The Maquis 6

I still find it interesting that a German TV news program actually some how mistook a Photoshopped picture of a Star Trek emblem of a fictional terrorist group for the real Navy SEAL emblem. It used to be "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." But in this case it's "fool me once and-it's-posted-all-over-the-internet-and-shown-on-the-FOX-news-website" Of course, you can tell that it's pretty menacing with the bat'leths surrounding the skull of a Klingon. Totally looks like a Navy SEAL emblem of the 21st Century and not of the 23rd.

But, hey, it's what they were looking for, wasn't it? I mean, they were looking for a menacing emblem that showed the strength, veracity and honor that the Navy SEALS are known for. So, some geek with Photoshop know-how put this together and while looking for something, they found this. It was what they were looking for. And they found it.

The same is true in health. I'm struggling with this myself. If I'm looking for it, I'll find it eventually. If I'm looking for nothing, if I'm looking for a no guidance, if I'm looking for no reason to lift, then I'll find it each time. If I'm looking for something that'll make me loose ten pounds in a week and will make me look like those people on the TV and I find the miracle product that does it all, of course I'm going to get it. It's the answer to what I'm looking for.

Paul says it really nicely

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 1 Timothy 4:3

Are you turning towards the things that'll answer what you want to hear? Or are you seeking answers from somewhere that'll tell you the truth even if you don't want to hear it? What's your goal? Where do you want to go form here?

I like how Craig Groeschel says it in his book Chawzon, "Everyone will wind up somewhere but not everyone will get there on purpose."

What are you seeking? Is it to get ripped and look all cool this summer? Then forget it. Go to a different blog. Are you looking to be healthy because it's important to you? Then keep reading. I'm going to fail. I have failed at times. But I keep getting back up and moving forward. How's that Cake song go?

Because he's racing and pacing and plotting the course, He's fighting and biting and riding on his horse. He's going the distance.

Where are you going? What are you searching for? Don't just listen to anyone, especially those who tell you what you want to hear. Listen to what the truth is and follow the Truth towards what is right and healthy. I'm still working on it.

Disappointment--A Lenten meditation

I'm disappointed. I recently bought a new workout book I was looking forward to. It's based off of the Strength Training Anatomy book I've been using now for the last year or so. It's called The Strength Training Anatomy Workout book. It was supposed to have various workouts for sports, for fitness training, etc. I was excited because I thought that maybe I could take some of these workout ideas for football and change up my routine a bit.

I was very disappointed with the book. Why? Well, for one, I put a lot of stock into it I think. I saw it as my savior to a new workout routine. I was ready for it. I was excited to get it. And when I opened it up and started reading it, it wasn't what I was expecting at all.

Unlike Strength Training Anatomy, this version didn't have the science and calisthenics as the other. Not only that, but most of the workouts were given to be done at home with various rubber bands. Unlike Strength Training Anatomy, it didn't give as many variations to use.

This wasn't what I wanted. This wasn't what I was expecting.

As I've been preaching through our Lenten series at church, I've begun to see how many people were disappointed with Jesus. They wanted him to be something he wasn't. People wanted him to be some great conquering king. Some amazing miracle worker who could make all things new. Yet, he came for one reason only--to die on the cross. He died upon the cross to bring us back to God. There aren't any other variations. There isn't any other way.

Recently, I downloaded an app for my phone from JEFIT. It's to the point. It tells you what needs to be done for each exercise. It walks you through what needs to be done. Though it's a great app, there's no real frills about it. It does what it says it will do.

Now, I'm not comparing Jesus to an app for my cellphone, but think about it this way. Jesus came. He said that the son of man will be betrayed into the hands of the enemy so that scripture will be fulfilled. He said that he came to save us from sin, to be the ultimate sacrifice. He did what he said he would.

So many times, we're disappointed with what is happening around us. We're good people, why can't we be happy for once. Or, many Christians think "We're Christians, why aren't we happy." For some people, this drives them away. For others, this makes them act happy when they ain't.

Jesus didn't come to give us happiness, he came to make us right before God. He came to give us comfort in life and in death, not happiness. He came to give life, not a nice house and a sweet ride.

Are you disappointed with Jesus? Why is that? Can there be a change in how you see him that will change your disappointment into comfort?

FORD Tough--Part 1 Finding the Problem

My brother recently told me that Ford stood for "Fix or repair daily." This is in reference to my pickup's last two issues (for my further whining, please click here and here). I'm starting to wonder if he's correct. On Facebook, I even posted this idea of Ford meaning "fix or repair daily" and I had a lot of Ford-haters comment on it (yeah, you know who you are!)Now, I'm not a Ford-hater. In fact, I don't pick one type of pick-up over the other at all. But I at least want a working one.

Now, this got me to thinking. This being a blog called Spiritual Musclehead and all, I wanted to dive a bit deeper into this. In order to fix or repair something, you need to know what the problem is in the first place. If you're oil's leaking, just putting more oil in it every other day isn't going to fix the problem, just alleviate the symptoms for a while. You need to find the deeper problem.

What about us? What about us human beings. I think we need to be fixed and repaired daily to tell the truth. I'm not okay. That's for sure. Everyone who knows me knows that as much. And to tell the truth, I really think that we're all not okay in one way or another.

So, you need to be fixed and repaired. Why? I have a one word answer for you but you're not going to like it: Sin. There, I said it. I know. I don't like that word either.

Let me ask you this though: If you're leaking oil something fierce in your engine, would you keep driving it like everything was okay? Or would you want to have it fixed? In fact, if you say that the oil leaking is going to cause an engine problem, that works for you, but I'm fine just pouring more oil in it. Are you deceiving yourself? If you keep doing it, yes, you can go for a while, but eventually the engine will fail (this is from experience--blew out an engine because of this. Huge stinking hole in it too..not pretty)

So, what do we do? Be fixed and repaired daily. Problem: oil leak. Solution: fix it.
Problem: Sin. Solution: Be repaired

Problem and solution:

If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives...But if anyone obeys Jesus’ word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. (1 John 1:7-10, 2:5)

So what does it mean to confess? And confess what?

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.

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.

Spiritual ADD

I'm ADD. I really am. Though at times I like to call it ADHLAS (Attention Deficit...Hey, Look! A Squirrel!)The joking question in my family when I get distracted is "shiny object?"

I was diagnosed with it 6 years ago while in sem. It explained a lot to me. It was a no brainer to everyone who knows me. But I didn't go on meds. Why? Because I wanted to attempt behavioral modification instead. I have nothing against meds for ADD/ADHD. In fact, I know from experience doing youth group that is VERY helpful. But I personally didn't want to use it. But, seasons change, and so do I. I've recently went on a newish ADD/ADHD med that seems to be helping. We're still fiddling with it. Still trying to see what works best. It's a process we're working... squirrel! Sorry, where was I? Oh yes. ADD.

A few things about being ADD. It's not just having a hard time focusing. It's having a hard time sitting still, finishing tasks. You want to but in on everyone's conversation because you don't want to be left out. You can get distracted very.. shiny object.. easily.

But there's also the problem of hyper focusing. That's when for some reason or another, you just zone in on one thing and one thing only and spend eternity perfecting it, ignoring the world around you.

Why is this on a blog about being healthy and being spiritual? Because, I truly think that there's such a thing as Spiritual ADD. To be honest, I think it's a Biblical thing too. I truly think that Peter was the first documented case of ADD. He's jumping into boats, jumping out of boats, blurts out the wrong thing at the wrong time, brings a knife to a gun fight.

Yeah.

But he also was spiritually ADD. He couldn't always focus on what was happening spiritually. Jesus tried to explain what was going to happen, and Peter blurted out that it shouldn't happen. Peter thought he was doing right be defending Jesus but he was taking spiritual matters into his own hands. He was hyper focused why warming himself, not realizing what was fully going on with Jesus' trial until the rooster crowed.

We do that too. We can have spiritual ADD. This is most evident in prayer. We start to pray, and then we lose focus. We fidget.. we look at our watch, we start thinking about the tasks of the day, refocus on God, then loose track about what we were praying about.

This also happens in our daily faith walk as well. We're distracted by spiritual shiny things that get in the way. We focus on the spiritual squirrels of life and start to lose sight of the cross of Christ.

Other times, we can hyper focus just on one thing. We can become so hyper focused about being able to walk on the water that we forget the fact that it isn't about us walking on the water but more so about getting out of the boat and focusing on Jesus.

There are no meds for Spiritual ADD. There's only behavioral modification. And it does work, but it takes time and a conscious effort to move forward walking towards the cross. It takes effort to focus on Jesus and not be distracted by shiny objects of spiritual squirrels.

Where in your spiritual walk do you need to do behavioral modification in focusing on the cross of Christ? How can you do that?