Tracking progress

Over the last 6 months I've been trying to cut weight without losing muscle mass or too much strength. It has been a slow process, but a rewarding one. I've been able to measure that progress simply by looking at myself (sometimes a scale can be deceiving). I know I am making progress when I see new definition or separation or a new vein popping out under the skin. It is exciting when this happens.

I am also doing Lumosity which is supposed to keep my brain healthy and alert. 4-5 times a week I log on the website and play what appears to be a video game, but in reality is testing and stretching my brain function. After each session I am given a Brain Performance Index (BPI) which tells me how well I am doing. It is very easy to track my progress!

I've also been pushing towards increased spiritual growth and at times I wish tracking my spiritual growth was simply as easy as looking in the mirror for new changes or having a program spit me out a Spiritual Performance Index. I've read a number of books on tracking or measuring spiritual growth as well as engaged in many conversations about the subject with people much smarter than myself. Here are some of the many suggestions on how to measure or indicate spiritual growth:
* Are you treating people more lovingly
* Do you have more trust in God
* Do you sense God's presence more often
* Are you serving the needy more
* Are you less judgmental
* Are you more understanding of people's plights
* Are you less stressed
* Are you at peace

There are many, many more indicators out there, but those are some of my personal favorites.

I'm raising a glass to toast you on striving towards holistic health (mind, body soul)! Keep on the journey and I hope you recognize when you have grown in any of the areas!  

Personal Training and Spiritual Direction

This marks the 30th year I've been going to a gym. The very first one, besides my basement, was Heavy Metal Gym in Union Lake owned and operated by Rick Black. I've had many memberships in other gym since then: Lifter's (Fayetteville, NC), Iron City (Pontiac), Powerhouse, World's and Bally's (Waterford), Champions (Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor), Powerhouse, Ray's and the YMCA in Adrian to name the ones I can remember. I've learned a lot over the years. But I still learn new things that help me get bigger and stronger or leaner depending on what I'm training for. There are guys at my current gym, Jeff Willet's Powerhouse, who I pick up tips from (Rex, Dave, Josh, John and Jeff to name a few). Without them I wouldn't be working out as hard or as efficiently as I should. I consider myself a seasoned veteran of the gym, but I still need help in my fitness journey. 

The same is true in my spiritual journey. I'm a pastor with a wall full of degrees, but without a spiritual director I wouldn't be all that I could be or anywhere close to what God desires me to be. A spiritual director helps us on the journey. Even the best of the best guides that lead expeditions up Mount Everest need Sherpas to help them on their journey. Just as a personal trainer can help you in the gym, a spiritual director can help you in your walk with God. None of us are to the point where we've arrived and no longer need assistance.    

On Writing

This is my first blog post in a while and it is not because I haven't been writing...well sort of. I've been writing in my head, just not on paper (I keep waiting for someone to install a USB port at the base of my brain for easy downloading). But most of the writing (in my head) that I've been doing is on a novel that I'm working on for some time now. I've come to realize that fictional writing is like having a baby.

For months the idea grows in you. It grows and gets stronger with each and every passing day. It takes up a lot of your thinking and doesn't ever stray very far from the forefront of thought. Then comes that wonderful, painful day when you actually give birth to the novel. It explodes from inside you onto paper. Sometimes joyous, sometimes painful, but nonetheless you can't hold it in any longer. Then for years (this process is shorter or longer depending on who you are) you nurture it. You guide and develop it; you refine and mold it until that day your confident it can function in public and you set it free. How frightening it is when you let that which you love so much enter the world to be criticized! But you know that is what it was created for.

Right now I'm giving birth--it has been a long labor (since my Sabbatical) but the head is crowning and it is ready to come out. "Time to chase the unicorn!"  

George Kell

I don't know when it happened...I guess sometime over the last year--it has been a while since I thought about it. But this week when I thought about my all-time Tiger team Miguel Cabrera had replaced George Kell at 3B. It kind of broke my heart because I loved George Kell. I never saw him play, but he was the Tiger TV play-by-play man of my youth. I also had as one of my prized possessions a 1952 Topps George Kell baseball card. In case you're wondering here is how my All-Time Tiger team breaks down (in parentheses is the All-Time team that I actually saw play--mid 70s).

1B Hank Greenberg (Norm Cash)
2B Charlie Gehringer (Lou Whitaker)
SS Alan Trammell 
3B Miguel Cabrera
C Mickey Cochrane (Lance Parish...I-Rod and Freehan were right there)
OF Ty Cobb (Kirk Gibson)
OF Harry Heilman (Willie Horton)
OF Al Kaline
SP Hal Newhouser (Jack Morris)
SP Denny McLain (Max Scherzer) 
SP Justin Verlander
SP Mickey Lolich
RP John Hiller

They've had other greats who didn't play with the Tigers very long and players who had amazing seasons, but I took longevity into account (Eddie Mathews, Willie Hernandez, Mark Fidrych, etc...).

DEPRESSION

If you are fighting depression you are not alone. Depression seems to have been the bane of many of life’s great leaders. In the Bible, Moses, Elijah, David, and Job had to deal with it. In the world, Sir Winston Churchill called depression his ‘black dog’, and Ernest Hemingway referred to it as ‘the artist’s reward’.

President Abraham Lincoln battled depression and suicide all his adult life. There were times when for his own safety he would not allow himself carry a knife. Lincoln often turned to the Bible to relieve his depression. Let the Scriptures help you just like they have helped so many of us.

This little prayer helps me as I meditate on each line:

Be still and know that I am God

Be still and know that I Am

Be still and know

Be still

Be

(Based on Psalm 46:10)

More Scripture passages:

Anyone who is among the living has hope (Ecclesiastes 9:4)

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms (Deut 33:27)

Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall (Psalm 55:22)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and PEACE as you TRUST in him, so that you may overflow with HOPE by the POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT (Romans 15:13)

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering…but rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ (1 Peter 4:12-13)

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7)

As Rev. Fred Prince always reminded his congregation "Remember you are loved!!!"

Get over it!

We live in a world where nearly everything is available immediately: information, books, results, etc... I remember as a teen waiting patiently in the afternoon for the newspaper delivery man so that I could look at the box scores from the previous night's baseball game. Now I'm irritated when mlb.com doesn't have them updated after every inning! So it is no wonder that when I spoke with someone that was grieving this morning they lamented how they couldn't shake their grief--the event causing the grief happened less than a month ago!

We assume that because we can cook a hotdog in 30 seconds or have our questions answered by wiki in the time it takes us to type them that we should get over grief quickly. It doesn't happen that way. Grief is that one thing that we cannot rush. There is no button, no internet website, no pill that we can take that will expedite the grieving process. It takes time and often a long time. So please, for the love of God, never tell anyone "Get over it". Give them time, give them your unconditional presence, but don't try to fix them or rush their grieving process.

Spiritual lessons from BJJ

"If I tap, I start again in 3 seconds. If I don't, I start again in 3 months." 
~ Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy 

I am sincere believer that in our spiritual lives we sometimes need to tap out and admit we've been defeated so we can get back to our feet and start again. Sometimes we just miss the mark and fall short in our spiritual journey--too often we try and hide that fact. When we hide it, when we fail to admit that we are in a bad position, we are at great danger of putting ourselves in a worse position where we will incur severe damage and set our journey back a great deal.

The greatest example of this is King David. If he had simply admitted he was lusting after Bathsheba, he would have encountered a lot less grief. However, let us even say he had the affair--if he had admitted his failure then and not tried to cover it up he would still have encountered a lot less grief. In King David's case lusting put him on the slippery slope to murder all because he was too tough to tap out and admit defeat to his lustful desires.

We are a culture that likes to express toughness. I can do it, I can fight through this, I can make this right, etc... There is nothing wrong with tapping out, admitting defeat, getting on your feet and continuing the journey.