church//gym: entry05

this morning I was on the elliptical and I was going at a pretty good pace- I decided that I was going to go for the 6000 steps in 30 minutes. I was at 28 minutes and right on pace and I thought to myself, “I wish that my encouraging-old-man-friend were here to see this!” and he walked in! normally he comes up and sees how I’m doing, but today he was talking to his other friends. at the end of the 30 minutes, I had 6088 steps. I kept waiting for him to ask or notice. he was still talking to his friends. so- like the dork that I am, I went over and told him nonchalantly, ‘hey- I hit those 6000 steps.” he went all out. “whoa! that’s great! I bet you could do it again! I bet you could go even farther! wow! what kind of pace is that? 200 steps a minute? that’s pretty fast! great job!”


I know- I’m a grown man- and I shouldn’t really need to seek out affirmation and I should really be able to motivate myself, but that just made my day.


when I first got to the gym today there was an old lady riding another machine. some old men were giving her a hard time, “mas rapido alma!” “it doesn’t work unless you turn it on!” she was annoyed with them. finally she said, “I’m having a problem!”
uh-oh.


before I got on my machine I asked her if she was ok. I made eye contact with everyone around to make sure they were watching her. that’s when I started on my 6000 steps. when I had about 90 seconds and 100 steps to go, she looked uncomfortable. I thought, “I should help her! BUT WHAT ABOUT MY STEPS?! STAY ALIVE FOR 90 MORE SECONDS!” someone else helped her. I guess she was fine.


“The tongue has the power of life and death,
and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
-proverbs 18:21