I was sharing last week with some friends about the first time I joined a gym. My local gym was having an amazing special, so I joined up with my eldest daughter, and we made a commitment to go at least 3 times a week – and for the most part  we did. I was shown by the gym instructor the weights section and given an exercise plan for completing the circuit and using weights. His closing comment was that I should then go over and do half an hour cardio workout using some of the equipment. There was all the usual stuff, exercise bikes, treadmills, and my personal favourite the rowing machine.

In among all these machines was the cross trainer. Now I had never used a cross trainer, but after a few days of going and getting my fitness up a little, I thought I would have a go. I stepped on the machine and was faced with all the buttons and levels. A little unsure at what level to start with,  I thought I would check out what level the guy next to me was on. Now to put it in context, the guy on the machine next to me was about 80 years of age. I saw the level he was working at and thought that would be a good starting point – after all the guy was 80 so surely I could do better than him. On the other side was a lady who looked to be his wife around the same age. She was at the same level so this convinced me that I should start there and work my way up.

So I set the level and off I went. After a whole three minutes – yes three minutes – my heart was pounding, I was out of breath and could feel myself about to collapse. At about 6 minutes I stopped the machine and sat down on a step at the end. My daughter came over looking very concerned – looking  like I was about to have a heart attack. The front counter lady was leaning around the corner phone in hand ready to call an ambulance, and I was getting some very concerned looks from those around me. I wasn’t having a heart attack, there was nothing wrong with me – except that I couldn’t keep up with a couple of 80 year olds in a gym!

I headed home my ego damaged, my daughter (and my wife once my daughter had relayed the story to her) in hysterics at my being done in by a couple of 80 year olds, and a  new determination to head back to the rowing machine and designating cross trainers to a new type of torture machine.

As I reflected on this I got to thinking about life. When I got on that cross trainer I wasn’t ready for what it needed. I hadn’t done the preparation work to be at the level I tried to exercise at. Life is like that. We go through life and it throws us curve balls that knock us off our feet. Maybe it is at school or work and we face the challenge of dealing with difficult peers, or work we find too challenging. Maybe it is in our marriage as we try to work out how a relationship really works, and who is this person I married. Maybe it is raising kids and realising that all the books say something different, and none of them seem to suit your situation anyway, and what really is a good parent? Maybe it is dealing with rent or mortgage payments, juggling car payments and schools bills and all the rest.

All of these things throw us off balance, can get our heart racing, and leave us feeling overwhelmed. And we look next door and the person there seem to be cruising through, and we wonder what we did wrong.

Well I find at times like this, it is great to have God in your corner. I don’t know what your view of God is, and if He is real to you or not, but let me leave you with this thought. I discovered a lot of years ago that there is a God – Jesus Christ. And I discovered He was not sitting up in heaven waiting for me to mess up so He could punish me and throw lightning bolts at me. Rather I discovered that Jesus cares about me, that He wants the best for me, and that when I am going through a tough time He wants to know about it and help me through it. I discovered I can talk with Him (in other words pray – its just a conversation with God) and that He listens and gets me through my day when it is all going up the creek without a paddle. And I find that when I mess up I can ask Him for forgiveness and help in getting it right – and he forgives me and does help me.

Most of all I find that he has taken away the guilt and hurt and shame I have carried in my life and given me forgiveness. You see Christianity is not about rules and thou shall and shall not; it about  a relationship with a real and living God, receiving his love and forgiveness, and living the best life possible through His power.

Think about your life as you head out today. Think about the things you have done well, and the times where you have messed up. God loves you regardless and wants to set you free from the guilt you carry, and desires for yo to be the best you that you can be. Think about having more of God in your life – maybe talking with Him and letting Him know how your doing, getting along to a good local church,  and discovering more of how great God is. It will help you to train yourself for running the race of life a little better – oh, and watch out for those cross trainers!