a drop of water

Disclaimer: Take my advice with a grain of salt.  All that is written here is just from my own experiences and habits.

There is definitely a correlation between mental and physical health so I want to share with my 2 readers, how I try to keep physically fit as I try to avoid those costly gym memberships and those thousand dollar aerobic / weight machines.  It is healthy to physically exert yourself regularly because it clears your head and it helps you manage in the chaos of today.  I personally find solace when I’m working out listening to Dallas Willard’s, Divine Conspiracy after the demanding work day.

For starters here is a list (in order of my personal preference and importance)

• (2) Dumbells (10-15lbs) $20 (or you might go this route too…haha)
• Door Frame Pull Up Bar $50
• Ankle / Wrist Weights (3lbs) $10
• Perfect Pushup Set $40
• Asics Running Flats $30 (okay…really not that necessary…haha)

Free weights, or dumbells, are number one on the list for me because when done correctly with full ranges of motion paired with the huge variety of movements, they can workout your whole upper body, from forearms, biceps, triceps, shoulders, lats, deltoids, pecs, back, and abs.  I can not emphasize enough that in whatever movements you do, you do them with the full range of motion.  I consider large inflexible muscles, limited range of motion, muscles…unhealthy.

The pull up bar is next because, like push ups, using your own weight as the resistance force to work out your muscles just makes sense.  There are a number of pull up and chin up variations that can workout all your muscles listed in above.  For some pull up bar inspiration check out this guy on youtube.

The wrist and ankle weights should probably only be used if you do not suffer from wrist and ankle problems, as the added weight will most likely only aggravate the current problems.  Along the same lines of using these ankle and wrist weights to increase the level of workout and muscle tone, would be to use a more expensive option of weight vests.  Running up hills and going through punching drills with these weights increase my twitch, reflex and speed muscles, which is probably just a lingering habit from martial arts.

The perfect push up set is at the bottom of the list because, despite my excitement about them, I don’t find a whole lot of difference using them over doing push ups with my hands on books, cinder blocks, dumbells, etc.  The perfect push up set does two things for you: 1. allows you to go down lower than you normally would, below where your hands are positioned, and 2. allows you to rotate your arm as you do your push up, exercising more muscles than you normally would in a static push up.  The rotation is nice and increases the strength of your stability muscles and gives you some extra toning for your shoulders, but its really more of a luxury in my mind.

So, those are most of the tools that I use to workout.  Aside from these tools, I encourage push ups, sit ups, crunches, lunges, jumping exercises, wind sprints, jogging, swimming and…watching tv…I mean the Olympics for inspiration.  My last and probably most useful tip for working out is to find a friend(s) to work out with (especially when running), because except for the super motivated people, working out is sort of boring unless you have some good company.

Excerpt from Chapter 2 of Eugene Peterson’s, A Long Obedience, pp. 30-31

The usual biblical word describing the no we say to the world’s lies and the yes we say to God’s truth is repentance.  It is always and everywhere the first word in the Christian life…

Repentance is not an emotion.  It is not feeling sorry for your sins.  It is a decisin.  It is deciding that you have been wrong in supposing that you could manage your own life and be your own god; it is deciding that you were wrong in thinking that you had, or could get, the strength, education and training to make it on your own; it is deciding that you have been told a pack of lies about yourself and your neighbors and your world.  And it is deciding that God in Jesus Christ is telling you the truth.  Repentance is a realization that what God wants from you and what you want from God are not going to be achieved by doing the same old things, thinking the same old thoughts.  Repentance is a decision to follow Jesus Christ and become his pilgrim in the path of peace.

Repentance is the most practical of all words and the most practical of all acts.  It is a feet-on-the-ground kind of word.  It puts a person in touch with reality that God creates.

This description really makes repentance something concrete to me.

So our small group is just starting to work through Eugene Peterson’s, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society.  I’ve only read the first two chapters so far; but have enjoyed it thoroughly.  The point that stuck with me the most from the first chapter introductory chapter was this:

In going against the stream of the world’s ways there are two biblical designations for people of faith that are extremely useful: disciple and pilgrim. Disciple says we are people who spend our lives apprenticed to our master, Jesus Christ. We are in a growing-learning relationship, always…Pilgrim tells us we are people who spend our lives going someplace, going to God, and whose path for getting there is the way, Jesus Christ.

I believe that keeping these two designations as columns of our identity would be of great help in daily life.  Discipleship speaks of apprenticeship, where a beginner will learn and practice under the guidance and example of a master.  I believe there is an intrinsic human need to learn and practice under the more experienced.  We’ve created schools, cultural traditions, coaches, etc all for the purpose of passing on knowledge, experiences, methods and wisdom to the next generation.  As the givers, we hope to keep future people from making our mistakes and as receivers, we hope to not make the mistakes of the past.  Pilgrims speaks of journeying in a direction with a goal in mind.  I believe this is also an intrinsic human need, to need purpose, a goal to work towards something that has not been obtained yet.

Unfortunately these human needs get twisted because of our tendency to want to shortcut them.  We buy books that promise to equip us in x number of days or we enter programs that promise results in x number of weeks.  We make our pilgrimage all about the goal instead of the journey.  But I guess the premise of this book, is that contrary to what society tells us everyday, discipleship and pilgrimage, what we want to learn and where we want to go often comes with a long obedience in the same direction.

Peanut turned one yesterday.  Happy Birthday Peanut!

Thanks guys for letting me be apart of your memory. Your invitation to share this day’s celebration with you, is our invitation for you to depend on us for the rest of your lives.

For this first season of marriage, we want to partner with you, sharpening and bearing together, as we risk what little we have for the sake of the kingdom.