(This post was written by Phil Bledsoe, Technical Director)

Who wants to get ripped? Sounds awkward doesn’t it? It’s a little cleaner than asking someone if they want to go Zumba though…

My wife has been going to these ripped classes for a few months now and I can definitely see a difference in her physically, mentally, etc. There have been a few weeks where she’s even gone (3) times a day (psycho) but she loves it. When she was in L.A. for a photo shoot several weeks ago, she was looking up places to continue her ripped classes.

It’s around this time of year when everyone starts going after their diet and shape. The weather starts changing and the holiday-season-eating-extravaganza has settled in your mid section. Most people attack the gyms and tanning salons in an attempt to get ready for summer. And my wife is no exception. The main difference this year is that she hasn’t pushed me into it. She hasn’t nagged, she hasn’t pleaded, she has slightly hinted but that’s it. Instead, I sit back and watch her return from the gym day after day, I hear her excitement and I see the change. I would call her an inspiration (cue Chicago’s Peter Cetera now).

She leads by example. How many of us would say that we do that? Do you feel like you always have to speak motivation or can you just live to inspire?

We played a video this weekend from one of our small groups who serve a group of men once a month. As I’ve been thinking about my wife, the idea of ‘living the example’ and how that applies to us, one of the men on the video made a great comment. He said something like, ‘if they (the small group) had just come once and we’d never seen them again, there would be no relationship…the positive…they bring is much better than a hot meal’.

I love that message because it reminds me that my life is sometimes more powerful than my words. Our culture is saturated by messages and living the Gospel is the only authenticity that people may see.

As we go into this Easter season, we are confronted by the example that Christ set on the cross. You can easily see the Gospel message in his actions but you can also be inspired to endure hardships, love in the face of hate, and be an example.

Are we an inspiration? Do people look at our lives and want to get in shape? Or are we loud clanging cymbals with no lasting impact?