Squirrles, writer's block and ADD

Squirrel Powers activate! Form of Shiny Object. Shape of the Letter A...A-Team.

Not many people will get the Wonder Twin's reference here will they? Yeah. And I'm not referring to that team in Minnesota either.

I've been trying all day to think about what to write.

Okay, that's a bit wrong, not really all day. Kinda some of the day maybe. Part of the day. Okay, I've been thinking about it off and on an on and off.

Was going to talk about boxing germs this morning. Well, this morning I was thinking about boxing some germs. Let me try that again. I was thinking this morning about writing about boxing some germs which would make no sense unless you were with me during my workout this morning. And that couldn't happen because I don't think all of the readers in Russia and Germany could fit into my garage. Not saying y'all are big. I mean, I'm of northern European decent and all. Well, Scotch-Irish (or is that a drink) or Scottish and Irish and German and English. Pretty much at war with myself really.

Let me try this again shall I?

I've been distracted all day. Well, not all day. The day itself started out pretty nice. Woke up early. And went a few rounds with my punching bag. I also realize I need to put weights on my heavy bag stand because I almost knocked it over this morning. I put in a good set of push ups and sit ups this morning as well.

Why am I saying all of this? When we get busy, get blocked have issues focusing, you gotta find something to get it all out. This past summer I've hardly hit the gym and it's not good. Though weight watchers has been pretty good in the losing weight part, I also want to get back to gaining muscle. But I'm starting with some fun cardio at home first because I pretty much can't get to the gym on time right now.

Picked up a jump rope this afternoon too. Not them weird weak plasticky things that make me think I should start singing "Cinderella dressed in yella." But one that's white, thick and has handles, like Rocky's. Inspired by Mr. Balboa, I'm going to start skipping rope here soon too. Not sure about practicing at a meat locker though any time soon.

This post has almost no point to it whatsoever save for the fact that even when I have writer's block and things are looking frazzled...trying hard to find something that will help me with my routine and exercising. I'll let you know how it turns out...hey! Look! A Squirrel!

Training against disapointment like Rocky IV--A Lenten Meditation

After musing over my post on the X-Men and looking at things from different perspectives and rebooting new ways of looking at Jesus and life, I started to wonder what else I could reboot and relook at. Besides writing run-on sentences that is.

A little while back, I wrote about dealing with disappointment. I had purchased a weight lifting book I was really looking forward to reading over. I was disappointed by the exercises and routines they had in it. It wasn't what I was looking for. I tossed the book aside and let it be.

Over the last few weeks, I've been very busy. I haven't had time to hit the gym and that's been hard. Hitting the gym has been one of the best ways for me to recharge, refocus and to refresh myself. Hitting the gym helps me to keep on keeping on in many ways.

I've also missed my bag. My heavy bag. My heavy punching bag. I've had that thing since 2003. When my office was in the basement of our place while in Seminary, it hung next to my desk and helped me through Hebrew. That thing hasn't been hung up since we moved. No place to hang it safely.

The workout book I bought has a routine for those who are training for boxing. And I needed bands to use. I thought about it and finally bought some bands. I also found a way to safely hang my bag from a tree in the back yard.

I'm not so disappointed in that book now. My abs hurt, my arms are sore. And I got a chance to wail on my bag for the first time in a while.

After I was done, I began to think about something Paul said. He was a sports nut and used sports illustrations a lot. He made a boxing reference in 1st Corinthians

Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:26-27

Reading through this verse again after hitting my bag and doing those exercises got me thinking about that scene from Rocky IV

I'm wondering why disappointment stopped me? Why didn't I fight through it like I've done before? But once I fought through it, I saw the benefit of it.

One of the things that always got me about that montage from Rocky IV is the fact that he's not training aimlessly. He's going towards the goal. Granted, his goal is a very young and buff Dalph Lundren, but still, he's training towards the goal. For Rocky Balboa, Failure was not an option, it was a necessity. It was his failure, it was Apollo's failure, that led him to train harder. To not just train to shadow box, not just train to fight, but to train to win.

Esater's so close I can almost taste the Reese's peanut butter eggs (or it might be the ones I hid from the kiddos for their Easter baskets). Easter is the second time in the year you hear the most about Jesus. And it's the second time of the year that people tell me about their disappointment in him. But they don't get all Rocky IV on it. They walk away. If you do that, then the spiritual-communist-Dalph-Lundren-Characters win. And that ain't good.

Disappointment's always going to be there. It's going to be in my life at other points. Not just in books, but in myself and in what I do. It'll always be there. And so will Jesus. He'll always be there for me. This is a fight to be healthy physically, emotionally and most importantly, spiritually. I know it's going to be hard at times. I know I'm going to get disappointed at times. But I'm going to get all Rocky IV in my faith, for I'm going to train to win the prize and not shadowbox!

It was going to be the best blog post ever!

I was so excited to have this great blog post last night. I could see it now. I would talk about how great it was that if finally did it. For the first time since the week before Christmas, I got up early, hit the gym and then got to work and was productive. I was thinking of how great it'd be because I'd also been keeping a log of my workouts--you know, how much I benched, how much I did as a curl or lat pull down. I even had downloaded a calorie counter app for my phone. Then I was going to talk about how I finally got into the groove of reading my Bible and praying and journaling. I downloaded the Youversion Bible app from Lifechurch onto my cellphone so I could read scripture anywhere. It was going to be a great blog post.

Then I hit snooze on my cell phone's alarm clock this morning at 6am. Well, in my tiredness, I actually hit the "dismiss" button instead. I woke up around 8. I finally hit the gym not out of wanting to be healthy but because of writer's block. I only breezed through my devotions this morning and only did a short prayer. And that app. Uninstalled it.

So much for the best blog post ever!

I try so hard to make sure that I that read my Bible. And I do an okay job at it. I really do. But I beat myself up when I don't read it enough. And I beat myself up when I don't pray enough. And I beat myself up when I don't journal. And I get frustrated when I don't go to the gym. My pick up stalled on my wife yesterday. I feel bad because I didn't do enough to take care of it so it wouldn't do that (not to mention it was like -15 yesterday...which probably didn't help). In my life, in my prayer life, in my spiritual life, in my emotional health, physical health and spiritual health, I know I need to not beat myself up.

It's good to know I'm not the only one. Two blogs that have been helpful as of late. The first being Living a Reckless Faith which I've been reading off an on now for a little bit. The other one I recently found Fat Girl Fit world.

In my messiness, I'm not alone. We have each other.

Paul said it best in Galatians 6:2 "Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ". We're in it together.



Maybe tonight I'll finally hang my punching bag and go at that instead...I can beat that up instead of myself.