People tremble at the mention of its name. Its squeeze is tighter, more constricting than that of the anaconda. Death and destruction are the fate of whatever is between those white knuckles.
You become a Christian. A follower of Christ. God starts revealing areas of your life where He wants you to change. You give them up gladly. Surrendering them to His sovereign control... its easy because they weren't yours to begin with. One less thing to worry about. Then He points at one and it strikes a nerve. "No, let me keep this one. I'm doing so much better than before. Look at all the progress I've made. You can have this other thing over here, but not that... anything but that." You have to choose. Do you keep that thing... that idol, clinched tightly or do you surrender it, let it go? We stand before God and in one open palm present Him all our sacrifices but our other hand has what we really care about clinched tightly in our kung fu death grip. We put that hand behind our back, as if we could hide it from or fool our Father. Why won't we let it go? Why do we hold onto it so tightly? Our head knows it belongs to Him, He is sovereign, He has a plan, He loves us, let it go... but our heart deceitfully tells us to grasp it tightly.
God asks us to be a living sacrifice. To sacrifice our whole lives... everything: heart, lifestyle, time, money, career, dreams, relationships, hobbies, plans, attitudes, thoughts, minds, bodies, souls... everything! I have areas of my life that I freely give, but I keep some behind my back. I pray that God would take them from me. He might and I hope that He does but I think He would rather me willingly lay them down. Choose Him over it. Love Him. Trust Him. Relax my grip. Doesn't that sound peaceful... rest and relax... not wasting our energy by squeezing so tightly.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Johnny Appleseed
One day I want to have a garden. I want to walk into my backyard and get sweet potatoes, blueberries, bananas, peppers, spinach, and all kinds of other fruits and veggies. To reap that harvest is going to be a grueling process... not one for the faint of heart. Its going to involve digging the soil, making sure the soil has the proper nutrients, making sure the seeds are planted correctly, getting the plants the proper balance of sunlight and water, keeping pests and weeds out... and probably a lot of other things I don't even know about. There will probably be points when it doesn't seem worth it. The harvest will seem so far away... so distant and the current work will be tedious and tiring. We have to push on. We can't lose heart or became lazy. I admittedly have done this. In God's garden sometimes you don't know if you are digging new soil, planting, watering, etc. Oftentimes we aren't patient. We want results fast. God has a higher plan and perfect timing. We need to be obedient... just keep digging, planting, watering. No time for complaining.
Monday afternoon I received this email and it undoubtedly made my day...
Alex,
How are you buddy. Haven't spoke to you in ages bro. Just wanted to see how you were doing and give you a little update on my life.
Upon graduating in 2009, I has the opportunity to play professional soccer for about 2-3 years as you probably already knew. The last team I played for was The Charlotte Eagles, which is a professional team owned by Missionary Athletes in Action. This organization has a mission focusing on Christianity through the sport of soccer.
Well, this was one of the first ways the Lord revealed himself to me and playing on the team helped create a base for what it meant for me to be Christian.
Today, I'm proud to say that I am a true believer of the Lord and my life has changed a complete 180 degrees. I gave up all areas of my life which meant I gave up soccer for HIM. God presented a job opportunity in a Flower Company. I was hired with a team to help expand the company in a project we're developing for a new clients. I have now been working here for about 3 months, and really enjoying it.
Honestly, I remember our talks a lot during our workouts and I never had the eyes or the mind to understand how God was using you to talk to me. I am thankful and blessed that God has hand-chose me to do His will. I thank you anyway because the words God spoke through you still impacted my life.
Hope to hear back from you man, let me know how you've been. God Bless you.
Tuesday morning I received this email...
Alex
On march 18 I realized through all of this that I have been going through that Jesus is all that I need in this life and that His presence my heart has brought me a comfort and joy that has changed my life.... Thanks so much Alex.
I was overwhelmed. God is so good. It is so awesome to have people that you love come to know Christ. And to see it happen or I guess in this case read about it happening was so awesome. I've had times in my life where I thought people were going to make a change but they didn't. I prayed for them and talked to them but it didn't happen and I gave up, threw in the towel, quit... but God didn't. I am thankful for that. God changed my life and He is still changing lives. Maybe those people were/are changing, it was just slower than I wanted... like the growth of the plant. Little by little but I didn't stick around to do the hard work and thus I didn't get to see the harvest. Maybe I planted seeds that someone else watered and cared for. It was so refreshing and encouraging to be reminded that God is still / always working, but I can't become complacent because His work isn't done yet. I have to stay Kingdom minded! I have to stay digging, planting, watering. Its hard work but its more than worth it and my Savior gives me the strength to do it.
"Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few."
- Matthew 9:37
Monday afternoon I received this email and it undoubtedly made my day...
Alex,
How are you buddy. Haven't spoke to you in ages bro. Just wanted to see how you were doing and give you a little update on my life.
Upon graduating in 2009, I has the opportunity to play professional soccer for about 2-3 years as you probably already knew. The last team I played for was The Charlotte Eagles, which is a professional team owned by Missionary Athletes in Action. This organization has a mission focusing on Christianity through the sport of soccer.
Well, this was one of the first ways the Lord revealed himself to me and playing on the team helped create a base for what it meant for me to be Christian.
Today, I'm proud to say that I am a true believer of the Lord and my life has changed a complete 180 degrees. I gave up all areas of my life which meant I gave up soccer for HIM. God presented a job opportunity in a Flower Company. I was hired with a team to help expand the company in a project we're developing for a new clients. I have now been working here for about 3 months, and really enjoying it.
Honestly, I remember our talks a lot during our workouts and I never had the eyes or the mind to understand how God was using you to talk to me. I am thankful and blessed that God has hand-chose me to do His will. I thank you anyway because the words God spoke through you still impacted my life.
Hope to hear back from you man, let me know how you've been. God Bless you.
Tuesday morning I received this email...
Alex
On march 18 I realized through all of this that I have been going through that Jesus is all that I need in this life and that His presence my heart has brought me a comfort and joy that has changed my life.... Thanks so much Alex.
I was overwhelmed. God is so good. It is so awesome to have people that you love come to know Christ. And to see it happen or I guess in this case read about it happening was so awesome. I've had times in my life where I thought people were going to make a change but they didn't. I prayed for them and talked to them but it didn't happen and I gave up, threw in the towel, quit... but God didn't. I am thankful for that. God changed my life and He is still changing lives. Maybe those people were/are changing, it was just slower than I wanted... like the growth of the plant. Little by little but I didn't stick around to do the hard work and thus I didn't get to see the harvest. Maybe I planted seeds that someone else watered and cared for. It was so refreshing and encouraging to be reminded that God is still / always working, but I can't become complacent because His work isn't done yet. I have to stay Kingdom minded! I have to stay digging, planting, watering. Its hard work but its more than worth it and my Savior gives me the strength to do it.
"Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few."
- Matthew 9:37
"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."
- Galatians 6:9
Friday, March 16, 2012
Exercise Your Heart
The heart is a muscle. Muscles, like other tissues, adapt to the demands placed on them. Did you know the heart of a weightlifter and the heart of a distance runner are different due to the adaptations from the different kinds of exercise? The weightlifters heart would be thicker from the increased pressure it undergoes while the runner's heart would expand in volume. This is an example of the SAID principle: Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands. The muscle adapts to the demands it is placed under.
There are many principles that apply to training and tissues. Another is the principle of reversibility. Use it or lose it! The same way muscles can hypertrophy (grow larger) due to exercise; they can atrophy (become smaller) from excessive rest, detraining, or injury. I have a bunch of volleyball girls who will return to training this upcoming week and realize that while they were at the beach playing in the ocean for the last 9 days the callouses on their hands will have vanished. When their hands are reintroduced to the barball it will not be a reunion of long lost friends. The skin softened because the stimulus of the abrasive barbell was removed for too long and the acute adaptation made by the skin (callous) reversed. Maybe you can remember a time when your body, your muscles were bigger or harder or I hesitate to use the word... toner. Maybe it was the last time you played an organized sport and you loved that sport but hated exercise so when you stopped playing, you stopped exercising and as a result your body softened.
I know, where I am going with this? Remember your heart is a muscle. However, from a spiritual sense it doesn't react the same as your physical muscles. When you don't train a muscle physically it softens, but when you don't train you heart spiritually it hardens. When you spend time with God, you allow Him to soften, change, and mold your heart but when you don't selfishness, bitterness, anger, resentment, jealously, and hate creep back in and callous your heart. The Bible records several people, Pharaoh for example, who intentionally hardened their hearts against God. We have a tendency to do this when we don't get our way or God does something we don't understand. The Bible also warns of slowly drifting away from God, the same way missing 1 workout quickly turns into 2 and 3 and before you know it you haven't exercised in months. The result of this is a hardened heart that is resistant to God and His will. Not many people intentionally wander away from God... it happens little by little. The world will erode away at your spiritual walk if you let it. We must train our hearts.
Time to spend with God will not be found, it must be made... it must be a priority. No one regularly stumbles upon large amounts of free time in their day. If they did, they would probably schedule something during that time (even if it was a nap or video games). I find that training with God, much like physical training, is best in the morning. Get it in when you are certain you can get it in before your day becomes too chaotic and allow it to give you energy to last you through your day. The result of not exercising your heart is similar to the result of not exercising your body... disease and death, except spiritual death is for eternity.
"For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them."
- Matthew 13:15, NIV
There are many principles that apply to training and tissues. Another is the principle of reversibility. Use it or lose it! The same way muscles can hypertrophy (grow larger) due to exercise; they can atrophy (become smaller) from excessive rest, detraining, or injury. I have a bunch of volleyball girls who will return to training this upcoming week and realize that while they were at the beach playing in the ocean for the last 9 days the callouses on their hands will have vanished. When their hands are reintroduced to the barball it will not be a reunion of long lost friends. The skin softened because the stimulus of the abrasive barbell was removed for too long and the acute adaptation made by the skin (callous) reversed. Maybe you can remember a time when your body, your muscles were bigger or harder or I hesitate to use the word... toner. Maybe it was the last time you played an organized sport and you loved that sport but hated exercise so when you stopped playing, you stopped exercising and as a result your body softened.
I know, where I am going with this? Remember your heart is a muscle. However, from a spiritual sense it doesn't react the same as your physical muscles. When you don't train a muscle physically it softens, but when you don't train you heart spiritually it hardens. When you spend time with God, you allow Him to soften, change, and mold your heart but when you don't selfishness, bitterness, anger, resentment, jealously, and hate creep back in and callous your heart. The Bible records several people, Pharaoh for example, who intentionally hardened their hearts against God. We have a tendency to do this when we don't get our way or God does something we don't understand. The Bible also warns of slowly drifting away from God, the same way missing 1 workout quickly turns into 2 and 3 and before you know it you haven't exercised in months. The result of this is a hardened heart that is resistant to God and His will. Not many people intentionally wander away from God... it happens little by little. The world will erode away at your spiritual walk if you let it. We must train our hearts.
Time to spend with God will not be found, it must be made... it must be a priority. No one regularly stumbles upon large amounts of free time in their day. If they did, they would probably schedule something during that time (even if it was a nap or video games). I find that training with God, much like physical training, is best in the morning. Get it in when you are certain you can get it in before your day becomes too chaotic and allow it to give you energy to last you through your day. The result of not exercising your heart is similar to the result of not exercising your body... disease and death, except spiritual death is for eternity.
"For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them."
- Matthew 13:15, NIV
Thursday, March 15, 2012
If... Then
The If, Then Principle was something I learned in college. I believe it was used in my science classes to show causality. If you add "X" to "Y" (in a certain experiment or under specific conditions) then you yield "Z". I feel that you can apply it to other things too. For example: if you are a Chicago Blackhawks fan, then you are going to wear Blackhawks apparel, watch their games, and undoubtedly spiral into depression when they go on 6-8 game losing skids.
"If you love Me, [then you will] keep My commandments." - John 14:15, NKJV
Does anyone else feel like they got punched in the stomach after reading that? I added what's inside the brackets, but I feel its implied in what Jesus was saying. I had to ask myself, "Alex, do you love Jesus?"... Well of course! "Do you keep His commandments?".... uhh sometimes. Jesus commanded us to love. To love everyone: saved, unsaved, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, atheist, male, female, young, old, black, white, brown, smart, stupid, rich, poor, dirty, clean, annoying, popular, beautiful, ugly, mean, selfish, rude and any combination of the above. We are to love others by serving them.
Jesus also commands us to do things by speaking to us through the Holy Spirit. I heard David Platt talk about how the God who spoke the whole world into existence tells the mountains to move and they move, He tells the rocks to cry out and they cry out, and He tell us to end a relationship, quit our job, move somewhere else, help someone, etc and we say no. I have told God no. The God who is sovereign, unchanging, all knowing, infinite, the God who created me and saved me... I've told Him no.
If I love Jesus then there needs to be evidence of that in my life. There needs to be fruit. I need to continue to allow Jesus to have access to my heart so that He can further change it. I need Him to infect me with His love so that I become contagious to all those I come in contact with.
I think about Will Ferrell's character Jackie Moon from Semi-Pro who said "ELE"
"Everybody love everybody."
thats right, I just quoted Jesus and Jackie Moon in the same blog.... if its true and its good then I'm putting it up here!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Weightlifting
The Sport of Weightlifting
What Weightlifting is:
What Weightlifting is:
1. The Snatch
2(a). The Clean and...
2(b). Jerk
VIDEOS
Snatch
Clean and Jerk
Kendrick Farris (USA) with a squat jerk
Dimitri Klokov (RUS) with a split jerk
___________________________________________________________________
What Weightlifting Isn't:
Powerlifting
(inappropriately named, there is little power involved)
Bodybuilding
(that looks natural... yes, the 3rd pic is/was a woman)
Crossfit
(crossfit attempts to perform olympic lifts but more often than not they bastardize it)
What is done at your local gym
___________________________________________________________________
Who should do Weightlifting?
Kids
(with very light weights, maybe even just a wooden dowel to learn the path of the bar)
Ladies
(weightlifting does NOT make you big and bulky!)
People who are a little bit more mature and refined than the rest of us
(older)
Athletes
(any and all sports! high school, college, professional)
bobsledder
track sprinter
those who are just bored with their workout and are looking for a new challenge
(above could be a video of you!)
2(a). The Clean and...
2(b). Jerk
VIDEOS
Snatch
Clean and Jerk
___________________________________________________________________
What Weightlifting Isn't:
Powerlifting
(inappropriately named, there is little power involved)
Bodybuilding
(that looks natural... yes, the 3rd pic is/was a woman)
Crossfit
(crossfit attempts to perform olympic lifts but more often than not they bastardize it)
What is done at your local gym
___________________________________________________________________
Who should do Weightlifting?
Kids
(with very light weights, maybe even just a wooden dowel to learn the path of the bar)
Ladies
(weightlifting does NOT make you big and bulky!)
People who are a little bit more mature and refined than the rest of us
(older)
Athletes
(any and all sports! high school, college, professional)
those who are just bored with their workout and are looking for a new challenge
(above could be a video of you!)
Weightlifting is a sport involving two lifts: the snatch as well as the clean and jerk. Each lifter gets 3 attempts at each lift. The heaviest completed attempt from each lift are combined to produce your total. Lifters are grouped in weight classes determined by body weight and sex. The lifter with the highest total in their weight class wins. Weightlifting, unlike Powerlifting or Crossfit, is a sport because you can compete in the Olympics.
Weightlifting is a unique blend of strength, power, speed, flexibility, and coordination. It demands you to be fearless. It will make you quit. It is aggressive and violent while at the same time filled with beauty and poise. Like a formal dance it is technical, the rhythm and timing between partners (you and the bar) must be flawless. To obtain that seamlessness between yourself and the bar you need patience, determination, and repetition. So what are you waiting for? Start learning!
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