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Who’s Your Spotter?

Posted by Tim LaTour on

When I was in high school, I played a few different sports that involved off-season weight training. As a young teenage boy walking into a weight room for the first time, I really wanted to look strong and fit in with the older guys around me. The problem was, I wasn’t very strong.

One day while working out on the bench press, I loaded about 45 kg (95 pounds) on to the bar. This was about 20 kg more than I had been using on the bench, but I was just so embarrassed with how little weight that was on the bar. I laid down on the bench with no spotter (a huge no-no) and proceeded to attempt my bench press exercise. As soon as the bar hit my chest, I was stuck.

You would think that I would ask for help...

Nope.

I just kept trying. I was pinned under the weight and was starting to panic. There were two other players with their backs to me, but I was too embarrassed to call out to them. Finally, my coach came walking by, grabbed the bar with one hand, lifted it on to the rack and yelled, “that’s why you always have a spotter!” This whole episode taught me a big lesson. Do you know what it was?

You guessed it.

Always use a spotter!

A spotter is someone who is there to help you if you can’t lift the weight. A spotter can also give advice. In this situation, a spotter could have said, “Tim, this is a bad idea.” Or, when I forged ahead with the bad idea, he could have been there to help me.

Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5:14 ‭(ESV‬‬)

“And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all” ‭‭ We all need people in our lives who can admonish us, encourage us, and help us. We’ve all been idle. We’ve all been fainthearted. And we’ve all been weak. And since we’ve all been there, we should never be embarrassed to reach out to someone if we need help. The weight of this world (and this year) can be a lot to bear. It is impossible to carry the weight alone. You may be weak or fainthearted because of everything you have going on. Find a spotter.

You may be paralysed by anxiety and are now idle in life. Not moving forward.

Find a spotter.

Who is your spotter? Who are you spotting?

Don’t ever be embarrassed to say you need help.

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