5K

Faith:

I am having to remind my self of God's faithfulness Psalm 18:2 "The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold"

With Sarah's illness for the last year or more this has become so real to me.  With out the knowledge of the faithfulness of the Lord I would feel so lost.  I love that I have a God that is that I can run to and rest in.  

When I am weak he is strong and right now I am weak....Thank you God for being Strong

Fitness:

I have not been running much lately, but I am wanting to change this.  This weekend I was wanting to go for a bike, but Alex wanted to go too so I decide to run.  My running and his biking speed are almost the same....Almost.

I was doing good for the first mile and half but he kind got faster...I was awesome to have him there to push me along.  I finished with a 5k of 27min or so...not too bad for an impromptu run

update:  I am up to 50 push-ups....still looking to get 80.

New Gear

Faith:

I love when a sermon that I hear fits right with what I feel that God was already saying to me.
This just happened this last Sunday.  They were talking about becoming more involved in the loves of people around us and making deep lasting relationships.  This last year with Sarah being sick has made connecting with people harder.  Mostly just because she has not felt well enough to get together with people.  We have both wanted too so its been a struggle, but with her getting better this is starting to change.

What I really think though is that no matter what is going on in our lives we should be plugged in and making an impact.  I look at the early church and people were selling everything to help one another, living together, and just sharing life.  Now days its all about "me" not "us".  I for one want to change this in my life.  I am starting to ask God to open doors for me everyday to live this out.

Join in with me and lets make a change, that is so different from the cultural norm that people stop and ask us "what is different about us"

Fitness:

Got some new gear from Rouge Fitness! jump rope and some grips for doing pull-ups.  I love the grips, I have for al long time had to deal with big callouses on my hands from doing pull-ups.  They can rip off while working out...not fun...but with the new grips I will not have to worry any more.

Now I got to start using it I guess :)

Work out partners

Family:

Ok so this is a bit of a work out thing too, but today the girls worked out with me.  This is not the first time but its one of my favorite things about working out at home.  Sometime I wish I went to a gym to have some better equipment but at home I have the best partners.  Today we started by doing some pull ups together.  Then while I was working away I look over and the girls are doing the same work out as I was.  I was flipping my big tire and they were trading off flipping it back and forth.  Its awesome to set a example for them of a healthy lifestyle.


Fitness:

I just started a new thing to work on one of my weakness...Push ups.  I read a blog post talking about a guy wanting to increase his max pushups.  So I took the challenge and its been going really good.
How it works is every day you do one set of push ups till you fail.  I started at 36 and in just a few days that number is going up.  You can start at any level and work up from there.  My goal is 80 and I will keep working on it till I get it :)

Do you have Vision

Faith:

I have been reading about "vision" and what that looking like in your life.   I read that the primary dimension of wholeness in a mans life is vision.  As a follower of Jesus this becomes even more real in my life.  Vision comes from a revaluation of God, but also spiritual understanding, and "good character".  I have also heard it another way...That when we are seeking the voice or "vision" of God that if we are in right relationship and seeking his will we will know his vision because we are aligning our heart with his.

I have struggled with this for a long time.  To know the "vision" or will of God in my life.  But lately I am just resting in his presence and trying to listen to his heart by alining mine with his.

Fitness:

For the last few days I have not been doing to working out much.  I did go on a longer run.  It was the first that I have done sense I hurt my foot.  The run was really good, and I kept a nice pace.  I started to forger how much I like running.

Karen

Faith:

For the last few days I have been feeling like I needed to synch up with God.  I have been feeling this strong desire to spend more time with God, and just listen.  I find my self going to God with my own agenda so often but thats not how a relationship is built.  A highlight of this was during Alex's soccer practice, I was waiting in the car but I felt that I should go for a walk.  While walking I quieted my mind and just listened to God.  It got even better when I started singing and half way through the song I realized the words to the song were about waiting on the Lord and he would lead me day by day. It was such an awesome time....So I encourage you this week to take a moment and quiet your self long enough to hear the Lord.



Fitness:

Still sore three days later...Yes I am.  Not a bad sore just "feeling it" still.  A few of my friends and I post Crossfit workouts and a lot of them have names.  This one that he posted was named Karen, it is 150 wall ball shots for time.  For this work out you take a medicine ball and do 150 wall ball shots.  It sounds so easy because its only a 20lbs ball but after about the first 75 or so it starts feeling like 100lbs. When he posted it I tried to remember the last time that I did it, it was over two years ago, but I remembered that it hurt....I was right, but I beat his time...so it was worth it.

Running with the Squat

Faith:

2 Peter 1:10, 11 NIV
"Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

As I read this this morning the thing that stood out to me the most is the Jesus emphasis on the "eternal kingdom"  I get so caught up in the day to day life that I forget this.  I feel sometimes like I live in a ground hog day kind of routine.  I forget to live for the eternal.

Living for the eternal is something that God has spoke to me so much before, and it makes me a bit sad how easily I forget.  Life is so short and if I am just trying to get by without thinking of eternity I am missing out on divine appointments that God has for me.  This could be a conversation with a friend that I would rather avoid or taking to a stranger at the store.  I do know that if I have my mind on eternity I will be more open to what God have for me in the here and now.



Fitness:

For the last weeks when I have gone for a run I have been incorporating doing squats in to my runs.  I have ran 2 miles doing 50 squats every .5 miles and I have also ran a mile doing 10 squats every minute.  This has been a really fun way to mix up running.

I think that squat is one of the best exercises that you can do.  Its something that we all do every day to some degree.  I have heard a lot of people say "I can't squat I have a bad knee" Or something like that.  I think that the issue really is understanding the mechanics of the squat and understanding your own "sticking points"  What I mean by this is that you might now be able to squat because you have tight hamstrings, hips, or ankles.

Ok here is the challenge, try some squats tomorrow :)


Here are two awesome vids to help with the fundamentals of the squat and one that helps to fix sticking points.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkczkPm5emE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBHzXF-mVjY

New Best Friend

Family:

For the last two months or so my life has been much busier then normal.  In this time I have really struggled with having quality time with my wife and kids.  The big thing that I have realized is that it's not about the big events but all about the little things.  The moments in time were I put aside the things that I might want to do and spend them with my kids. Taking 20 extra minutes at bed time to read an extra book instead of rushing them to bed so I can watch tv.  

I think that even when life slows back down (I hope soon) I will still want to remember this lesson because life never really slows down and the only time that I have is now so I better use it wisely. 


Fitness:

As I have been ramping up my workouts lately I have been a lot more sore.  Not a bad kind of sore but stiff and tight.  Maybe I am just getting older too.  (I am 30 after all)  Here are 2 ways that I have found to relieve a lot of upper-back and also leg pain.

I have discovered the magic of self massage using a Foam roller and lacrosse balls.  I am a huge fan of both of these things. After a hard workout or just a long day I will roll around on them for 10 min or so and it helps so much.  

For the lacrosse ball I use it on my upper back and shoulders. It really loosens tight spots right up.

With the foam roller I use it on my legs...just roll around anyplace that you have some pain.

Here is a vid of one way to use the lacrosse ball...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-lNjsBVBwg