Stations of the Cross
12 PAX answered the call this morning, took the DRP, and got better because of it.
It’s Holy Week and time for the Stations of the Cross.
Thank you Squirrel for providing the cross and sportsleader.org for Stations of the Cross workout.
Q: Meat Sweats
The Pax: Bluegrass, Chitwood, Beano, Witch Doctor, Snake, FroYo, and Poacher joined by ruckers Schlitz, Aruba, Captain D, and Josie, and runners Flying Tomato, Bourne, Quattro, and Dos Equis who ran and left early.
Warm Up: Arm Circles, Finkle Swings, and Floor Sweepers.
The Thang:
Pax runs one lap; each taking turns bearing the cross. After each lap, the station is read while performing the appointed exercise.
1st Station: Jesus is condemned to death
(25 merkins) GRATITUDE
Jesus just had the one of the worst nights ever. Gets betrayed by one of his friends, arrested, tortured and now he is condemned to death by people He has cured, helped and served. Oftentimes we do not feel like coming to workout. We get lazy, we have bad days, we don’t want to wake up … Jesus did nothing wrong and was condemned to death. Do we ever thank Him for that? Let’s thank Him right now by giving Him our best workout with all our effort.
2nd Station: Jesus carries His cross
(50 American Hammers) DETERMINATION
Not only is Jesus given the death penalty, He also has to be publicly humiliated by carrying the piece of wood he will be nailed to. And yet He does it willingly. He embraces the cross. He is determined to do God’s Will, He is determined to show us that He is willing to suffer anything for us. How many times do we workout truly doing it for our teammates? Let’s embrace the challenge, the difficulty, the sweat, the fatigue … like Jesus embraced His Cross. Let’s get stronger for our teammates, let’s get stronger so we can serve better.
3rd Station: Jesus falls for the first time
(2 minute air chair) COMMITMENT
Jesus has lost a lot of blood. He was nearly whipped to death, had a crown of thorns shoved and beat into his skull and he is exhausted. He falls. We fall many times as well. We fall short of our goals at times, we have disappointments, discouragements and we have doubts. Jesus went through this as well. But He didn’t quit. He fell but He got up. Let’s show that same commitment. Let’s never give up on our teammates.
4th Station: Jesus meets his mother
(30 grass getters) MOTIVATION, ENCOURAGEMENT, DEDICATION
Mary was doing everything she could to support, encourage, inspire, uplift her Son in the midst of all this suffering. She was the perfect teammate. During our workouts we should be constantly looking for ways to encourage one another. The more we are focused on lifting others up, the less we are trapped in our own whining. Let’s make sure that at every workout we are improving in our level of encouragement, motivation and communication.
5th Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry His cross
(30 squat jumps) OTHER-CENTERED, CAMARADERIE
Simon did not want to help Jesus carry His Cross. He didn’t know Him.
Do we treat some of our teammates the same way? We are willing to encourage and challenge some, the ones we are close with, but the others who we don’t know as well …not so much. But once Simon began to help Jesus, he grew to know Him, respect Him and love Him. Let’s build true camaraderie on this team. With everyone! One team, one heart, one
purpose.
6th Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
(50 WWI sit-ups) COURAGE, BOLD
With angry, drunk, insane soldiers surrounding a man they are en route to nail to a cross … one extremely courageous, bold, brave woman risks her life and her reputation by wiping Jesus’ face with her cloth. She wanted to help in some small way and nothing was going to stop her. How often do we give in to our fears of what others might say or do! Are we afraid of excellence? Are we afraid of challenging our teammates to do better, to striver harder for perfection? May we imitate the bold courage of Veronica and let nothing hold us back from helping our teammates get better.
7th Station: Jesus falls for the second time
(30 burpees) PERSEVERANCE
Even after Simon comes to help Him, Jesus still falls again. Perseverance is agonizingly difficult at times. Don’t let falls, failures or embarrassments stop you. Imitate Jesus on His way to Calvary. He fell down again and again, and every time He got back up. He would fulfill His mission. Period. Let’s persevere as a team, let’s fulfill our mission.
8th Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
(15 front raises/manual resistance) SELF-LESS
Jesus is being marched to His death and He still takes time to encourage others. He is selfless. He is all about others. He is all about us. Who do we work out for? Ourselves or our teammates? Let’s imitate our Lord and get louder in here. Let’s encourage one another to go harder, finish stronger, with better form, seeking perfection all together. Cowards get quiet in the face of adversity. Leaders get louder.
9th Station: Jesus falls for the third time
(30 up-downs) RELENTLESS
And another fall. We’ve all been through this. We want to achieve a personal best, break a record, accomplish a goal, see improvement … and we fail. Jesus knows exactly what we are going through. But Jesus was relentless. He always got back up. Jesus teaches us to forget about the failures and focus on the finish. Let’s be relentless.
10th Station: Jesus clothes are taken away
(100 LBCs) TOUGH
Betrayed, arrested, spit on, jailed, slapped, scourged, crowned with thorns, condemned, forced to carry a cross … and now stripped in public. If we ever think that our life is hard, that we have it tough … just think about Jesus in this moment. Jesus = Toughness. Never let anyone tell you that Jesus wasn’t tough. With the blink of an eye He could have destroyed every one of his torturers, yet He took it because He wanted you to be able to look at Him when your life got rough and know that He is with you and with Him you can conquer anything.
11th Station: Jesus is nailed to the cross
(3 minute wall sit) SACRIFICE
We should offer up to God all our sufferings, all our sweat, all our difficulties. We should offer them up and make them into prayers.
This workout should be a prayer that we are offering up to God for others and we should name them … I’m offering this up for my mom who has cancer, I’m offering this up for the little kid who gets bullied, I’m offering this up for the all Christians around the world being persecuted and killed for their faith … That is sacrifice. That’s what Jesus’ crucifixion was all about. Offering Himself for us. Who are you offering this workout for? (Have everyone shout it out during the wall sit)
12th Station: Jesus dies on the cross
(20 lateral raises/manual resistance) PASSION
Every athlete dreams of being on a team of passionate, dedicated leaders who will do anything and everything necessary to win a championship. Where everyone is absolutely 100% ALL IN. Was anyone more passionate, more ALL IN than Jesus. He did give anything and everything. It’s not a nice cliché with Him. It is reality. He gave His life for you.
Let’s have the passion to give our lives for Him and our teammates.
13th Station: Jesus is taken down from the cross
(40 lunges) ACCOUNTABILITY, LOYALTY
While Jesus was hanging in agony on the cross Mary, Mary Magdalene and John were there for Him. They did not abandon Him. Jesus could count on them. They were loyal. Are you that kind of teammate? Can every one of your teammates count on you to be there for them what adversity hits? Let’s prove to one another that we are that loyal, accountable teammate by how strong we finish this workout.
14th Station: Jesus is placed in the tomb
(50 merkins) HOPE, CONFIDENCE
Jesus’ passion and death were not the end. It was only the beginning. He did rise from the dead and change everything! This workout should renew us, give us hope and strengthen us both individually and as a team. We CAN achieve greatness … we were made for eternity … we were made for Heaven. May our struggles, sweat and pain in this gym give us the confidence to know that we can conquer anything in this life, that we can conquer temptation, that we can conquer peer pressure, that we can conquer our weaknesses. In Christ we can conquer.
Announcements:
April 18, 6 PM at Shadowlawn (170 Frye Rd, Pinehurst) Mentorship and Fellowship including free pizza and live music from Josh Haley.
April 30, 70 mile relay run. See FroYo for details. Minivan, runners, and money are needed.
Thank you for Chitwood and Schlitz who organized the Clown Cars to Apex. Apex and Albemarle will be returning the favor later this Spring.
Prayer Requests:
For Poacher’s brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s health issues.