about the deeper nature and reasoning for Crossfit’s appeal – it reflects what is truly consuming to me, my faith. 

WOD: Workout Of the Day

Everyday presents a new challenge: a workout that has been strategically programmed by our coaches. As an athlete, in trusting your coach’s plan, you complete the WOD. There is no Plan A WOD or Plan B WOD. There is THE WOD that has been willed for you for that very day. You can place your confidence in the fact that the WOD is going to be challenging. It is likely that at some point in the workout your mind will begin to fail you and in a close second your body will begin to scream with fatigue, “You don’t have to finish this workout. Your coaches can’t expect this of you. Just take a break.” It is tempting to submit to these thoughts but this isn’t just about a WOD- this is life. My love for Crossift isn’t rooted in PRs or scores- it’s rooted in my faith which ultimately defines me. In moments of fatigue, similar to how I doubt my coaches in what they have prepared for the day, I doubt my God and His will for my life. We must look not at our present circumstances but look further at their purpose. In lifting our gaze, we see that we can trust the teacher’s pure intentions. The challenges that we face today are for our future good.  

“Consider it pure joy my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4

The more I fight through today’s WOD, the more mature and complete my mind and body will be for tomorrow’s WOD. Just as my coaches promise to challenge me, God promises that in life we will face hardships and challenges for our own refinement and the glory of His kingdom. His good is our good. 

Pain is short but glory lasts forever. 

Another way that I have seen Crossfit parallel my faith is through time. WODs rarely exceed thirty minutes. In the busyness of my day, thirty minutes is merely a passing moment (that is until I am swinging a kettle bell and puking between sets of double-unders). Despite the level of intensity within the time frame, the actual length of time it takes to complete a WOD is a mere fraction of my day. When one’s hope is invested in the salvation that Christ offers, we can look beyond the trials of today and find them to be short lived in comparison to our promised eternity. 

“Forgetting what is behind you and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Jesus Christ.” Philippians 3:13-14

In the middle of a workout, when I begin to question my ability to complete it, I can press on toward the goal with confidence that in a matter of minutes the pain and discomfort will be finished. In the trials of this life, we can in the same way place our hope in eternal life. We can fix our gaze on what is promised: that in comparison to the kingdom of heaven, the pain and struggle of our earthly circumstances is a mere breath that will soon be finished.      

It makes sense that only one fit for the cross would have His fingerprints all over the game of Crossift. 

For Another

It's funny what we are willing to become for others. So often over the course of the last few weeks, I have observed this phenomenon. Nearly every day, I have athletes start to shut down mentally and physically during the closing moments of a WOD. After pushing them and giving them a little encouragement, they almost always pick up the pace and finish strong. Earlier this week, I had one athlete that I could tell was fading, but she is an athlete with amazing potential so I decided to spend the last minute of the WOD spurring her on. When I finally called time, she immediately headed for the restroom. When she came back out, she informed me that not only did she throw up after the workout, but during! Had I known that she puked mid-WOD, I would have made her stop, but the point was clearly made: she was willing to become painfully uncomfortable because she wanted to make me proud. My encouraging words in those closing moments were not what made her so willing to suffer- it was the relationship we have built over the past few months which lead her to not want to disappoint.

Kyle shared a similar story with me a few weeks ago. He was telling me about his experience doing one of the open workouts this past year, 13.4 (toes to bar and thrusters). He recounted to me how the whole gym circled around him and yelled at him not to put the bar down and not to drop during his TTB. His desire to slow down or drop was only surpassed by his desire to honor the athletes he coaches by pouring his heart and his body into that workout to make them proud. It's amazing what we will put ourselves through for the sake of another.

I am convinced that we willingly become things for others because our nature is to reflect the things of God, being that we are "made in His image" (Gen 1:27). Nowhere else in all of history do we see this theme more clearly than in the life and work of Jesus. Scripture tells us that "God made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Christ, the only one who was ever perfect and pure, became sin (sin- separated from God, impure) on our behalf so that we may be reconciled with God. What drove Him to do this was a furious love for those He gave himself for. Isaiah 53 tells us that "surely He took up our pain, and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed!"

Our pain.

Our suffering.

Our transgressions.

Our iniquities.

His wounds healed us.

The call is to become for others what Christ became for us- a humble servant who gives himself. I'll leave you with one of my favorite hymns that embodies this

Blessings