It was a cooler morning than anticipated when YHC rolled into Quagmire to set up the day’s activities. As soon as I got there, I realized my original plan wouldn’t work because there were two semis parked in the middle of the ideal workout space. But, I’m flexible, and quickly made adjustments to the weinke to accommodate, then drove off to meet the other PAX.

Ten HIMs beat the fartsack (and, to their dismay, failed to check the Twitter machine) to post this morning. As the clock ticked to 0515, a brief disclaimer was disclaimed (“You will go upside down today, so modify as necessary…and be sure to breathe”), and off we went for a mosey through the parking lots with some knees to chest, high knees, and toy soldiers before circling up outside Books-a-Million for a short COP.

COP

10 Windmills IC

20 Moroccan Night Clubs IC

15 Merkins IC

Quick stretch in downward dog then honeymooner, with some side to side low plank (6″) work and a brief battering ram for good measure. Recover to our feet and mosey to the red balls for some more warm up.

Originally, YHC was going to call this the “Paula Abdul” burpicide, but the lyrics to “Opposites Attract” actually say “two steps forward, two steps back,” which gets you nowhere, and that’s unacceptable. So, it went nameless. But, we did what worked out to two burpees and five LBCs at every ball (ten balls total), running forward two balls, do two burpees, then back one ball, five LBCs, etc., all the way across the front of Target. Lots of mumblechatter that this didn’t feel like just a warmup. But we were warmed up by the end, so the title fit.

With the six in, quick mosey to the (semi blocked) roadway between Target and Home Depot for

The Thang

Partner up for a Dora inspired, wall dependent workout. Partner one ran across the street to the broad wall facing Home Depot to complete two wall walks (plank to BTW to plank; aka “wall worm” in the exicon, but it’s one of two definitions, so wall walks was preferred). Partner two found a spot on the Home Depot wall to complete as many reps as possible of the prescribed exercise, When partner one returned, switch places, keep counting reps for a cumulative total.

Exercise breakdown:

100 air humpers with feet on wall (aka “glute bridge”)

200 Rockette chairs (Peoples Chair with alternating leg kicks, single count – it’s a good burn)

300 sit ups with straight legs up the wall (try to touch your toes!)

400 plank wall taps

500 calf raises

All groups made it to the calf raises, but no groups got through all 500 reps (that’s a lot of calf burning) before time demanded a quick mosey back to COT.

Announcements

• Read your newsletter
• Rooster was fun; keep an eye out for other CSAUPs coming up, like the Yeti on Feb. 24 (make an 18-man team if you need to, but try to be a part of it)
• Read your newsletter

Praises and Prayers

• Tater’s a grandpa (but he doesn’t know what to call himself). Grandson Fletcher was born at 32 weeks, so he’s in the NICU. Prayers for Fletcher and his parents.
• Royale’s mom’s surgery went well; prayers for full recovery
• Royale’s aunt was bit by a dog, so prayers for recovery there too
• YHC’s in the middle of leading another missionary training that has been filled with bumps; pray for peace and wisdom

NMM

I didn’t get to share this at the end – I’m bad about actually having a message during the workout. The words come later.

My word for 2018 is “deeper” – deeper faith, deeper relationships, digging deeper, etc. It seemed innocuous enough when I chose it, but this past week has showed me that it is anything but. In my role of training and equipping new missionaries, I spend countless hours putting together week-long training events that directly affect the lives of people looking to live long-term in cross-cultural ministry. I love what I do, and though I’ll admit that there’s no perfect program, I think we’ve built a pretty good thing here.

So naturally, it’s extremely frustrating when I have to change things, especially last minute.

Like when it snows and the city shuts down on the first day, and I have to somehow provide food and transportation to 11 people. Or when I have to cram a 5-day training into four days without going outside the 9-5 schedule because of childcare constraints. Or when I have to teach somebody else’s session because the presenter has to attend to a family health issue and the backup presenter is out of town. Technology issues, schedule issues, supply issues, the list goes on. Just when I think I’m making progress (two steps forward), something happens and I need to change something (one step back). I feel completely out of control.

All I can do is trust God.

God answers your prayers, but it doesn’t always happen the way you expect.

More trust. Deeper faith.

I’ll let you chew on that.

-Jedi