My dad would have been 77 today.
But I will forever remember this day for another reason. One year ago, he went to Hospice with terminal brain cancer. He passed away 8 days later.
Before you click away or think you might have stumbled onto some morbid blog about death, let me welcome you to the new Faith & Fitness Training Department Blog (hmmm…the FFTDB…it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. We will work on that).
This blog gives us the chance to get very personal and real with our Faith & Fitness journey. Most posts will be light-hearted, funny, and quick-to-the-point with practical information to challenge and encourage you, as you pursue physical and spiritual strength.
This first post is very different. I wanted to open up and share some very personal discoveries from the hardest year of my life. There is a faith and fitness point to all of this gloom, if you can just hang with me.
My dad, Max Robinson, passed away on January 13 after a 13 year battle with skin cancer. I gave the eulogy and referred to him as a cancer survivor. In my opinion, when doctors tell you in 2000 that 80% of men with this type of skin cancer die within 5 years, and you make it for 13…you are a survivor!
Max with my daughter Sully in 2010
Three months later, my step-brother (Max’s son from his first marriage) died unexpectedly from a heart attack. He was only 51.
In May, two people passed away that made a huge impact on my life in different ways. I only spent 2 weeks with Marion Way on two separate mission trips to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but any time around this amazing man who had spent the last 50 years of his life serving the people in his community felt like time spent around Gandhi or Mother Teresa. Marion passed away on May 12 at age 82.
My grandmother died on May 24 at the spry old age of 105! What a life! Every day for her was consumed with prayer and bible study.
Finally, October brought the passing of my sweet aunt Ernestine and my gym. Yes, my gym “passed away” on Halloween after a 15-month life span that produced several sleepless nights and unfulfilled dreams.
2013 was the hardest year of my life, but in many ways it was also the richest. Maybe that is the wrong word, but it is the only way I can describe the feeling of going through so many emotions, decisions, and turmoil. As I described it to one group…”I had a lot of ‘life’ all over me this year…I was covered in ‘life’”.
That is also why I love to train hard and inspire others to do so. Hard fitness training allows you the opportunity to sweat, suffer, dig-deep, cry, push yourself, and basically “feel”. So many people go through life without ever really feeling anything. They are just skimming along trying to avoid conflict in every sector of their life so they can just “punch the clock” on another day.
Training is about feeling, and really experiencing all that life has to offer. This past year I had many opportunities to “feel” and it was rich and meaningful. It wasn’t fun and of course, I wish my dad was still here, but feeling life on a very deep, real level was powerful. Spiritually, it also makes the normal days of reading the Bible, praying, and going to church feel so average. Prayer comes alive when it is through tears with your dad for the last time. Scripture jumps off the page when you are preparing a eulogy. Hugs, fellowship, music…everything is richer when you are living through one of those challenging events.
Every workout is kind of like a laboratory experiment on feeling. It’s an opportunity to move, grow, and feel all that life has to offer. We hope that Faith & Fitness Magazine and this blog become a consistent resource as you move, grow, and feel a complete life that is full and rich.
