Recently, one of the shepherds here locally remarked that the preaching I had been doing over the last couple of years was in his estimation the best i‘ve done over our time working together. It’s my hope that he and all those who hear or follow after my efforts are able to say that every year. Now it may be that I have made some serious leaps recently or I was just not that able to start with… But we need to be a growing people in all aspects of our life.
2 articles I read today reinforced what I have been using to drive my own growth as a christian, father and preacher.
When 2012 kicked off I laid out some simple expectations for myself here: http://wp.me/p1xDhn-1h
With 2013 now upon us, I suppose tis time to post my expectations for the year
maintain
I was thankfully able to me or exceed my goals last year, so at the top of my plan for this year is to sustain that success. In concept this should be accomplished fairly easily as I set new goals above last years standard.
minimize
I come from a long line of pack rats, not every one of them would admit it, but for all the reasons one might give, we keep stuff. Over the last few years I have been forcibly changing my habits, other events (losing weight, having stuff stolen, moving to a smaller office, etc.) have sped this along and have reached a point where I want to make some additional strides in this area. The last two bastions of clutter will be struck down this year!
0. my office,
1. my workbench…
My hope is that this will improve my efficiency in work production and help push away from what I see as an ever increasing cultural drive to be defined by what you have, and not whom you are. The sale of my F250 is actually helping me understand just how far this concept spreads in our thinking as I wrestle with picking a suitable vehicle for my family’s needs.
“By the sweat of your face You shall eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:19 (NASBu)
maximize
By the end of this calendar year, I’ll two boys active with the BSA, Halle in Girl Scouts, and Jill knee deep in Upper D. Nursing at TTU… Given that reality I need to be excellent at making the most of project time. I am committed to making sure we don’t fall into the trap that “quality” time is just as good as” quantity” time…
“Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16 (NASBu)
Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities — always see them, for they’re always there. ~ Norman Vincent Peale
After meeting, exceeding, and reviving some finite goals I set out on January 1st, I am now at an odd place. I still have some overall goals planned out, some long range ideas hanging around, but I now need to really refine my fitness plans and dig in. While hitting it at the gym this morning I came up with at least this short list to work from.
peal off an additional 10-15 lbs of body fat
continue to expand my capacity so that for the next adventure race I will have improved my pace per mile.
find new challenges
btw today’s gym visit marked a return to mild upper body work given that my shoulder feels fairly strong and pain free (still a tinge of numbness in my fingers)
gym: 2×100 Ab Coasters, 4×50 incline sit ups, 3×60 @ 65lbs seated leg curls, 3×20 @ 65lbs seated leg extensions.
track: 1/2 mile mixed sprints
bike: 8mins, 2+ miles
207 lbs
My shoulder is about 50%, but I have some numbness/tingling in my right thumb, 2 forefingers (feels like Carpal Tunnel, need to change my office routine / position so that nerve can rest.
A few weeks back I stalled at the 500m row for time, blocked by a wall of time known as the 2:00 minute barrier…
Wall Broken…
The Good: time in at under 2:00 mins, 1:57 flat, solid form throughout.
The Bad: I want a solid 41S/M for the whole 500m, not there yet, but getting at it.
0. gym: 3×20@90lbs Cable Pull Downs, 3×20@80lbs (pec dec) flys, 3×25 Ab Coaster, 3×20@115lbs standing calf raises, 3×20@65 seated leg extensions, 3×20@65lbs, 3×20@65lbs, seated leg curls
1. walk 1/2 mile
2. Row 500m @ 8 drag, 1:57, followed by 2000m row.
3. used a few tape measurements to estimate my body fat, right now it is around 19-20% losing my planned 20+ pounds should land me at around 10% body fat, which is about where I want it to be.
Brought the oldest out with me this AM and had him work some body weight activities and then run the cardio with me, He did great, but like me longs for the pool to be back up.
Today, I was back in my normal routine, (though a bit earlier in the day)
o. gym: machine flys 3×20@70, standing cable curls 3×12@80, seated lat pull downs 3×20@70 mixed with 10 close grip palms in pull ups per set, standing calf raises, 3×20@951. 5k+cardio: 2k run/walk 50% running at a 9 min mile pace, 50% walk, rowing 1x500m,400m,300m,200m,100m 29S/m per, 2k walk brisk pace.my thighs and abs are angry today, oddly the knee does not hurt at all at rest.
“Ok I am writing this thread to clarify the drag factor on the Concept 2 rowers. Many people comment me “Chris – I row with the damper on 10 because its the hardest and thus im doing the most work.” I shake my head in dismay. To clarify how the drag factor works imagine that you are in an actual boat. A drag factor of 10 is the same as rowing in a Central park row boat – 8 feet wide, 10 feet long, and impossible to flip. It’s heavy, its slow, but if you can get it moving it has quite a bit of inertia. A 4-5 on the damper setting is the equivalent of a racing shell – 24 feet long, 18 inchs wide, and the slightest off weight tilt will flip you – a set of 5 strokes gets this boat moving. A 1 on the damper setting – There is no boat.
Now what is the best damper setting for you?
This depends on many factors – primarily weight. Workout being second.
To make my point clear a damper setting of 10 (8 for women) should only be used for pieces under 150 meters. This is not a rule – but a suggestion. The reason I say this is that unless you have been trained with the proper stroke for years – you will cause damage to yourself at this setting. 150 meters is a sprint/muscle piece that no matter what you do – it wont kill you.
Now I will discuss weight before going back to distances.
The following is a layman’s chart of where you damper should be around for your weight. (Applied for 500meter+ piece)
Now that you have a general idea of where your fan should be – realize that this is not final. Every erg is different. If you want to make sure that each erg you get onto has the same “drag factor” there is a function that lets you determine exactly what your fan is set at.
On the model C (grey and black) erg hold down both the “rest” and “ok” button at the same time. In the bottom right hand corner a little “drag” should appear. Hop onto the erg and pull 5-10 strokes fairly hard – a number will appear. The following is a chart regarding recomended drag:
(Note first generation Model D users – Go to options and the last selection is “more options” under which is “Drag Factor”(Not sure about subsequent generations – they revised the computer 4 months after initial release))
So that now you know where drag is you must realize – these drags are considered in the rowing world to be the most efficient for how a rower works. These drag factors rely on endurance and aerobic ability more then anarobic. Moving higher to the 10 setting emphasizes strength more and more – but subsequently takes much more strength to move the fan (This will make you much more tired sooner then at a lower drag). Remember – it may look easy – but anyway you slice the cake (erg?) it will hurt.
The athlete’s anerobic threshold, the point at which the body’s muscles have exhausted their oxygen store and start burning other fuel. For regular folks, reaching that threshold is quitting time; anaerobic work is 19 times harder than aerobic work. But rowing is all about harder. Elite rowers fire off the start at sprint speed — 53 strokes per minute. With 95 pounds of force on the blade end, each stroke is a weightlifter’s power clean. Rowers cross their anaerobic threshold with that first stroke. Then there are 225 more to the finish line.”
I was running the C2 at around 8-10 drag, I have moved to a 5. Secondly I am focusing on form and technique that will allow the greatest gains in my personal goal, endurance. I did 2500m on the row above, after the first 1000m at a easier pace I did the final 1500 at a 2:00m per 500m pace. Subjectively I was far more “work” than what I was doing before. Even now 3 hours after the row’s I can still feel the satisfaction of a good workout.
Also I was forced to go shopping and buy smaller clothes. Let me just say how much I loathe crowded malls….
I have been more successful fitness wise in the last 4 months than at any time I can recall. A few friends asked me what is different now and here are a few highlights.
0. you can’t out-train a bad diet
No matter what you do, what you eat matters. Soda is the death of my fitness goals, and diet soda is worse. Water is my king. If it comes is a plastic container you had better have a good reason to eat it!
1. gym time should be work time
When at the gym, get to work, nothing bothers my success more than some chatty chappy “networking”
2. it hurts
Sometimes it does, after 3 mos of success, the hurt is far less and I can almost feel my body feeling better.
3. i feel bad
There have been days when the last thing I wanted to do was go train, on those days training was the very best choice, EVERY TIME! 4. i failed
I always have concrete measurable goals (time or weight) in mind every time I go to the gym, I don’t often get all of them knocked off the list, but I don’t stop until I complete everything
5. my body type…
DOES NOT MATTER AT ALL, fat is fat. Lean is Lean
6. i don’t know what i am doing
yep, and often I still don’t, but I go slow watch my form and keep at it.
If there is one part of my work at proclaiming the Gospel that I like the least it would be writing. Once the words are inked to the page, that’s it! No tinkering with the prose, no slight shift in method or a second go round to make sure you are being clear. Last year I was able to complete a number of written projects and this year I want that to grow even more.
“But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.” Ecclesiastes 12:12 (NASB)
2. be flexible
Jill is enrolled at Tennessee Tech as lower division nursing student. (She expects to be enrolled in the nursing program in the spring of 2013) Over the years I have found a great advantage in my solid and steady schedule. I am learning to accomplish as much (or more) than before, but without the routine. It’s odd that I can spend the same effort and time on a project but when you shift around the schedule even a bit from what is comfortable it changes more than you thought it would. (sometimes in unexpected ways for the better) Learning to reach beyond that should leverage my productivity in a way to make her success and our families far less stressful.
I love that she has such amazing goals for herself and will do all I can to help her reach for them.
“Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.” Ecclesiastes 4:9 (NASB)
3. be simple
Society is increasingly complex, full of messes of monumental proportion. In the midst of that doing more with less will be an uncommon choice. Given some of my other goals this might seem counterintuitive. I have slowly been inching this way in small bursts and hope to make this path full blown for the year.
“9 That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So, there is nothing new under the sun” Ecclesiastes 1:9 (NASB)
4. be fit
nuff said.
“A time to love, and a time to hate; A time for war, and a time for peace. What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?” Ecclesiastes 3:8-9 (NASB)
A Philosopher Desiring to Destroy Parental Influence
by Doy Moyer
Richard Rorty was a philosopher who taught at Princeton, the University of Virginia, and Stanford. He was known for his extreme and bold liberalism. The following is what he said about religious parents and his unabashed efforts to indoctrinate his students. Any parent looking to send kids to college need to see this:
“It seems to me that the regulative idea that we heirs of the Enlightenment, we Socratists, most frequently use to criticize the conduct of various conversational partners is that of ‘needing education in order to outgrow their primitive fear, hatreds, and superstitions’ … It is a concept which I, like most Americans who teach humanities or social science in colleges and universities, invoke when we try to arrange things so that students who enter as bigoted, homophobic, religious fundamentalists will leave college with views more like our own … The fundamentalist parents of our fundamentalist students think that the entire ‘American liberal establishment’ is engaged in a conspiracy. The parents have a point. Their point is that we liberal teachers no more feel in a symmetrical communication situation when we talk with bigots than do kindergarten teachers talking with their students … When we American college teachers encounter religious fundamentalists, we do not consider the possibility of reformulating our own practices of justification so as to give more weight to the authority of the Christian scriptures. Instead, we do our best to convince these students of the benefits of secularization. We assign first-person accounts of growing up homosexual to our homophobic students for the same reasons that German schoolteachers in the postwar period assigned The Diary of Anne Frank… You have to be educated in order to be … a participant in our conversation … So we are going to go right on trying to discredit you in the eyes of your children, trying to strip your fundamentalist religious community of dignity, trying to make your views seem silly rather than discussable. We are not so inclusivist as to tolerate intolerance such as yours … I don’t see anything herrschaftsfrei [domination free] about my handling of my fundamentalist students. Rather, I think those students are lucky to find themselves under the benevolent Herrschaft [domination] of people like me, and to have escaped the grip of their frightening, vicious, dangerous parents … I am just as provincial and contextualist as the Nazi teachers who made their students read Der Stürmer; the only difference is that I serve a better cause.”
– ‘Universality and Truth,’ in Robert B. Brandom (ed.), Rorty and his Critics (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000), pp. 21-2.
What is Rorty’s status now? Inconsequential. He died in 2007. What is his legacy? The destruction of faith. And frankly, I have little doubt that now he would do anything he could to change that.
... tacticalpreacher ... 