Growing up I loved Christmas more than any other day. The presents, the family, the love… it was perfect. Every year, pure joy. I was never in to Easter as much. As my faith has grown I’ve come to realize that Easter is at the heart of Christianity. Death conquered, a promised delivered, hope eternal. I’ve grown to love Easter. In recent years I’ve found myself loving Good Friday. I know it sounds weird. What’s good about it? The reality is on earth we spend a good deal of our time on “Friday”. Death of loved ones, sickness, financial situations, violence in our cities, terrorism around the globe, worry for our children. Fridays can be long, dark and painful. The longer we live the more darkness we see. But the beauty in Friday is that it leads to Sunday. We have to go through Friday in our lives, but without it we could never truly appreciate Sunday. Without Christ dying on the cross He could not be resurrected. Without Good Friday, there is no Easter. Nine months ago I started heading out into the darkness at 5:30/5:45am to punish my body. There have been many days where it has been painful, very painful. But at the end, in the COT, I feel alive. I have accomplished something and I can see the light on the other side. I’ve come to love my time in the gloom because I have faith I will conquer it. I’ve come to love Good Friday, because I know Christ conquered it for me.
Now for our Good Friday Celebration (A Passion Parable as Bob Ross called it)…7 PAX, all strong regulars, braved a sketchy forecast. No disclaimer for this group, we jumped right in….
Triumphant entrance to Jerusalem (Juggernaut)
A quick triumphant lap to the entrance of the parking lot… heads held high, chests out, mumble chatter abounding
Warm-up
SSH x25
GM x15
IW X25
Merkins x25
The Last Supper
Head to the picnic tables for:
Derkins
Left Right Step Ups
Irkins
Dips
One pair of Pax at a time would leave the shelter to perform 10 pull-ups each. There’s a little Judas in all of us so everyone got two turns doing pull ups while the remaining Pax did the aforementioned exercises until their return.
Peter’s Thrice Denial
On to the rock pile for three cycles of:
Rock Curls x25 x20 x15
Overhead Press x25 x20 x15
Tricep Extensions x10 x15 x15 (audible on the count when I almost dropped Rouge’s rock behind me)
Bent Over Rows x25 x20 x15
(Rotating one rock to the left after each exercise)
Walk up Calvary
Bear crawl from first speed bump to second
5 Burpees OYO
Circle up for Plank work
Merkins
Mountain Climbers
Back to the Shelter for Left Right Step Ups
People’s Chair
On top of Calvary
LBCs x30 IC
Homer to Marge x20 IC
American Hammers x40 IC
Sir Fazio Arm Circles held until 6:30 and Dabo asked “is this a Good Friday reference”?
COT
Indeed. At this time I let the PAX know the inspiration behind our exercise today. A small way to remember the price Christ paid for each of us. My goal was to make our arms sore enough for the next couple of days that we’d have a constant reminder. As always, a tremendous pleasure to exercise with the men of Juggernaut and an honor to lead them.
Mayhem mentioned that on a Good Friday past, Orwell directed him to look on Youtube for “Sunday’s Coming”. He mentioned it’s well worth the time.
Prayers – Rain Main’s sister who has been diagnosed with cancer.
Alene Love who passed last Saturday from Leukemia and Pneumonia.
Rice Krispies’ friend who’s father has been given two months.
Mayhem took us out with strong words followed by the Lord’s Prayer.
Happy Good Friday. Sunday’s coming.
