The Russian

It is funny how God comes along and puts people into your life and you don't even realize what God is doing or how greatly that person is going to affect you. I remember when I became a leader at the high school group at Denton Bible Church I mentored 8 different guys and over the years they taught me more than I ever I could ever have taught them and even now I am still learning from them. However, when God brought The Russian along I thought at first he was a curse...

Maksim - Pronounced MAHK-SEEM

I interviewed Maksim for his position at TI, he got hired, and later I found out that we lived in the same apartment complex. Over time we developed somewhat of a friendship, however, most of the time he just drove me crazy. Since Maksim is from Russia he kept talking about home and how great it was and about Cananda and how much he wanted to live there and how Americans were all so fat. Most of the time I just wanted to pull out a good old fashion Louisville Slugger and bludgeon him about the face and neck, but I held off, praying to God for patience and understanding - and understanding came.

Maksim has an intense drive and determination to succeed in everything that he does. If he has a goal he wants to reach, he reaches it. The problem is that he not only sets goals and expectations for himself, he sets them for other people as well - one of those people is me.

Maksim bugged me incessantly about working out with him, he wouldn't just accept a "soon", or an "eventually", he wanted an exact date. Eventually that date came around and sure as heck Maksim was standing in my cubicle asking, "Have you signed up yet?" So I acquiesced and paid for a 6 month membership at our gym at TI. We worked out consistently for a minimum of 4 days a week, sometimes 5 0r 6, and soon we were both reaping the rewards.

At first all I was doing was working out, but Maksim kept pushing me to eat better, to stop drinking Dr. Pepper, he chastised me for eating fast food and junk. He encouraged me to take vitamins and supplements going as far as buying them for me and making me pay him back. It was annoying and infuriating and I wanted to B&%# Slap him so many times because I wanted him to get out of my face and leave me alone, but at the same time I knew he was right.

It has been six months since we started working out together. I have lost 30 pounds in that time and gained a great deal of muscle. I started out only able to bench press 250 pounds and now I can bench press 350 and I have a goal to reach 400 by the end of the year.

I eat better now, I take vitamins like I am supposed to, and I have the best overall muscular balance that I have ever had in my entire life. I still have a long way to go, but Maksim has helped me build a solid foundation and for that I am eternally thankful.

There are days when I still want to punch The Russian in the face, actually it is almost every day, but deep down I know I can always count on him. If you need money, he is there, you need someone to help you get your Cadillac unstuck off a trailer that you caused it to fall off of, he is there, if you want to go for a spontaneous game of Ultimate Frisbee, he is there. We are the most unlikely of friends, we are from opposite sides of the world, but God put us into each other's lives for a reason and that reason was to make me into a beautifully sculpted fitness model.