Get me out of my rut, and I don't know what to do; I'm helpless. Well, a trip to Iowa did it, and I am milking it for all it's worth.
I fell off of the exercise wagon. No, that's not right: I swan-dived, I belly-flopped, while in full possession of my rational faculties [actually, I have never been in full possession of those], I leapt off of the exercise wagon [joyfully]. Probably the most rational act I have committed this summer.
Now, if anyone out there has been following the saga of our dalliance with the P90X nut-case exercise routine, please do not be too disappointed. I have been warned by the boss that the clock starts again, exercise, diet, discipline, the whole nine-yards, on MONDAY. Tony, the Chief Inquisitor, walks behind the proverbial wagon, hog-tying escapees and bodily chucking them back onto it, and he is coming for me. So--Monday is the day.
But this is Saturday, so I am taking full advantage: Snickers, Pepsi, apple pie, ice-cream, and other health foods are on my menu--until Monday. Then it's back to tree bark and water.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Two-a-days
Still here, still alive, still doing the P90X. Today for the first time, we did the "bonus round". There was a lot we didn't do; I won't get in to that (there would be alot of that to get in to).
Don't be impressed. If you had bugged our basement, you'd probably think we were dying every morning. And, you wouldn't be alone. We think we are dying every morning.
But that's what you ought to be impressed by: we are still available via an earthly area code; we're not dead yet. Very impressive.
In fact, I am so impressed, I've been thinking about starting a club, called WEGASP. Means, We're Geezers And we're Surviving P90X. Perhaps not one of my better ideas; my own wife insists she's not a member, even though she's down there dying with me every morning.
Anyway, today we started serious two-a-days. The P90X morning death wish in the basement with that madman Tony guy, and then a 5K Boot Camp in the evening. This happens every Tuesday and Thursday.
By the way - just to get this on the record - 'we' means WE, not 'me'. Doris is doing this whole thing, too. Very motivational, though it pains me to admit it. It's hard to wimp out of an exercise routine when your wife is enthusiastically doing all the moves. I, obviously, have too much sense to continue this lunacy if it was left to me. But it wasn't.
Don't be impressed. If you had bugged our basement, you'd probably think we were dying every morning. And, you wouldn't be alone. We think we are dying every morning.
But that's what you ought to be impressed by: we are still available via an earthly area code; we're not dead yet. Very impressive.
In fact, I am so impressed, I've been thinking about starting a club, called WEGASP. Means, We're Geezers And we're Surviving P90X. Perhaps not one of my better ideas; my own wife insists she's not a member, even though she's down there dying with me every morning.
Anyway, today we started serious two-a-days. The P90X morning death wish in the basement with that madman Tony guy, and then a 5K Boot Camp in the evening. This happens every Tuesday and Thursday.
By the way - just to get this on the record - 'we' means WE, not 'me'. Doris is doing this whole thing, too. Very motivational, though it pains me to admit it. It's hard to wimp out of an exercise routine when your wife is enthusiastically doing all the moves. I, obviously, have too much sense to continue this lunacy if it was left to me. But it wasn't.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
The most precious resource
What is your most precious resource? You have only a limited amount of it; it is not renewable; once spent it can not be recovered. You know precisely what you have spent, but you never know how much of it you have remaining. A decision to spend it in one direction is at the same time a decision not to use it in other directions. It can be invested wisely or poorly, it can reap dividends or regrets. What is this resource?
The answer? Time.
Moses wrote what I call the 'time psalm': Psalm 90. He begins by contrasting the eternality of God with mankind's brief and transitory life. Moses uses a metaphor found throughout Scripture: man's life is like the grass which flourishes today, and is gone tomorrow. God's fury expressed at our sin causes our days to decline.
So Moses constructs an eminently sensible prayer: "teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom." Moses prays that God would teach us to value our most precious resource, time. He prays that God's wrath would turn from us, and that we would experience His covenant faithfulness, and that the days of our joy would outweigh the days of our affliction. And lastly he prays that the God Who is from everlasting to everlasting would place His favor on us, and establish, confirm, or make of lasting value the work of our hands.
Time. Neither you, nor I, have any clue as to how much we have left. We know what we have spent so far, but we don't know when our time runs out. In light of our coming appointment at the judgment seat of the everlasting God, Paul the apostle tells us, "We also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent [meaning, dead], to be pleasing to Him" (2 Corinthians 5:9).
That ambition will produce no regrets on the final day.
The answer? Time.
Moses wrote what I call the 'time psalm': Psalm 90. He begins by contrasting the eternality of God with mankind's brief and transitory life. Moses uses a metaphor found throughout Scripture: man's life is like the grass which flourishes today, and is gone tomorrow. God's fury expressed at our sin causes our days to decline.
So Moses constructs an eminently sensible prayer: "teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom." Moses prays that God would teach us to value our most precious resource, time. He prays that God's wrath would turn from us, and that we would experience His covenant faithfulness, and that the days of our joy would outweigh the days of our affliction. And lastly he prays that the God Who is from everlasting to everlasting would place His favor on us, and establish, confirm, or make of lasting value the work of our hands.
Time. Neither you, nor I, have any clue as to how much we have left. We know what we have spent so far, but we don't know when our time runs out. In light of our coming appointment at the judgment seat of the everlasting God, Paul the apostle tells us, "We also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent [meaning, dead], to be pleasing to Him" (2 Corinthians 5:9).
That ambition will produce no regrets on the final day.
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