The Lion of Judah

It's Sunday September 7th.  The end to the Bridge City Beat Down.  Last night, Saturday, after the first day of competition I was in 15th place.  3 places short of the top 12 who qualify to do the final WOD on Sunday.  What happened Saturday?  I PR'ed my Snatch by a few pounds at 115lb. However, that put me quite far down since some of this group of women finished the Snatch Ladder at 175lb! So a win for me? Definitely!  Olympic lifting is an event I need to minimize the damage to my placing and it's coming.  The rest of the WODs on Saturday were mediocre for me.  I kept up to this group of STRONG STRONG...and let me make sure you heard that...STRONG women.  I did have happen what one cannot afford to happen in a competition.  I completely bombed a WOD, the Farmer's Walk, and that's what placed me in 15th after all scores were tabulated.

This is where my picture comes in.  I was in bed, batting my day around in my head and the errors I made that cost me.  I know restful sleep is compromised by reading the computer screen right before bed but I had to check some things on FB.  AND this was the first thing I see.  My amazing friend Rick Gutman posted this, giving a brief explanation of it and what it meant to him.  Rick said this is a depiction of The Lion of Judah.  I jumped over to the trusty Wikipedia to look it up because I wasn't familiar with it. Here's what I found:

The Lion of Judah is the symbol of the Israelite tribe of Judah. Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, is said to be the tribe's founder. The association between Judah and the lion can first be found in the blessing given by Jacob to Judah in the Book of Genesis. Both King David and Jesus hail from the tribe of Judah. The Lion of Judah is also a phrase used in the Book of Revelation to represent Jesus, and as one of the titles of Emperor Haile Selassie it is associated with the Rastafari movement.

Here's what Rick said...and Rick is a very qualified authority on the Bible:

I see... Running with Lion of Judah (Jesus) into the battle. The blinders and the 'Sheild' speak of 'Faith' The sword speaks of His 'word'. So much more going on here than that with the inscription on the sheild and the fire...

Lying there before I saw this, I was conversing with God saying "I'm ok with the day.  Not what I wanted but tomorrow is another day. AND if You are willing God, could You make it a little better day?"  I also realized I had to let go of my ego.  If I am using my talents, that were a gift to me to honour the Giver, then there is no place for ego.  AND The Lion of Judah was perfect.  Charging forward, faith burning like fire that I was ready to give it my all and God would answer.  He would answer in the best way for me.  He's got a few answers He falls back on:  

My plan was clear.  I would go into Sunday on The Lion of Judah with calm and faith that if I showed up, good things would happen. I guess He had something better in mind for me on Sunday than completing that Farmer's Walk on Saturday.  On Sunday, I played until I got my 1st Bar MU and then 6 more...I agree that was better.  I fought my way back with good workouts on Sunday BUT ended up in 13th, one away from making the final WOD.  I  felt like this except the caption on the bottom would be, "BUT, darn I really want to do that last WOD!!" :

Well God wasn't finished with my day yet. 12th place felt her body was finished and she would not be able to do the final WOD.  She hunted me down to tell me I was in!  WAHOOO!!!  I think I still ended up in 12th after the final WOD but in my head, I WON.  It was a great competition and I was honoured to be going head to head with some really STRONG women...you heard that right? REALLY STRONG.  Here's one of them...Whitney Darchuk-Parenteau, who is a beautiful person and a Lion of Judah competitor.  Yes, she won our division. 

I've got to get to bed but have to say Chad Benko, Valarie Perry and all the amazing volunteers who make our weekend go SO smoothly, YOU ARE AWESOME, SMART, DEDICATED & LOVED.   AND to Claire for calling me out on the Thruster WOD.  She actually said over the mic, "Laurie, get on that bar." I really didn't think I was looking at it that long.  Valarie, look up.  Dave, flick the ponytail.  I will always remember those cues. 

Let's get some rest and then back to training!!