The Square

It’s good to test yourself every once in a while. In school, tests always forced me to study. If I wasn’t going to be tested, I wouldn’t study. In life God tests us by asking us to do something that we can’t accomplish. When we realize we’re helpless to complete the task, that’s when we realize we need to depend on God and that with Him we can do whatever He asks. I know someone who hates public speaking but felt that God asked her to give a talk to a Mom’s group. She was stressed for weeks leading up to the talk. She was praying about it, reading Bible verses as encouragement and receiving support from loved ones and friends. This was a test and she was faithful. The day came and she couldn’t eat until the speech was over. There were about 70 people in the room and she got up there and talked about what God told her to say and touched many ladies lives. A+. Here’s a sobering verse: 1 Chronicles 29:17 “I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you.”

And here’s some verses that when you think about it, take great faith and trust to pray. Psalm 26:2 “Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind;” Psalm 139:23 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.”

Another way God tests us is financially. All that we have is from God. Christians would agree with that statement. Even every breath we breathe is given from God. However, when God commands in His word that we give Him back a tenth (tithe) of our wages, many Christians fail the test and don’t obey. This is just one way that we get stretched by God. Malachi 3:10 says “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” If you’re currently failing the test with your finances, take a leap of faith and give God what already belongs to Him. Malachi 3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings.”

Here’s a workout, I call The Square, that you can do with a friend to test each other. This is how it works. You do a round and then hand off the weights to your friend to do a round. Continue like this for 7 rounds. Physical and Spiritual tests can be very difficult at the time but, the benefits are worth it. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 “Test everything. Hold on to the good.”

Wisdom from Dad

Life is a balance of work (serving God) , rest (serving God) and nourishment (serving God). There was a time when I was to busy. I was in college, working 2 jobs, helping lead a puppet ministry and helping lead the junior high youth group. All the things I was doing were “good” things but, I was out of balance. God used my Dad to repeatedly tell me to cut some things out. He’d say I was burning the candle at both ends and it wasn’t good. I ignored the warnings since I thought I was “serving God” with the ministries at church and honoring my parents by going to college and helping with some of the cost. I was crushed when I got very sick and had to lie on the couch for an entire day. When my Dad came home from work that night he walked right up to the couch were I was laying, hit me on the shoulder and said these words that I still remember to this day,
“You punish your body; your body will punish you.” I punished my body by depriving it rest and it forced me to rest. Others have been out of balance in the area of nourishment and exercise and reaped the health problems that accompany such behavior. A loved one recently changed their habits by eating healthier and exercising and praise God within less than a year they were cured of diabetes. No more finger pricks and medication!
The Bible sums up our purpose in the following verses.
Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 “A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?” 5:19 “Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God.”

God designed us to work. After all even in the paradise of the garden of Eden Adam had to work. Genesis 2:15 “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”

God designed us to rest and led by example. Genesis 2:2 “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.”

God made food for us. We should stick to the simple foods He created that our bodies need instead of consuming the man made stuff that has little benefit to the body.

None of us are perfect and we all get out of balance sometimes. Let’s pay attention to the warning signs when things go off kilter and make the necessary and sometimes hard corrections to get back in balance with God’s plan for our lives.

In regard to balance here’s a video from 2001 (sorry about the tracking)….

Max Heart Rate Special

This month I’m giving away a free workout. Give it a try and let me know what you think. And always remember physical exercise is good but we need to exercise what’s important to God even more. In the words of Jeremiah 9:23-24 “This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD.” So, let’s not just exercise our bodies but let’s also exercise Kindness, Justice and Righteousness for the glory of God!

Perception

Have you ever noticed how “perception” of time does not reflect reality? Take for example a 3 hour trip to an amusement park. You get in the car early in the morning and are excited about the prospects of the up coming day. The car is filled with discussions of which roller coasters you’re planning on riding and other favorites of the park. If you’ve been there before, there are even discussions of fun memories of previous years. However, after the day is done and you start the 3 hour trip back home, time seems to drag and it feels like it’s going to take forever before you can crawl into your bed. In reality 3 hours is 3 hours but it doesn’t “feel” like the same amount of time. In a similar way, after 3 years of unhealthy eating and lack of consistent exercise, a person might decide to want to get healthy again. If so, a 3 year trip back to health would seem impossible. In fact the 3 years would seem like eternity. But, in reality 3 years would be the logical and proper mindset to have. Thankfully the body usually can recover with healthy eating like in the Precision Nutrition program and intense exercise as seen on this blog, RossTraining and Art of Strength faster than the time it takes to get unhealthy. The apostle Paul understood that the concept of time on earth didn’t matter when compared to a person’s soul spending eternity in heaven or hell. In Acts 26:28-29 the Bible says: Then Agrippa said to Paul, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?" Paul replied, "Short time or long—I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains." Paul knew that the length of time didn’t matter compared to the destination of a soul. Moses also understood the concept of time as stated in Hebrews 11:24-26 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. Whether you’re on a road trip, a trip to a healthier body or like all people a trip to your eternal destination I pray that you’ve confessed your sin and accepted Jesus as your savior. Here’s an exercise called the “Farmer’s Walk” that can be performed with dumbbells, suitcases or like me with hay hooks and metal plates. Do this for distance and I’ll guarantee that the return trip will “feel” like it takes more time.

Roadblocks

Sometimes in life we come across Roadblocks which can come in many different forms. For me, I do a lot of exercises that involve the shoulder. And because of this sometimes I’ll be woken up in the middle of the night with numbness and tingling in my shoulders. Now, most people would use this as an excuse to stop working out and figuratively sit in front of that Roadblock sign perhaps for the rest of their life. Discomfort would be the excuse they needed to live a less healthy lifestyle. Fortunately, when a Roadblock rears its head in regard to my health goals I start looking for something to add (not remove) from my training regimen. So I did some researching and found some very old exercises that use Indian Clubs to strengthen and increase the range of motion of the shoulder. Thankfully my brother is a very skillful woodworker and he was kind enough to make me some custom Indian Clubs that are easily modifiable in regard to weight. In the video below I demonstrate the daily routine I’ve been using since Christmas with the Indian Clubs at 1.5lbs.




Now I can sleep on my stomach with one arm under the pillow for an entire night without any discomfort. In the same way as we try and walk with Jesus through this life we will encounter Roadblocks. Psalm 119:101 says “I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word.” When we come across spiritual Roadblock don’t become stagnant. Ask God to show you what you need to change in order to advance in a righteous path with Him.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Just by looking at this apple you’d probably say nothing’s wrong. It just looks like a normal apple that’s been sitting out for about 10 minutes.
Unfortunately this piece of fruit has been sitting out for about 17 hours. Since real food is supposed to rot, the question needs to be asked “what’s been injected into this thing and should I put it in my body?” Even though apples should rot when left out, our bodies shouldn’t rot until we die. However, I’m sure we all know of people who sacrifice their health in the form of heart attacks, ulcers, sleep deprivation, etc. in the pursuit of amassing material possessions. Some have even called this pursuit the American dream. Is it worth it? Let’s see what God says in Proverbs 14:30 “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” With the New Year upon us let’s make resolutions that will produce a heart at peace with our Creator and not waste time with envy and “keeping up with the Jones’".

Present Sufferings Don’t Compare

Recently I competed in the Iceman. It’s a 29 mile mountain bike race from Kalkaska to Traverse City in Michigan. It was my first race and it is touted as the longest one day point to point mountain bike race in the nation. You can check out the details at http://www.iceman.com/. I pedaled for approximately 2 hours and 46 minutes non stop through hills, trees, sand, etc… I lost about 5 to 6 pounds of body weight while drinking 64oz of fluids. I placed 38th out of 93 in my wave. During the last couple miles I was mentally exhausted and was telling myself it was good to do once but I’d never do it again. About 2 hours after the finish I started to reflect back on some of the fun portions of the race. The next day I came up with a list of things I could’ve done better and thought I’d like to do it again next week to try and better my time. It amazed me how quickly I forgot about the pain and suffering that I experienced and how much satisfaction was felt by finishing the race.

Being a follower of Jesus has some parallels to the Iceman. Jesus said that if we follow Him we will suffer. This is not our home and we won’t be comfortable or at total peace until we are with Him in heaven. Paul says in Romans 8:18 “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Please understand that life is hard and suffering prevails for now. But, there is a day coming when those who have confessed their sin and turned to Jesus for salvation will no longer suffer but praise God in heaven where no sin exists and no tears are shed. Also, please understand that we only have one life to live. Life isn’t like the Iceman where you can have a second chance next time around and try and better your time. We are only given one life to live. The Bible says in Hebrews 9:27 “man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” I pray that when you face the judgment your sins will be found paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ.