Sleep is so Nice...

I got in a 30-minute ride, did 7 minutes of work for glute ham and standing extreme ham (repeated from yesterday), and then went home. That means I did not do 1-leg squat, push up (but I did that one on Wednesday), or crate crunch, nor did I swim #2. But sleeping from 6pm through 5am sure felt nice. Hopefully the Inversion people will post Ray's message online soon, since I slept right through Bible study.

A Famine in the Land

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord GOD, “That I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, but shall not find it. In that day the fair virgins and strong young men shall faint from thirst. Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, who say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan!’ and, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives!’ they shall fall and never rise again.” Amos 8:11–14

Now the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation. 1 Samuel 3:1

For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law. 2 Chronicles 15:3

We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet; nor is there any among us who knows how long. Psalm 74:9

Disaster will come upon disaster, and rumor will be upon rumor. Then they will seek a vision from a prophet; but the law will perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders. Ezekiel 7:26

Therefore you shall have night without vision, and you shall have darkness without divination; the sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be dark for them. Micah 3:6

Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations; the Law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the LORD. Lamentations 2:9

Would you be ready if such a famine hit our land?

Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. Jeremiah 15:16

Changing Directions

We recently got a new teaching pastor at our church. As far as I understand, he will not be the head pastor (we are a congregation/elder-led church and don't necessarily have head pastors and assistant pastors and associate pastors and whatever other kind of pastor title you can have), but he will be the primary leader of the teaching team. I have been listening to him teach on the radio for at least the last 2 years, know the school he comes from and their doctrine and theology, and really enjoy his teaching—it's exegetical, which means he teaches directly out of the Bible, and it's more contextual (my word) than topical, which means he goes through a book (1 Thessalonians, for example) from start to finish (thus giving the context of each verse). That kind of teaching is, in my opinion, the best kind and the kind that has been modeled for us in the Word itself (see Acts 7, where Stephen walked the high priest, the people, the elders, and the scribes through most of the Torah, and Acts 8, where Phillip guided the Ethiopian man through Isaiah, for a few examples).

A friend who previously worked at the church recently left. I asked him whether there was anything I should know that might keep me from attending the church. He said that our new pastor's way of teaching is "the Bible and nothing else" and that the new pastor admittedly does not get the whole "art" thing. (Neither do I, but this friend is basically the opposite, knowing and worshiping God through visual expressions like videos, pictures, and more.) I know that God can work through art, but I was elated to hear that philosophy. The kinds of "art" our church focuses on include dance (we have a school of dance and people often express their praise and worship through dance), music (living in Nashville, we have some amazing musicians at our church), and paintings or other similar expressions.

Nashville contains a large number of artsy people who, as I understand it, express their knowledge of or innate desire to know God through their work. There is definitely a need to communicate the gospel, the hope of Christ, the truth that when Jesus came to earth, He died to pay the penalty for our sins and then rose to conquer death so that we can live with Him forever if we accept the gift of His sacrifice. The church was in some small way attempting to reach that world, but as I understand it now, we will be less focused on that part of our culture.

The friend who left is now making it his mission to reach those artists. Since I can't have an influence in that culture, where should my influence be? And how will the anticipated changing of the direction of our church affect me, how I live my life, how I worship God, and how I communicate His truth and hope to others around me? Will my legacy outlive me?

New Running Partner

Anna and I finally got together today to run, and at my request we went to MFY to run 1-mile repeats on the treadmills. Unfortunately, because it was 22* outside, we couldn't find treadmills next to each other, but we did get on two at the same time. The goal for today's run was three 1-miles at 7:02 with a 1-minute rest interval. Anna has done a lot of track work as said right away that 1 minute was not sufficient, so we agreed to do at least 2. Then we had to set the pace to 8.5 mph and run away. I did not make the goal for any mile even though I knew it would be just 7 minutes of work; I just can't run that fast for that long right now. I'm working toward that speed, though!

11:11 warmup, 7:17, 2:15-RI, 8:15, 3:44-RI (because we went down to the track for the last mile), 7:49 (without really aiming for anything...we were just running and talking), 13:18 cooldown. Approximate total mileage: 6.5.

Then we started on tomorrow's 7 minutes of work. I wanted to do the exercises, and Anna was willing to join me. Plus this particular workout always takes a long time, so I got a head start on tomorrow.

• Push up: on knees, 6 minutes (a new PB!) and then only that one time did I need to restart. Hooray! 1-19: 2 min. 12-16: 2:40. 12-7: less than 2. 11-6: 2:30. 10-31: not sure. 10-9: 3 min. So today I showed obvious improvement. I wonder why. Maybe I wasn't working as hard as I should have been, but I hope it's really that I've gotten stronger.
  
• Standing extreme ham: 7 minutes. This one you just have to make yourself work hard the entire time if you're going to get the max benefit, because otherwise you can let gravity do what you don't want to.
  

Swim #1; 30 min; 10×30

The last time I swam was December 28, in the ocean with Mom. It looked something like this.

Watching the sunset in Hawaii

Today started my IM training (well, yesterday was the first day on the schedule, but it was a rest day), so I'll be starting to up the time and mileage over the next weeks. Fun times. But all the workouts are laid out, and I like that. I don't have to think about what I'm going to be doing the next week--it's all right there for me. That's also why I have someone do strength/conditioning stuff for me; if I had to think about it, I wouldn't work as hard nor would I stick with the schedule because I would have just made it myself.

I did the swim workout early AM; there were few people in the pool, so that will start becoming habit.

• 300 warmup
• 8×50 drills (pull buoy, fists, kickboard, right side, left side, kickboard, pull buoy, fingers' dragging)
• 12×100 @ 20 seconds; besides the first one (fresh) and the seventh one (girl in my way on the flip turns), I varied only 4 seconds. I'm happy with the variance but not necessarily with the time. A 1:35 100 means a 4:45 300 and a 7:55 500. The highschoolers at the meet I was at last week were swimming between 5- and 7-minute 500s. 12×100 times: 1:35, 1:41, 1:44, 1:45, 1:43, 1:45, 1:47, 1:44, 1:45, 1:44, 1:44, 1:42. Total time for that 1,200 (including eleven 20-second rest intervals): 24:50. Average 100m time: 1:43
  
• 100 cooldown, for a total of 2,000 meters
• One set of 8×50 drills and a 100 cooldown remained (another 500 meters), but I had to get going.

Since I didn't finish the whole workout, I'll have to start leaving earlier. Especially when the distance starts increasing. After work it was back to the Y to run 30 minutes. Besides that my feet (especially the left) didn't warm up until 2+ miles into my 3.5-mile run, they did cooperate, due probably in part to the 2-weeks' rest I've had and the body glide. That's a good sign. The miles were slow and I didn't care: 9:42, 9:13, and 8:53. Then I had to do 10x30 seconds.

• Push up on feet: I always cringe when I see that. I know I can't do it and that frustrates me. I started on my feet and lasted through 2 reps, but I couldn't push up really at all. I did the remaining 8 on my knees and pushed up all the way on all of them.
• Curl: 22-lb bar. I have to use a slightly heavier bar than I probably would be using if I were actually doing the manual hold part of this. Sometimes I wonder if I'd be getting more out of it if I had a partner to work with more than once every week or two.
• Crate crunch: Now that I actually understand this one I hopefully will be able to do it right (even without the manual hold, which you can have even on this one).
• Lunge: Left leg first. That was my own modification. It was OK, but I definitely get exhausted after the first set no matter which leg I start on. I kept getting lightheaded on the right side and I don't know why. It felt like dehydration but I'm quite sure I wasn't--I drank at least 80 ounces of water and got drinks between the previous exercises. Plus I ate well enough today (eggs, bread, and cheese for breakfast; celery with pb and carrots; celery and broccoli with chicken and a salad; celery, broccoli, green peppers, and almonds). It was weird. I did 10 then 7 and finished after glute ham.
• Glute ham: After each interval, I did one rep all the way up. I could tell on the first one that I definitely wasn't using my muscles correctly and really worked on that the rest of the time. I don't want to be slacking or lagging from where I should be.
• Lunge: I finished the remaining 3 on the right leg.
  

Bike!

After church (I love the Marreros!), I finally got on my bike today, after almost 2 months not on my bike and 1+ months not on any bike except to spin once. It was a fantastic ride! Evidence that I hadn't been riding: bike tire pressure at 40 PSI. It should be at 110.

I rode the Lynwood Way loop, saw Greg and Laura at the top of North Berry's Chapel, and came home to sit in the hot tub for a long time and talk to Liz. 12.4 miles, 50 minutes. 14.7 avg. MPH, 41 max speed. Not bad for the first time in a long time.

Then I went to the house of Gabe from Inversion to watch the Superbowl. This guy's house was incredible. I had my camera with me, but I left it in the car (along with my chap stick...oops!). Huge vaulted ceilings, a great pool, an amazing view out the back of the sunset, plenty of room downstairs, on the main floor, and upstairs for all probably 200 of us. Plus he fed us all! Good burgers and chips, no veggies. I can't complain, though; he is very hospitable.

I met a few new people (Charlotte, who lives in the Landings and who Will and I had seen earlier at the office; Nathan, a grad student at Vandy; Darrell, a sales manager at Dell; JD, Ida, Alicia, Naomi, Alicia, Kevin, Jonathan; and a few others whose names fail me because I didn't really talk to them), saw more people than I even knew I knew (Casey, Tim, Clint, Eric, Rachel, Casey, Jonathan, Jen, Patrick, and Miriam, among others), and got to chat for a minute with my one friend who I knew would be there (Jesi). Wow. That doesn't even scratch the surface of how many people were there! To say it was overwhelming to some extent would be a slight understatement. But mainly I just played pool all night until The Office came on, at which point I finally sat down to watch TV. The whole night was more about interaction anyway, and I didn't really care about the game.

The best part of the night was probably watching Peter, one of the shuttle drivers (yes, shuttles; we parked at a school and determined that no one carpools anymore, since we filled up the parking lot), back out of Gabe's driveway. Pretty impressive down a narrow strip with rocks on one side and a little cliff on the other; we applauded him at the end, but probably more for his service than anything.

Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

1 Peter 1:6–9 In this [hope of heaven] you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that THE GENUINENESS OF YOUR FAITH, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, MAY BE FOUND TO PRAISE, HONOR, AND GLORY AT THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

This question is definitely thought-provoking, but the premise is slightly skewed. The question assumes 1) That we are good; and 2) That when things happen to us, they are either good or bad by our standards.

Premise 1: We Are Good

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23 says (the sins we commit are listed in 1:18–3:20—Paul has already proven the point that we are sinners); and Jesus says in Matthew 9:17, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

The disciples raised a question similar to Luke’s when they asked Jesus about the blind man in John 9: "Who sinned, this man or his parents?" We know they both did, but that's not why the man was born blind. He was born blind so that the Lord would be glorified in His healing.

John 9:3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.”

Even Job, a righteous man, committed sins. Therefore, he needed forgiveness in the same way we do. He endured hardship in the same way we will (James 1:2 “My brethren, count it all joy WHEN you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”). And yet Job is an example to us of endurance.

James 5:10–11 My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

Premise 2: Something is Good or Bad

Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” The man born blind and his family might have thought that his situation was hopeless. They might have thought that it was a bad circumstance. And who’s to say that he didn’t suffer, endure ridicule, and hope for healing while he was blind? But God’s ultimate plan was to heal him and to glorify Himself through that man’s healing.

Perhaps affliction is at times judgment, punishment for sins. After all, Hebrews 12:6 says, “For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” In John 5, after Jesus healed a paralytic man, He said to the man, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” Sin does have consequences:

Galatians 6:7–8 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

Deuteronomy 8:5 You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you.

Job 5:17 Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. (In this context, Eliphaz was trying to convince Job to confess his sins. However, the idea of God’s correcting His children can be found throughout the Word. For instance, this verse is quoted again in Hebrews 12:5 with more context.)

Proverbs 3:11–12 My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; for whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.

But take heart. We are God’s children; He has not forgotten us! Our hope is in Him. Therefore, while we endure what we consider hardship on earth, we must continually remember that we are only “aliens on temporary assignment.” If we know Jesus as our Savior and Lord and believe that He died on the cross to forgive our sins, we live to obtain an imperishable crown—life in heaven, glorifying God in all things (1 Corinthians 9:24–27)!

1 Peter 1:3–5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

2 Corinthians 12:7–10 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Proverbs 16:1, 9, 20, & 33 The preparations of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. … A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. … He who heeds the word wisely will find good, and whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he. … The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.

The verses immediately following Romans 3:23 give us even more hope. “[All who have sinned,] being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation [satisfaction for our sins] by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, TO DEMONSTRATE AT THE PRESENT TIME HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”