The Incredible Hulk-amania!

When I was a kid, I wanted to work out. My sister and I would create our own exercise routines and do them to vinyl LP's such as Amy Grant and the soundtrack to Oliver! (appropriate Christian music). We also had a vinyl LP called Mouscercise, a children's exercise routine from the Walt Disney Company led by the very physically fit Mickey Mouse (he's not muscular, he's just drawn that way). We danced and stretched to classics like Step in Time and I wanna be like you-ooh-ohh. My dad, who was a sergeant in the Marine Corps, would have us do push ups and sit ups and even ride our bikes with him when he would go for his runs.

Soon, I began to have an interest in some body building. The WWF (now WWE) had a Saturday morning cartoon show staring the ever popular "professional" wrestlers and their zanny adventures. And then I wanted to build muscle like Hulk Hogan. My folks got me his Hulkimania workout tape which included weights and a Hulkamania headband! And so I started exercising and lifting weights. Hulk Hogan was my hero!

As with all fads, I started to lose interest. My muscles weren't bulging (I think I was 10 the time) and I wasn't looking anything like Hulk Hogan. But I still kept him in high esteem. When I started doing weight lifting in high school, I used the pep talks Hulk Hogan used to give on my Hulkimania tape (now stored in my memory banks) as motivators.

And when I started lifting again about 6 1/2 years ago, I kept thinking of Hulk Hogan and that inspired me. I was excited when VH1 had that reality TV show Hogan Knows Best and then greatly disappointed when I started watching it. A hero of mine was brought down the level of mere mortals such as I. What I held dear wasn't what it truly was. What I strived for wasn't what it should have been.

But I pursue on. The words from Philippians 3 start coming to my mind at times like these

"What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ."

I know, I know..my strength is not in Hulk Hogan. It isn't in Arnold Schwarzen-however-you-spell-it. Not in exercise books nor in the very weights I lift. I know with certainty where strength lies, both in my muscles, in my heart and in my spirit. And I know that I can do all things through him who gives me strength.

I just need to remember that when I put just a little bit too many plates when I bench.

What about you...have you had a change in how you viewed a childhood hero? What gives you strength to keep on keeping on?

The wrong day (but I have an apple fritter)

Each Friday, somewhere between 7:30-8:30 they come and pick up our garbage. Usually I make sure I place it on the curb at night before I go to bed. For some reason, last night I thought it was Friday night and today was Saturday. I didn't think about putting the trash out on the curb until say 6ish this morning. I was woken up at 6am for...uhm.. certain reasons.. and then realized, "hey, it's Friday." Then I realized "Crud, I forgot to put out the trash." I thought maybe, just maybe my wonderful thoughtful self sacrificing wife would have realized I forgot to last night after I went to bed and did it for me.

I peeked in the garage. Nope. Dang.

So, it being South Dakota in January, I quickly bundled up and took the trash to the curb.

Now, what to do, what to do. Reading this and knowing that it is called Spiritual Musclehead, you'd think that I'd would have figured "Hey, I'm up, let's go to the gym." Or "Hey, I'm up, I should dive into God's word." What'd I do? I went back to bed.

Now, I'm sitting on my duff, eating an apple fritter and drinking coffee. I'm contemplating going to the gym.

The hardest thing I'm doing is trying hard not to beat myself up for not doing what's right, for not eating healthier and for not being as motivated to work out like I should.. on the flip side.. this is a really good fritter.. and the Starbucks coffee just hits the spot.

the journey of prayer

I've been praying now for the last two weeks every 60 minutes. Sometimes I forget to set my alarm on my cell phone. Sometimes, I leave my cell in my car and forget to bring it in. But I've been praying. It's come at the oddest times, sometimes the most inopportune times. Sometimes at the right moment where I need to stop and take a step back and pray. What has really made me pay attention is how much my son is getting into it.

I've been on this journey for a while now. I've been focusing on growing spiritually. I've been focusing on how I can grow in my knowledge and wisdom of who God is, of who I am in his eyes. And it's been heavy lifting. I've had to see the fact that I've been lifting what I shouldn't be lifting--excessive baggage. And I need to lift properly--lifting it all up in prayer. And it's tough. It's hard. It's hard work to day by day decide to get up and follow Jesus. Sometimes I'd like to call "Mulligan" and have a free day. But that doesn't happen.

If I had my druthers, I'd druther do my own thing. But, honestly, if I am to stay healthy, I shouldn't follow my druthers, but the druthers of Christ. And that's heavy lifting--and I need to lift properly, in prayer.

And so, I trudge on. Every 60 minutes in my waking hours I'm going to pray, and focus on God. Two weeks down, more to go.

Importance of place

I used to always say "If I had more time I'd exercise more" or "if I had more time I'd read my Bible more." And honestly, from time to time, I still do. But the other day, as I for some odd reason woke up to be at the gym by 6:30 am (got there at 7am), I was realizing that I was making time. That was something else someone one time told me. They said, "Well, if you want to do it, make the time." I always responded "I don't have the time to make the time." What that person was saying to me was more to the point of "If it's important to you then you'll find the time."

Think about that for a second--finding the time verses making the time. What is the difference? It's the importance of it.

How important is my health to me? I thought about this as I etched out an hour and a half to catch up on some TV shows that were on the DVR. I was willing to set aside time to watch some TV shows. Why can't I be willing to etch out time to exercise? Or more importantly, why can't I etch out time to spend it with God.

I decided to look at what was important to me. How important was my health to me? Being at over 400lbs six years ago, it was very important to me. After some time I realized that if setting aside time to be healthy was important to me, then how much more important should spending time with God be to me?

Now here's the thing--there's no magic bullet. There's no special plan or trick. It boils down to a shear act of will. Not an act of will to find time or make time, but an act of will to make it important. Where does spending time with God, with praying, with reading, with working on your own spiritual walk, place as importance to you? If it's not where you think it should be, then work on making it important. When it becomes important then it becomes a priority to make sure you place it first on your to-do list for that day, week, month.

Same thing with health. Do you want to be healthy? How important is that to you? There's no easy answer, there's no magic trick, there's nothing but a shear act of will to make it important. I'm not saying that you can't use programs that are out there, some are very helpful.

In the end, it is a matter of a thought change. How you think of things matters in how you place them in importance of what you do.

Now here comes the easy answer--Pray. Pray that God helps you with making Him important in your life. Pray that God helps you being healthy in your life--physically, emotionally and physically. And then allow God to work in your life. If you're not a believer, try it out anyway and see what happens. But allow God to work if you ask Him for His help.