church//gym: entry 07

i went to the gym this morning- i was supposed to get there at 7 to do the kettlebell class, but that wasn’t going to happen. i got there at 7:30 and hopped on the elliptical. a couple of minutes later, my encouraging-old-man-friend started stepping on the elliptical next to me. he noticed that iwasn’t stepping as fast as i usually do. i told him that i haven’t walked right since last Friday’s kettlebell class. for the first time ever, i took out my headphones and chatted with a friend while stepping on the elliptical. i learned that he is 77. he is in amazing shape for 77. he was stepping as high as that thing would go for 30 minutes straight. i told him that there is no way i could pull that off; and of course he encouraged me that i could do it if i worked at it.


eddie the ketttlebell trainer came upstairs while we were stepping and wondered where i was at 7- i felt bad because he waited for me.


after my cardio, i got a medicine ball and started some ab exercises on the floor. my encouraging-old-man-friend came and did some sit ups next to me. he was chatting with a lady who was also doing sit ups. when i was all done i went to him and said, “see you tomorrow! by the way, my name is rob.”
he said, “rob, its great to meet you- i’ve seen you around and now i know your name. my name is gary.”
and then gary started hammering me with the encouragement:
he said, “rob, are you in your twenties?”
i grinned from ear to ear.
“no, I’m 33!”
he said, “well you’re doing great- you’ve lost a lot of weight since you’ve started!”
woah! i almost fell over! my face was glowing with happiness.
i said, “wow- thanks for noticing!”
(as i sucked in my gut)
he said, “well its noticeable!”
we said goodbye and as i walked out i could hear him bragging on me to the lady he was talking to. i could hear him saying, “when rob started coming here…”


so that settles it:
when it comes to preaching, i want to preach like Erwin mcmanus-
when it comes to listening and making someone feel special, i want to listen like mister rogers-
and when it comes to encouraging,
i want to be like gary.