At YHC’s devotion during COT this morning at Urban Jungle, I tried to draw a parallel between “brokenness” of the human spirit, our inability – or unwillingness – to ask for prayers when we’re struggling, and tied it to the movie “Unbroken”, which I’m really looking forward to and is based on the excellent book by the same name, in theaters tomorrow. From the quizzical look from Larry David at the conclusion, I’m not sure any of it made any sense. Oh well, hopefully the workout was more physically – and intellectually – stimulating.
15 PAX showed up, including special guests from Cary, likely assuming we’d spend 45 minutes in the confines of the reasonable-dry North Hills parking decks — ’twas not the case.
Run to parking garage for warmup: CDD x 20, Burpee x 10 OYO, Plank Jack x 20, Drop (Skaters) Lunge x 15, 4-count Merkin x 10. Time to get wet.
2 line Indian Run down Lassiter Mill, left on Ramblewood. Stop at beltline noise retention wall for > Peeps chair assortment (hands down, out, up, down, recover). Balls to wall for 90 seconds, Sumo Squat Jump x 20.
Run back up Six Forks, 20 monkey humpers while waiting to cross ridiculously-long green light. To World of Beer stairwell for, in honor of the wise men, star jump ladder. Ascend to top of deck (I said 5 flights, seems like 8 or 10 or more) for 10 star jumps, back down, then up for 5, then back up and down. Plan was to start with 20 and decrease by 5 with each ascent, but alas, it was already 6:18am, so an audible was called.
Run back over to JCP parking deck for Mary: Good Mornings x 10, 1-legged Burpees right leg x 10 OYO, SSH x 15, 1-legged burpees left leg x 10 OYO and most befittingly, Heels to Heaven x 24, in honor of this special day.
COT:
2 workouts this Friday, regular schedule SAT, check the web or Twitter.
Prayers were raised for the racial strife and tension in the world today, and for peace.
YHC read an excerpt from a reviveourhearts.com devotion on “brokenness”:
Our generation has been programmed to pursue happiness, wholeness, affirmation, and cures for our hurt feelings and damaged psyches. But God is not as interested in these ends as we are. He is more committed to making us holy than making us happy. And there is only one pathway to holiness—one road to genuine revival—and that is the pathway of humility or brokenness.
God is more committed to making us holy than making us happy.
The Scripture makes it clear that this is the number one prerequisite to meeting God in revival. “For this is what the high and lofty One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly’” (Isa. 57:15, niv).
You and I will never meet God in revival until we first meet Him in brokenness. That does not mean, as some think, having a gloomy countenance or being morbidly introspective. Nor can it be equated with deeply emotional experiences. It is possible to shed buckets of tears without ever experiencing a moment of brokenness. Further, brokenness is not the same as being deeply hurt by tragic circumstances. A person may have experienced many deep hurts and tragedies without being broken.
Brokenness is not a feeling; rather, it is a choice, an act of the will. It is not primarily a one-time experience or crisis (though there may be crisis points in the process of brokenness); rather, it is an ongoing, continual lifestyle.
Brokenness is a lifestyle of agreeing with God about the true condition of our heart and life, as He sees it. It is a lifestyle of unconditional, absolute surrender of our will to the will of God—a heart attitude that says, “Yes, Lord!” to whatever God says. Brokenness means the shattering of our self-will, so that the life and Spirit of the Lord Jesus may be released through us. It is our response of humility and obedience to the conviction of the Word and the Spirit of God.
Brokenness is a lifestyle of agreeing with God about the true condition of our heart and life, as He sees it.
A pleasure, as always. Merry Christmas, ya’ll.
