Day 20 (Spirit over Flesh)

Day 20

“No pain, no gain!” Right?... Sometimes but not always.

The saying comes hand in hand with the “overload” principle we’ve discussed. The more you push, the more it hurts, the more you tear your muscles and push your body, and the more you increase in muscle size, strength, speed, etc. Too much pain when exercising is a sign that you’re pushing too hard and may have seriously hurt yourself. Still more, the idea that pain will produce a good result is just plain ridiculous.

This is the first time where physical health and spiritual health, in a way, opposed each other. This weekend, I went skeet and trap shooting, fishing, and motorcycle riding with my dad. Spiritually, it was a time of fun, reflection, and bonding between father and son. I believe God looked upon us and was pleased. Unfortunately, just because I may have held a shotgun or fishing pole for a while, doesn’t mean it made me for physically healthy. I can definitely say that the pain I felt after shooting a hundred rounds doesn’t make me physically stronger. The fact is, after 2 days, my shoulder is still tender, my head is slightly sunburned and I don’t think my shoulder is any stronger nor my head any tougher.

I guess the point is that, sometimes, we can do things that may actually hinder our physical health in order to strengthen our spiritual health. While I think the day’s activities weren’t actually harmful to my health, rather slightly painful, I would always say that Spiritual Health should take precedence over Physical Health. Normally, we can have both, but if it comes down to it, the spirit is always to have control over the flesh! 

Day 19 (but who's counting?)

Day 19

I suppose it doesn’t need to be said, especially if you were following this series through lent, but I haven’t blogged in a long while. Like so many of us, I found that I had priorities that took precedence over this journal. I suppose I could’ve just given you the same thing again, but I believe that everything I put up here should be original in some form or facet.

So today I exercised a little more than the norm. Sure, I walk to work and back a couple times a day, and that’s about a mile in total, but today I did a little more… I rode my bicycle. It’s funny how we have to exercise sometimes, whether we choose to or not. Today, I had the choice to either wait until my wife came home and ask why I didn’t pay the rent on time, and I could explain that the car wouldn’t start, or I could ride my bike the 2 miles to drop off my check at the realtor’s home office. So I pumped up the tires and rode my bike. I think it’s the first time I’ve ridden it since last March when I moved here! I just never ride it unless the distance is big enough that jogging isn’t more time effective.

Now I know that 2 miles isn’t very far on a bike ride, but when you haven’t ridden in over a year and you're trying to keep up with 30-40 mph traffic, it’s a little bit of a workout. Of course, I didn’t have a warm-up or cool-down, which could’ve helped. So when I got off the bike, I had to take a good 5-minute sit-down and chug some water. It was one of those sprints that push you to the point at which any more exertion would result in puking. (I would have used a different word, but all I was thinking was, “I gotta sit down before I puke!”)

Anyway, I’m still glad I did it! I’m glad to have gotten a little exercise, toned my legs, if only slightly, and have finally put that bicycle to use! I encourage you to do the same! 

Day 18

Day 18

My forearms are exhausted. I can feel them working just to type, and I’m not exactly cranking out 150 words per minute! I went bouldering today. It is awesome! I love it. It’s essentially the hardest parts of rock climbing with no ropes and about 20 feet and a big mattress-type pad between you and the ground. I love it. Did I already say that? (Rhetorical) Well I do.

It’s a great workout! Depending on how hard you push yourself (which doesn’t take much pushing at all for beginners), you will have no trouble overloading your forearm muscles. Remember, overloading is the goal. The beauty is that you get to enjoy God’s creation in a truly hands-on way. I won’t go into great detail of routes, problems, and technique, but I’ll say this. It’s one of those sports that you will always be able to get better at. I love being able to improve myself while having fun at the same time. Being a better basketball player takes way too many hours of jump shots, free throws, and laps across the court. Height helps too, an area I don’t excel in. The cool thing (opinion, I guess) about bouldering and rock climbing is that, in the physical health and development aspect, you exercise your feet, legs, core, upper back, some chest, arms, and even your hands (rarely exercised enough)! We’re talking a total body workout! Of course your arms and hands get the most work, but no muscle gets left out. My legs are pretty solid, not in size, but strength and endurance. If your legs are lacking strength, this will definitely get them burning along with those arms. Expect to get sore, get stronger, and get leaner. Don’t expect to get buff! Actually, big guys really aren’t the best climbers. Think about it – muscle is heavy. For those ladies who read this, know that there are plenty of awesome climbers who happen to be women! Just because women’s strength isn’t usually in the upper body doesn’t mean you shouldn’t climb. Besides, how will you get your upper body stronger if you don’t exercise it?

If you don’t know me well or have never connected the dots, you may not know that I’m really into metaphors! I can pretty much relate anything to God, which makes sense to me. After all, He did create everything! Bouldering and rock climbing could certainly relate to our spiritual health in several ways. As a metaphor, there are mountains we have to climb...wait, that’s lame. Haha. Okay, try this one. In all honesty, we are weak in certain areas. As we mentioned parts a few days ago, some parts don’t really get all that much work out of them. I mean, we use our hands every day, but do we really push them to the extreme? Do we use each part to it’s real potential? I imagine that we surely don’t. Hands seem to do so much work, but they could definitely do more. Bouldering will definitely force them to do that. I think as parts of the body of Christ, we may think we do a lot, maybe not. If you think you don’t do enough for the Lord (I know I don’t) or that you do plenty for the Lord, then consider the possibility that you may have not realized what you can really do, what you’re really capable of. Sure, you may think you’re doing all you can, but what if you’ve been designed to do something greater? Here’s what I’m learning – it takes time, work, and practice. You can’t climb a V16 (really hard) your first time on a wall, or in the V16 case, under an overhang. A lot of beginners have trouble with a V0 (easiest). So why do you think that you can conquer the world, your flesh, and temptation, bring others to Christ, and advance God’s kingdom in a cinch if you haven’t trained for it? Don’t get me wrong; try! Do all you can for the Lord! We only get better by pushing ourselves. Push yourself until you just can’t hang on any longer, and know that even if you fall off the wall, God will be there to pick you back up and reach new heights.

Day 17

Day 17 (Monday)

Today I went hiking a bit. I learned a few things too! For one, the view stinks most of the time because nobody really likes looking at the heels of someone else for an hour or more. Of course, the reward at the end is well worth it! Likewise, in our spiritual walks we may feel like we’ve been just going on forever without any breaks. We’re focused on staying on the path. Every once in a while, we take a moment to look around us and realize how far we’ve gone. We see the beauty that God has surrounded us with, and I’m not just talking trees and hills! The ultimate goal is to push through the pain and weariness so that in our, seemingly, constant uphill journey, we will eventually reach that place where we can rest, enjoy the view, and soak it all in.

Do I really need to go into why hiking is physically beneficial, especially when it’s in the hills or mountains? Come on! There’s cardio, circulation benefits, complete leg exercise, some core work (abs and lower back), and if it’s rocky, you really get those ankle ligaments a workout! So go hiking! Find a new path! Find a new view of the beauty that is God’s creation!

Day 16

Day 16

If there is anything I do know, it’s that the Christian walk has no shortcuts! Bummer, I know. If you want to find the quick and easy answers to life, you won’t find them here, nor anywhere else for that matter. You just have to keep studying the word, pushing yourself further in your walk, and striving for greatness in the Lord.

Likewise, your body doesn’t have shortcuts to health. Fad diets don’t work. Diets, per say, don’t work either. Typically, anything short of changing your eating habits altogether results in quick change to your desired goal and an equally rapid return to where you were just at. Pushing your body too hard, too fast, also ends up slowing you down in an injury rather than speeding up your walk to physical health.

So don’t try to shortcut the system. Go at the speed that’s right for you. Don’t go at someone else’s speed. God designed you uniquely. Appreciate that and learn to understand your own body and your own personal relationship with your Lord and Savior.

Day 15

Day 15

Yesterday was about parts (sort of). Well today is about a muscle area that get way too much work and is rarely treated properly…the neck! I mean it’s holding about 15 pounds all the time (except for when you’re sleeping)! If you held out your arm for as long as possible, you’d probably be feeling the burn within a few minutes. You know the neck is neglected each time someone sneaks up behind you to massage it for you and you are surprised to find how tense your neck is.

So what’s to be done about it? Sure you can exercise it! That does help strengthen it. However, we don’t really need to much. I mean that when you exercise your upper body, you typically are working your neck muscles to help balance your head and keep it from bouncing around. What’s probably more important to know is how to keep it from being worked too much. Relax! The answer is simple, although it can be difficult to do at times. Relax…yes, just relaxing can be so helpful to our physical and spiritual health but can be so hard for us to do. Don’t tense up. Here’s the deal. Working yourself too hard, especially when you don’t mean to leads to tense muscles, soreness, and exhaustion, but not the kind of exhaustion that helps build muscles and make you stronger. This kind just wipes you out. Sometimes your body can’t take the stress any more and gives you a painful message – that signal that shoots straight through you, contorting your neck and making you look like a confused dog with it’s head cocked to the side (except that your face isn’t as cute, especially when your face screams, “Oh my gosh. Was I just shot in the neck?!?!”)

So in the midst of exercising your body, mind, and spirit, remember to relax once in a while and to push yourself in only the intended areas.

Day 14

Day 14 (Thursday)

What do you do when you can’t do anything? We’ve all felt it before…that feeling that you’re out of the game. It’s not that you got picked last or anything; you’re injured. Granted, you’re not the best at it, but you should at least get a chance to show them what you’re capable of. If only the doctor hadn’t said you have to stay immobile for 6 weeks.

Okay, so this is, of course, a hypothetical situation that deals in an unstated category. Maybe you’re not physically out of the game; maybe you are. Spiritually, you might have strayed from the path so far that you can’t tell where you just came from and haven’t a clue where the path is at. Just when it seems like you can’t do anything to help your situation, there’s hope. There is always hope!

First, let’s realize that as in 1 Cor. 12, there are many parts of the same body. Each has a function and each needs to be strengthened. What parts are you ignoring? What parts have you forgotten? Typically, the parts that get injured aren’t the ones we focus on. I mean, who tries to strengthen joints when you can build muscle, right? It seems odd that we neglect the most important ones so often. Well now is that chance to focus on the forgotten muscles. You know you have them. Every time you go water skiing after a year off and feel those forgotten back muscles. Every time you play Ultimate Frisbee and feel those oblique muscles that you torqued like crazy! They’re there. Find them. Work them. As all parts of the physical body are important, each part of the spiritual body of Christ is also important. Sometimes we forget about certain parts of the body, which we shouldn’t, but we do. Let’s not forget each part is crucial to making the body function properly!