Spot on

Today at the gym, a total stranger asked me to spot him. I was in the middle of my work out, focused, blasting Skillet into my ear drums and making myself deaf while I lifted weights. I think that there must be some unwritten but fully understood code at the gym that when someone asks you to spot them, you do. By the way, to spot someone means to help them in their lifting weights. This could be an extreme amount of weight where someone is maxing out, it could be the fact that they are unsure if they can lift the weight, or they just need someone along side helping them with a particularly hard exercise that requires someone to spot you. Either way, if someone asks you to spot, you're expected to say yes. Spotting also requires a lot of encouragement. You yell words like "Push it out!" "It's all you!" "I'm barley even touching the bar!" "You can do it!"

When this dude asked me to spot him, I hesitated. I don't know why, but I did. Me spot you, I thought. You're biceps are bigger than my head. You have more weights on there than I thought possible. And if I leave the T-bar row machine to help, I might lose the machine. But I stopped what I was doing. I went over and I spotted him. I yelled the words of encouragement to him. "Push it out!" "You can do it!" "It's all you! I'm barley even touching the bar!" (I was holding it tightly and helping him lift it). The dude thanked me and did the respectful fist bump after wards. He then went to a lower weight and continued to bench. I kept my eye on him for a bit just in case. I went back to my workout.

In life, I think, we need spotters. Whether we're going through an extereme situation, or doing something difficult, or just need someone to yell words of encouragement, we need a spotter. We need a spiritual spotter in our lives as well. Someone who can come along side of us, help us with God's Word. Help us in our walk with Christ. Give us those words of encouragement and help us lift those heavy burdens.

Do you have a spotter??

Fitness, Food, Faith

Fitness--Get a spotter. You may not need one for every exercise, but for some of the more complicated things, you need one. But also find someone to help you and encourage you in you work outs and exercises. Someone who can give you those words of encouragement but can also encourage you to keep going with it.

Food--Find a food spotter. We all need someone who can encourage us to eat well, to encourage us to not eat what we shouldn't. We all need someone to give us those words of encouragement in continuing to eat well and to keep at it.

Faith--We need a spiritual spotter. That's for sure. Find someone who is the same Gender and not your spouse/significant other (trust me on this one.. it's for the best of your marriage/relationship) pray for each other. Encourage one another in the faith. Carry each others burdens and help each other home.