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A few years ago I developed a medical condition with symptoms that began to significantly impact my life. During the process of undergoing test after test to discover the source of these problems, I had a discussion with a health provider who was advising me on how to cope with my symptoms, have more energy, and regain my strength. She asked about all of the things I was involved in related to work, family, church, and social life, and immediately said that I first needed to simplify my life and focus on those things that are most important.
Today I find myself in a different type of struggle, however this one is not related to my physical health. Instead, it involves my spiritual life. Once again, there are symptoms that are severely affecting me. I often find myself out of energy, frustrated, and overwhelmed. As with my health issue, I know the only way I’m going to break free of these symptoms is by simplifying my spiritual life and focusing on those things that are most fundamental to my Christian faith.
This challenge is mostly because the American execution of “Church” has become overly complicated. Anyone involved in the work of a local body knows that today’s church is often filled with politics, competing agendas, feuds, entertainment, marketing, denominationalism, and so many other things that take our focus off of what God intended His believers to be about.
These are the things that have me at a spiritual crossroads in my life, and yearning for simplicity in my church experience and my Christian walk. I want to stop worrying about things that ultimately don’t matter, and focus on the core fundamentals of Christianity.
I Love to Run, and I HATE Being Injured!
After my first significant running injury last August I attacked cross training to stay fit. I was in the pool or on the elliptical almost every day until I could get back to running.
After my second significant running injury in March of this year I had a harder time getting to the gym to do cross training. However I still got in 4 to 5 days a week of good work.
With my current injury I have done absolutely nothing for the last two weeks. Not being able to run New York has been crushing to me mentally, and with no other races ahead of me, I find that I’m seriously lacking motivation to cross train.
Hopefully this couch potato phase will come to an end tomorrow. I plan to hit the gym for an hour of cardio and then do an hour of group yoga (a little nervous about this one, because I stink at yoga). On Monday Olivia and I plan to start P90X again and go through the entire 90 day program. This will be my third time to go through the full P90X program and I’m hoping that I can find the motivation to see it through.
At this point I’m thinking of taking a full eight weeks off from running. Since my last run was exactly 2 weeks ago this means I’ve got six more weeks to go. Once I start back I plan to take things very slowly and wait for quite a while before even thinking about registering for a race. I’ve got to get my mind right and in a position where I feel like I can run and stay healthy.
I’m hoping that doing a full course of P90X along with some additional cardio will set me up in a good position to begin running again without injury. I know that over the past 12 months my dedication to cross training has been very lax.
So, that’s where things stand as of today. Hoping to get things off to a good start tomorrow.
For students in my Wednesday night class on Paul’s letter to the Colossians: Handouts and Notes for Colossians 1:15-23 are now available online. Lord willing we will cover this text tomorrow night at 7pm at Bellevue Church of Christ!
I’m a big fan of Stryper, and am really digging this new track “Revelation” off their upcoming album that will be released on November 5th. As usual Michael Sweet delivers awesome vocals. Combine this with some awesome guitar, a great hook, and compelling lyrics and you’ve got a pretty rocking song. Can’t wait to hear the rest of the new stuff!
Our refrigerator went out last night, and since that means that we are now shopping for a new one, it reminded me of this great bit from comedian Brian Regan on refrigerators. Definitely worth a watch:
For students in my Wednesday night class on Paul’s letter to the Colossians: Handouts and Notes for Colossians 1:1-14 are now available online. Lord willing we will cover this text tomorrow night at 7pm at Bellevue Church of Christ!
Well…I gave it one last shot:
After taking 2 weeks off to try and heal my leg / hip, I ran a very, very easy 4.5-miles on Thursday, 3.75-miles on Friday, and 11-miles on Saturday. There was no pain during or after my run on Thursday, a little pain after my run on Friday, and quite a bit of pain after the Saturday run continuing on through Today (Monday). I could probably run on it for a few more days, but I know where this is headed. At this point it is extremely unrealistic to think that I could somehow be ready for NYC in less than 8 weeks. So, that leads me to one final conclusion…
Needless to say, this is CRAZY frustrating. I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do going forward. At some points I just want to quit running altogether, but then I think about how much I love to run and race, and realize that I have to at least try and get past this cycle of injuries. Part of me is thinking about just shutting it down for the rest of the year, and maybe cranking up the full P90X again. Whatever the case, my hope to run NYC for 2013 is done.
