Faith and Fitness

The most powerful words a coach can give are: “You can do it!”

The first time a coach got me into a handstand, “You can do it!”

That time I was about to give up with 20 more reps to go, “You can do it!”

The first time I put 165 on my back, “You can do it!”

They are words that I need to hear, more often than I would care to admit. But they are powerful words, it’s true.

I try and remember these words as I coach in my own role. I remember my first truly momentous pastoral moment, when I had a group of college students responsible for guiding new students in our ministry. One night, our church was having two conflicting events, which put our team into extreme mode, and we needed to add about 10 more to our team. I picked 4 of our students to lead in particular sections, and each of these 4 not only recruited more students to help, but they were so awesomely amazing at their roles that I was barely needed.

I wonder sometimes what would have happened that night had I told them I needed to do it because they couldn’t. Instead, I believed in them and they rose to the occasion.

In my short 4 1/2 years of full-time ministry, I’ve been able to see how powerful these words can be. How they become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I can either tell someone they can, and they’ll rise to the occasion. Or I can tell someone they can’t, and they’ll fail before trying.

God’s grace is that God tells us often, “You can do it!” You can be the person I created you to be. You can love the way I showed you love. You are worthy, you are awesome, just because I created you to be.

You can do it!

For 7 years, I was just about as anti-CrossFit as you can get. I’m an endurance runner. Runners don’t do things that take away from their perfectly planned Hal Higdon schedule. And getting injured from falling on a box or dropping a barbell on your head? Yep. That’ll knock you out for a few days.

But last spring, I burnt out on running for many reasons. I raced too much. I wasn’t progressing (in fact, my numbers were getting worse). My running community had become a source of stress. I found myself breaking down emotionally on runs instead of getting my emotions out. But mostly, I just didn’t love it anymore.

When I moved to Charlotte, though, I thought: new start! I’ll find a new running community, join a gym where I can do some group classes from time to time for cross-training, and I’ll be set!

And then, someone in my new running community told me about ClassPass. It was a great way to add some cross-training to running. I could jump from boxing to yoga to spin class. And CrossFit was included. I thought, “Why not? What do I have to lose?”

Eventually, I stopped going to boxing and yoga and spin class, and instead was bouncing around to different CrossFit gyms so as not to go over my once/week allotment at a particular gym. It was getting exhausting with all the driving.

During this time, a partner competition was coming up, and I wasn’t going to be able to participate because I wasn’t really a member anywhere. Sure, I could have grabbed someone random in one of the (4!) boxes I was rotating between. But I realized I didn’t really have my “tribe”. It was time to make a decision.

I weighed the pros and cons of each box within 15 minutes of my house. I looked at which ones of them had specialized classes in Olympic weightlifting and gymnastics (because, as a runner, I have no clue what I’m doing there). I looked at price tags and membership options (could I just go twice a week to one and then keep my ClassPass membership to continue rotating through others?). I analyzed why I was wanting to join and which place would be best for those goals. I still had no clue.

It came down to my last week and I had narrowed it down to two boxes. One of the boxes was sponsoring a community event. I was in my last trial workout (the GM let me do a few… which I’m so grateful for because I still was stressing!) and someone asked me if I would be her partner for the event the next weekend.

I signed up the next day for the event and for a membership. I had found my tribe.

In ways, it was a complete fluke. Most of the boxes I visited were extremely friendly. They asked me where I was from and how I got there. They helped me when I picked up the men’s bar instead of the women’s. They greeted me with a smile even at 6 in the morning and were patient with me as I floundered through a confusing EMOM.

But this was the first time someone invited me to really be a part of what they were doing. Not just in the time period that I was paying to be there, but the time outside of the gym as well.

And that was all I needed to know where I was meant to go.

We’ve been talking a lot about hospitality inside our church, lately. With 1400 in attendance on an average Sunday morning, it’s important to talk about. We do worship well. Really well. But we know church isn’t just about worship, it’s about family and inviting others into the family.

So we equip and empower our membership in the form of greeters and parking attendants and ushers and hospitality team members. We station people around the church to help answer questions and guide others to Life Groups and the bathroom (sometimes, equally important).

But hospitality means taking it a step further. It means opening up our homes to the stranger. It means inviting the newcomer to something outside of the normal church hour. It means not only saying, “you are welcome inside our walls” but also “we want you to know you are included outside them as well.”

I feel passionate about hospitality because I’ve been the newcomer many times in my life. And it’s hard to be the newcomer in a place where people have known each other for years.

But it doesn’t take much. An invite to lunch or a movie night. It won’t cost you anything, but it may mean the world to one who just wants to find their tribe.