It was good to get back into the gym yesterday. So far I have managed to avoid some of the more unpleasant side effects of the chemotherapy but the tiredness has sometimes been extreme. A five minute walk has been a challenge. This week though I had a break from the chemotherapy and thought I might risk extending myself a wee bit. The advice has been that I should try to keep up exercise but to try and avoid the ‘eye popping stuff‘ (Consultant’s words) that I used to do.
So it was down to the Kumafit gym in Milngavie. Perhaps not too many people know about it. It’s tucked away in a side street just off Stewart Street in Milngavie but it’s probably the smartest gym in the area. Fraser Drake is the man in charge. We go back a long way. He was a great help when I was clawing my way back to fitness when I was first diagnosed and it has been good to see him doing so well with his own business.
The idea was that I would hit the bag, six rounds of three minutes, forty-five seconds rest in between. It wasn’t easy and the Big Man had to bark at me a few times when he detected some slacking. But I got there and it felt good. The legendary American football coach Vincent Lombardi once said:
‘I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.’
Got that right Vinnie boy!
What about boxing though? I can honestly say that my gloves have never made contact with any sentient being. People sometimes ask who I am thinking about when I pound the bag. That’s another matter. But I have never boxed for real. Nevertheless I have always admired boxers. Their physical fitness is extraordinary and perhaps more than in any other sport their psychological toughness is exceptional. I was convinced of that many years ago after reading Jose Torres’ book about Muhammad Ali Sting Like A Bee. In addition to his athletic prowess Ali knew how to get under the skin of his opponents and ‘psyche them out.’
It’s the boxing that is the problem. Two men/women facing one another in combat each seeking to dominate the other and if possible render the other incapable of continuing. It is hard to justify. But despite the opposition to it and the occasional tragedy in the ring boxing continues. Orson Welles’ comment about bullfighting comes to mind: ‘indefensible but irresistible.‘
It has a long history of course. There is a famous statue called The Boxer of Quirinal (on the left) which goes back to the First Century BC. The curly beard and hair suggest he is Greek. Each ‘glove’ called a caestus includes a metal piece over the knuckles which could cause considerable damage. The anguished look on the boxer’s face along with the scarring point to his being on the end of some heavy duty clouts.
It was a boxer like this that Paul had in mind when he wrote these words to the Church in Corinth:
‘Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.’ (1 Corinthians 9: 24-27)
Sport was a major part of Corinthian culture. The Isthmian Games held there were second only to the Olympics in their importance and popularity. So Paul knew he was on a winner in using athletic imagery in relation to the Christian life. He sees himself as a boxer, not shadow boxing but entirely focussed on his opponent. And that is himself: ‘I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.’
Paul was conscious of the battle going on within himself, the fallen human nature that was seeking to bring him down and the Holy Spirit seeking to raise him up to Christ-likeness:
‘So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.’ (Galatians 5: 16-17)
To paraphrase Vincent Lombardi, this is the cause for which we are called to work our hearts out. To realise that God’s plan for our lives is to establish us in Christ-likeness and to resist every dark impulse that would run counter to this. As Paul writes: ‘Let us keep in step with the Spirit.’ (Galatians 5: 25).
