At The Gym, Again . . .

He towers at about six feet, five inches tall and weighs close to two hundred and fifty pounds. He is an African-American man with a shaved head and ink all over his arms. One eye is permanently glassed over with no pupil or retina and is surrounded by scarred skin. He has a gold tooth. His clothes are usually a white tank-top, baggy blue work trousers and suede leather work boots. He constantly paces back and forth between exercise machines listening to what sounds like hard rap music coming through his ipod headphones. He goes by the name of "L" and he is a warrior.
I met "L" a few months ago during my arm workout at the gym. He and a buddy of his were doing machine preacher curls when I approached them and asked if I could do a few sets with them. They were using moderately heavy weight and they were doing the curls single armed. I have been in the gym long enough to know that if you man up and hang with somebody during their "lift", you can gain their respect. Before we knew it, we were doing single arm curls with 75 pounds. I fought through each painful rep dripping with sweat. We finished, and "L" looked at me and smiled. He stuck out his fist and I reached out with my fist to hit his. No words were needed, it is a guy's way of saying "good going or congrats". Later in the locker room I introduced myself and he did the same. His name is actually Elrod, but his street name is "L".
The first thing that you will notice about "L" is not his scarred eye or his scary size, it's that he always has a smile on his face. Whenever he sees me, he approaches to greet me as if he is excited to see me. Our conversations have been brief with the typical questions such as: "Where do you work?" and "How many kids do you have?" I have been waiting for just the right time to ask him to share his life story, and if he is a follower. Today, I took a small step and asked him if he is a church going man. He lit up! I didn't think that his smile get could any bigger, but it did. He told me that his dad is a Baptist Preacher and that they just started a church in northern Kentucky. I think that he said that they started two months ago and that they have about a hundred in attendance. I think that is awesome!
God continues to impress me with the stories that are coming out of the gym. My prayer "to see the world with His eyes" is being answered. The gym has been one of the most easiest places for me to pass judgment. For so many years, I have let my own pride get out of control and in the way at the gym. I have always seen the gym as a place full of self-centered, testosterone filled jerks; and I was one of them. Now I am just simply amazed at what I am discovering. Real people with real stories. I can't wait to talk to "L" some more. I want to know what happened to his eye. I want to know more about what God is doing in his life. And when I find out, I will share it.
Peace!