Sounding Board

So I guess this whole daily blog thing isn't going to work.  So, I have downloaded the Blogger app to see if I can use it for what I hoped to get out of this...a sounding board.  Sometimes I have random stuff go through my head, conversations with myself that I sometimes wish I could record.  Well, now I can...sort of anyway.

I'm reading a book called "Praying Backwards".  Cool bok so far but I'm only a few pages in so the jury is still out.  But, the author makes a great point that Jesus had infinite patience with His disciples and does also with us.  His point being the He has no problem answering the same question over and over because He knows one day it'll click and we'll be able to pass that knowledge along.  This is what I needed to hear right now (like God didn't know that).  I feel like my life lately has been the same prayer and conversation with God over and over and I felt like He was going to run out patience.  It's good to know I can keep asking and He'll keep teaching the same lessons over and over.  Man I love Him.

Jeh' Love folks.

A good day

So today was a good day.  The kids were great, Marka and I got some stuff done.  We had sushi for lunch. The WOD went well.  It was a good day.  Only did the WOD today, no extra lifting.  I have my first ever CrossFit competition on Saturday so this week has been a taper week.  Tomorrow is a rest day.  Nothing really exciting or quippy to put out there.  How's about the devo?

Devo

Exodus 4:10-13

11Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? 12Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”  13But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”

Hmmm...Curious this one.  The devotional goes on to talk about how God can empower anyone to do anything.  It's something I believe to be true.  But in this particular instance, Moses doesn't pull it off.  Not by his own doing or by the power of God.  He wimps out.  God sends Aaron to do the job Moses was supposed to.  Well, more accurately God sent Aaron to help Moses carry out the orders given.  None the less I have to be critical of this particular devotional.  That being said, look at the situation.  God still got it done in spite of the disobedient whiney-ness of Moses.  Which shows even more-so that trust in the Lord will get the job done when you feel like you can't do it on your own.  That's all for now folks.

Jeh Love!

I still hate running

Yeah, I said it.  Again.  And I mean it.  But, I am going grit through it if it kills me.  If there is one thing I lack in my athletic/CrossFit game it's endurance.  I'm strong, and I have heart like no one's business.  But keeping the butt-whoopin' speed I start with is an area of concern.  "Make friends with your weaknesses, then beat them to death".  I cannot quote that enough.  Today I ran for 25 minutes working between sprinting and "jogging".  I quote "jogging" because I was once told that real men don't jog, they run.  So I sprinted and ran, I did not jog.  I would also like to say that life's business is kicking Marka and I in the teeth, pray for us.  We need more strength than we can muster and that's only going to happen through the strength of God.

Devo

Exodus 1:11-14:
11So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king. 12But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became.  13So the Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy. 14They made their lives bitter, forcing them to mix mortar and make bricks and do all the work in the fields. They were ruthless in all their demands.

The Egyptians tried to wear down the Israelites by forcing them into slavery and mistreating them. Instead, the Israelites multiplied and grew stronger. We go through times in our lives when we are burdened or mistreated, and we may feel defeated. But our burdens can make us stronger and can develop qualities in us that will prepare us for the future. We cannot be overcomers without troubles to overcome. Be true to God in the hard times because even the worst situations can make us better people.  This is true of where Marka and I find ourselves at current; not enough day at the end of the day.  Between running 2 ministries, a business, a household, and 2 young kids, we are barely treading water and feel like there is no end in sight.  But, we know that God provides and He made us strong people and had the foresight to put her and I together so I am confident we will make it.  The cool thing is that in all of this, the Isrealites trusted God and leaned on them in their time of heavy burden.  Funny how later, Jesus looks at His people and tells them "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30).  He is saying in that moment what God had told His people in Egypt; trust Me and I will get you through this and give you rest on the other side.

Life gets busy...and runs you over like a bus!

So I missed a few days...ok a few weeks.  Life got busy and this is one of the things that will get stuffed to the end of the list when that happens.  I have an on again off again relationship with journaling/blogging anyway so this is really just par for the course so no real surprise.  So what's has happened you ask?  Not really anything exciting.  I have stuck to my training (for the most part) and I have gained 6lbs. of muscle.  I have also increased many of my lifts and I am feeling more confident as time goes by.  I still suck at running.  So over the next few weeks it will be more of a focus.  We had to have our dog put down.  That was a rough day, but his seizures were getting worse and you could see it was effecting him in a bad way.  Guess that's all I have for now.  Here's what I lifted for today.  Tomorrow I do a 20 Minute interval run...YAY!

Back Squat, 4x5 @ 80%
Shoulder Press, 4x5 @ 80%
Sotts Press, 5x4 AHAP

Pull Ups 3x10 Chest -to-Bar, No B-Fly
Ring Dips 3xM.E.
50 Hanging "L" Raises

Happy Lifting folks!

Devo

Genesis 18:14 - "Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

This is in reference to the story of Sarah and Abraham.  At this point they were approximately 80+ and thought it laughable that The LORD would tell them they would be able to bear children.  Sarah actually laughed.  Guess what?  A year later they had Isaac (which means laughter of God, haha).  It's a good reminder of something I think we either forget, doubt, or take for granted.  God reminds us of His power time and again to ever so gently nudge us to be confident in asking for His help as we chase our dreams.  Something Marka and I need to remember in the times we are overwhelmed, like we have been the past few weeks.

By the way, my devo right now is the Life Application devo from the YouVersion Bible App.  If you don't have it, get it.  It's free and it is amazing.  It will read some of the versions to you!  Chack it out here:

https://www.youversion.com/

https://www.youversion.com/reading-plans/59-life-application-study-bible-devotion

Jeh' Love!

Ugh...day 3.

So yeah, with our late night adventure to the Urgent Care because Ryker stuck a rock in his nose (seriously, I think it's funny, Marka did not) early morning lifting did not happen.  Instead it will happen here in a few hours.  I'm tired, sore, grumpy...but coming out of it.  Today's lifting includes:

Front Squat, 6x5 @ 75%
Deadlift (Double Overhand Grip), 3x3 @ 85%

Pull Ups 3x8+1 Neg., Strict 

Strict-HSPU 3xMax Effort, 3" Deficit
30 Hanging "L" Raises

Gonna be a good day once it starts.  I love lifting heavy things.

Devo

Proverbs 3:3 (NLT)

Never let loyalty and kindness leave you!
Tie them around your neck as a reminder.
Write them deep within your heart.

The context of this verse is speaking to our loyalty and steadfast love to The Lord as he demonstrates His to us.  But verse 4 says that by doing this we will gain favor with God and people.  Isn't that the truth.  Who are the people for which we have the highest of respect?  People who are loyal and kind.  Not just in thought and word, but also in deed.  Loyalty and kindness, as much as we think of them as emotions, are actually actions.  Who has ever been helped by your kind thoughts?  What friends know you loyalty only by your word?  It wouldn't serve me very well to tell Marka I am hers and hers alone then go out and date other women.  My words say loyalty, my actions show other wise.  If wisdom is the application of knowledge, then we are all failing miserably because we all know this.  We know that kindness is not wishing a homeless person well.  It's taking action where you can to actually do something about their condition.  Jesus taught this truth to people standing next to beggars they had ignored.  It's a hard truth, but we need to be confronted with out short comings in order to know they even exist.  I have a lot of kindness in my heart, this is the day The Lord showed me I need to put it to work.  Srs.

Jeh' Love folks!

Trying to stay the course

Day 2 and already life is trying to knock me off course.  As I thought about it, many of you have no idea what I am doing, So let me try and give you the run down.  I do CrossFit, and I compete at CrossFit which I guess makes me a Crossfitter.  This year I entered the world wide competition and did ok.  The way the competition works is there is a world-wide open, then a regional, then the finals.  To qualify for Regionals one must finish in the top 48 with-in ones region.  Our region is the 4-Corner states and Nevada (aka of the hardest regions in the sport).  This year I finished 808th.  I want to compete for a spot which means a lot of work.  So I sat down and applied the knowledge I have a designed a phased training system with the hope that over the next 44 weeks it will effect enough change in my ability to get me inside the top 48.  That said the next 44 weeks are going to be trying to say the least.

Today marked day 2 and already hitting a "don't wanna" wall.  I hate early mornings.  I despise running.  This morning I was up at 6:30 to go run.  But first I had to let the dog out.  Our dog, though, has random seizures and when he does he poops where he's at.  He had a seizure last night and pooped all over the living room floor. Poor guy.  Not the way to start a day that I am already not liking.  Then, before I could get to my run I had to go to the DMV for renewal tags.  2 more points in the "don't wanna" category.  I did leave the DMV, go straight to the park and run.  I hate running.  I ran .5 mile warm up followed by 8x200meter sprints with :30sec. rest in between each.  Gag me.  But like Chris Spealler says "Find your weaknesses and make friends with them.  Then beat the hell out of them".  My weaknesses and I are already in a battle royal Chris, I will win.  I hate losing more than I hate running.

Devo

I try to start everyday with a little time with Jesus.  He's really the only thing that keeps me truly sane.  Today was Proverbs 18:24:

There are “friends” who destroy each other,
but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.
The devo points out that we all need a few friends that are as close as family.  We live in such a detached world that it's often hard to find a "real" friend.  I have a tough time with this.  I have been burned by so many people that I have a hard time making friends I truly trust.  but this goes to a point that one of my favorite pastors loves to make; who are your 2am people?  When life hits that fan at 2am, who do you call?  First you need to know that your 2am people need to be within about 10 minutes of you.  If your best friend lives an hour away, that's not gonna work.  God designed us to do life together, in community.  Something I have come to love about CrossFit.  Maybe He gave me CrossFit to teach me this...I don't know.  More weakness that needs the hell beat out of it I suppose.  I'm gonna need more help with this one Jesus, keep pushing.

Jeh' Love folks!

Feelin' Good

I know I'm only at the end of my first day, but I'm feelin' REALLY good.  That is all.

Day 1 in a 44 week Journey

As I travel a road of hard training to hopefully a place at the 2014 CrossFit Games SouthWest Regional, I am going to make a conscious effort to begin each day with time in The Word through the Life Application Bible Study on youversion.com.  Here is what today had for me: 

1 These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel.

           2Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline,

to help them understand the insights of the wise.

3Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives,

to help them do what is right, just, and fair.

4These proverbs will give insight to the simple,

knowledge and discernment to the young.

5Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser.

Let those with understanding receive guidance

6by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables,

the words of the wise and their riddles.

7Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge,

but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

The emphasis for the study was on verse 7, but I always read around the verse so that I might be able to understand the context of the teaching.  In this instance I found it very helpful.  This is the beginning of one of the wisest groups of writings in recorded history.  It establishes that this was the intention of this book and verse 7 establishes that this knowledge and wisdom comes from The Lord (the God of Israel, language intentionally chosen by the author).  This teaches us that true and real knowledge comes from The Lord.  The notes in my study bible also give the insight that wisdom is the application of knowledge.  This to me says that if we are to be knowledgeable and wise, something that always seemed redundant to me, then this must come from The Lord in order to have their fullest effect.

In our super-cerebral culture today this gives me pause to consider that knowledge is not power.  Wisdom is power.  Knowledge is a weapon that can be wielded poorly.  Wisdom is the truest, most powerful use of this weapon.  As Christians we must take greater care than any in our wielding of our weapons, as everything we do is a reflection of the God we so desperately wish everyone knew.

Other Thoughts for the day

We all have good days and bad.  So far today is good.  I woke up with good enegry, had a good training workout, and have been fairly productive today.  Hopefully the rest of the day holds more of the same.  It is important to note that on the days we wake up feeling like it's going to be a bad day (like yesterday was for me) we have been given another day, we must make the best of that day or risk misusing time that someone else would have used in a more wise way (see, Bible study already sinking in!).

Jeh' Love (this means Love of Jehovah (aka Jesus Christ) to you) Folks!