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!