Consistency and Dedication

The two words that stick out in my mind on this Wednesday afternoon are "consistency" and "dedication". As for me, that is what it takes to be on the road to healthy living.

My alarm goes off six days a week at 5:00 A.M. I am not an early morning person. Five o'clock has always been out of the question. It has never been in my realm of possibilities. But, when I took a hard right turn and joined Dynamic Fitness, I knew that for me to be successful, my journey would have to begin early in the morning. So, I am up by 5:00 and out the door by 5:15. I turn the radio on to Bill King, my favorite national sports talk show host and I am on my way to the gym.

This morning I started my warm-up at 5:25 with ten minutes on the treadmill and then proceeded to work out on 11 pieces of equipment all working my upper body. I was finished by 6:30 and headed home. I really enjoy the workout, just wish that I had started years ago. Then it is back to Bill King and home for breakfast, before I get cleaned up to go to work. Tonight, after I get through here at the church (7:45 ish) I will head home, change clothes, and head to the gym for 45 minutes on the treadmill.

I usually do an upper body workout/cardio on M-W-F, cardio on T, lower body/cardio on Th, cardio on Saturday, and rest my body on Sunday. That is where consistency and dedication come into play for me. If I take care of today, tomorrow I can do the same thing.

My physical trainer has moved to a new Dynamic Fitness gym that is opening on Post Oak, so I got a new trainer this week. He is giving me agility training that is much more difficult than doing a workout with weights or cardio on a treadmill, but I know it will pay off in the long run...if I survive. I am just kidding, but my anxiety was up going into our first meeting on Tuesday.

There is one thing that I am having to learn that seems to be a paradox. To lose I am going to have to increase my calorie count. Eat more to lose weight??? Well, I am going to try it. I started the increase yesterday from about 1,700 calories to 2,000. The additional calories seem like poison to me at this stage,but everything has been right for me so far. Besides, I believe in my new trainer.

What has happened to me over the past 90 days? I have lost 19# of fat and 5% body fat, while gaining so much muscle (can't remember that figure). My resting heart rate has dropped, my blood pressure has dropped, I look better, my pants size continues to decrease, and I continue to get healthier. I have lost about 60 pounds since I started this journey and plan to lose another 35 pounds over the next 6-12 months.

I have come to the conclusion that almost anybody can become healthy and as a result, become fit, lose weight, and take on a new lifestyle. It is making the decision to do it, taking one day at a time, and desiring to be healthy, as opposed to just losing weight.

The Journey To Get Healthy

A friend at work suggested that I start blogging about my journey of getting physically fit, so here is the first of several installments that I'll be writing over the next few weeks.

Two years ago I decided to lose some weight and get healthy. At the time, I had no idea how far it would take me. I began by signing up with Weight Watchers. I was familiar with the program having used it about 30 years earlier. I signed up for the online program and got it going as part of my new life.

I immediately began to lose a few pounds.

As soon as I began eating right, I added exercise. I started out with 30 minutes a day and slowly increased it in 15 minutes increments. When I got to 90 minutes a day, I added stairs gradually until I reached 16 flights of stairs within the 90 minutes brisk walk. I dropped about 45 pounds. I was pleased with my progress.

In March of 2012, about seven months after I started this successful regiment, I went on a trip to Israel. I didn't do to badly during the twelve days I was there, but did not watch what I was eating and had to exercise when I could. Upon returning home, I lost the momentum that I had and fell off the wagon. By the end of the year, I had regained almost 30 of those pounds I had lost.

In February of 2013 I vowed to get back on my "healthy routine", so at the end of the month I began my journey back. I entered every crumb that went into my body, got my cardio back to where it has been and dropped 18 pounds in March, April, and May.

It was in May that I made the most profound discovery that I could make. I always thought my main goal was to lose weight. Then i discovered that it was really a change in my lifestyle that would remain with me throughout this life. I now wanted to not only be healthy, but fit as well. This discovery changed everything I thought was real.

It was the last week in May and I knew that my next step was to ascend to a whole new level.  I joined Dynamic Fitness, a relatively new gym about 5 minutes from our house. I checked them out closely and then visited the facility to see it. I had always felt like I didn't belong in a gym. Within the first 30 days, I knew I needed a Physical Trainer to help me know what to do and how to use the equipment. So, at the end of June I added a trainer to my life.

During the first 90 days I lost 19 pounds, 5% body fat, and gained lean muscle (can't remember how much). Needless to say, I got rid of my "big boy" clothes and continue to move into smaller sizes. I will tell you what I am doing in the next installment,

I want to end this segment by sharing what has helped me the most. First, joining Dynamic Fitness was the best thing I could have done at the time. All that I had done previously prepared me for this step. I now feel at home and love my workouts. Second, I got the My Fitness Pall app and it is great to enter what you have eaten, the exercise you've done, and the progress you're making with you weight. It is easy to use and I think has been significant to my progress. Third, the commitment to taking one day at a time. I discovered that I can't do anything about yesterday and tomorrow is not even here yet, but I can do something about today. I'll tell you what that is in the next installment.

Have a great day and if you know someone who is trying to make a change in their life, invite them to join me for Journey of A Lifetime!

Change and Charles

Scripture: "In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." Proverbs 3:6 ESV

Weight Watchers reported in December that Charles Barkley will be their "Ambassador" to attract men to their Weight Watcher's Online program in 2012. It is reported that Mr. Barkley lost 27 pounds following WW's format. He should attract a large number who have followed him during his Hall of Fame career in the NBA.

Every January people all over America desire to lose weight, but many are not willing to pay the price by February. It is not just extra pounds that people want to lose. Some would like to discard some bad habits, take on perhaps a service to others, or do something personal for themselves. It is all about change.

Every Christmas for the last 35 years I have spent the last week of the year in Mobile, Alabama. It has been a great time for us to spend with family and friends. I usually spent most of those weeks at a desk in my mother-in-law's dining room. I would plan for the coming year, complete writing projects, send notes to particular individuals, and read. It was my time to do what I wanted to do while Patti shopped. All that changed this year, by design.

This year I spent very little time at that desk. I did not read one page of a novel. I did a little planning, but did not send any notes. I probably did not spend two hours doing what I've done for 35 years. This year my top priorities were to walk an hour each day and shop for what I wanted. I walked every morning in the Bel Air Mall and shopped every afternoon. It was out of my realm, but I enjoyed it immensely.

It is all about change. You have to want to do it, whether it is losing weight, exercising, writing, or planning. You have to want it badly enough to be willing to give up something else. If you want to have a daily Quiet Time in 2012, you have to be willing to give up the time to do it and it has to be worth more to you than what you seem to be missing. Our spiritual lives can be improved and changed just like our physical and emotional lives. We too often let our spiritual lives slide and they end up taking a back seat to everything else in life.

Application: What would you like to change in your life?

What would it take to start this change?

Would you be willing to give it a 30-day trial?

Prayer: Lord, it is a new year and I am sick and tired of the old me. I am frustrated concerning my constant procrastination. I can't stand the old habit of ______________ that I've held onto for so long. I fail to do some of the things _____________that I know would bring about change in my life. I want to begin this year with you and take my eyes off of myself. Guide me through the days ahead that I might implement what would change me in this new year. I trust in you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Gold Is A Precious Commodity

It has been awhile since I last wrote a post. I am coming to the end of my third year of teaching and it has been more than fulfilling. I love my 90 kids and really enjoy teaching, but I want to have a little more family time. Every week night is filled and about 15 hours on the weekend. I will be replacing my teaching duties with chaplain responsibilities at one of our retirement centers here in Pearland. I hope to have more time to write and even read.

I spent 16 Saturday mornings this school year watching my grandson play soccer. His parents, Jared and Tiffany, took on the responsibility of coaching Reid's soccer team. They began last fall and just completed another season this past Saturday. They were very successful.

Jared and Tiffany took a team of 4-6 year olds who had no previous experience. They had no skills and were typical of what you would expect at their first game last September. They lost. Jared and Tiffany began teaching them skills---you know, how to dribble, how to pass, how to shoot, how to play defense, how to use strategy, and the list can go on and on.

They won the rest of their games during the fall season. This Spring they were undefeated and pretty much outclassed everybody they played. Some of the players will be moving up to the 8 year old level this fall, so the team will not be together again. Too bad we can't see more of them.

This is just in from Sports Radio...Gold outscored their opponents 61-30 in the Fall and 80-13 in the Spring! Reid was the second youngest on the team and led the team with 21 goals this Spring. The next leading scorer was only one goal behind Reid. Well, maybe it wasn't on Sports Radio, but it was their loss!

I am proud of Reid. His dad, Jared, was a really good soccer player in his day, but Reid is better at 5 years old than Jared was at the same age. It will be interesting to see how he progresses. He favors Jared in a lot of his moves.

Yet, Reid, does not receive my most praise tonight. I am most proud of Jared and Tiffany, who took a group of kids who had no obvious experience and turned them into a tremendous 4-6 year old team. I can't believe how far they have come this year. They can coach better than I ever could. They also had the full cooperation of the parents and that is special in today's world.

Some of our journeys in this life are similar to what I have just detailed. Don't miss any of the "journeys" or you will be missing some of life's beautiful moments.

Changing and Not Changing

It has been hovering around 100 degrees for at least a week now. It is the hottest part of the summer. It is suppose to be hot, no different than any other year.

Precious babies are born. One of our couples in our church had a baby on Sunday. She was born around the 28th week and weighed 2 lbs. 8 oz. She was taken off the ventilator the next day and is doing just great. There are a lot of sick people around us and some of them will die within the week. Others, in great health, will experience a sudden accident and leave this earthly existence. This is all about the human experience.

We are going through the toughest economic time since the Great Depression. I heard this morning that unemployment figures have increased again. One group says that the economy is improving, while others say that we are still in the thick of it and there is no improvement. I believe I just heard that foreclosures are back up. Maybe they really never improved. The Dow Jones is slowly moving upward, but economists say, "Beware"!! Why do they say that? In 1930 the stock market gained back 50-70% before the bottom fell through and we were into a massive depression. They say that those indicators are showing their ugly heads. We've never been here in our lifetime, so it is hard to say that it is a regular part of the life cycle. Time will tell us.

There is one thing that remains constant, or the same. Our Lord is the same as He has been in the past and will be in the future. He does not change. He is the constant in our life when everything else is failing. Jesus will never let us down. He will be our constant companion. We can always count on Him, even when the weather is uncomfortable, when death and illness are knocking at our door, or even when the economy is falling apart and everything seems so hopeless. Think about that and then give thanks that you belong to Him and He belongs to you.

The Hottest Day of the Year

My day started yesterday in a hospital room visiting one of our members. Then it was north on 59 to the Humble area. On 1960 East I turned into an entrance called Tour 18. It is a unique venue of 18 of the great holes in golf. Every hole is difficult. I played there for the first time in 1997 and I don't think my score has improved on that course in all of these years.

Yesterday was not about a great score for me. I was going to be playing with Jason Crandall and it is always fun to be on a golf course with Jason. Hit hits the ball as hard as anyone I've ever seen and keeps the ball in play. Jason was only +1 for Amen Corner and that is a pretty good feat. I think he scored a 90 with a 44/46.

Like I said, yesterday was not about scoring for me. I knew I was in trouble on the first hole when I had difficulty getting out of a bunker. There were some bright moments, but most of it was not worth writing about. I had a good time with Jason and that made it all worth it.

Talk about HOT yesterday. I thought maybe it was the hottest day that I ever played. It was around 100 with a heat index around 108. It just zapped you of your energy. We used ice water on our faces from time to time and drank lots of fluids, but it didn't seem to hold for the whole 18 holes. On the par 3 17th hole I landed in a green-side bunker AGAIN. I didn't play the last hole.

Am I going out today to a local course? Heavens no. It is suppose to be hotter than yesterday. I love golf, but not on days like this weekend. When I got into my car yesterday and started heading home, my temperature gauge showed 100-101 degrees. It is usually within a degree of the real temperature.

What does this have to do with our spiritual lives? There will be days when we are zapped and our lives feel like we have no strength. Ice water will do no good. Standing in the shade will not help. It feels like you life is falling apart. There is only one anecdote: Dependence on the Lord.

This year's Fourth of July weekend has been great. The whole "family" came over on Saturday for brisket and everything you could put with it. The grand kids played inside and outside to their hearts content and the adults had a wonderful time together.

Yesterday our church had it's annual Freedom Jam. The place was packed with people, lots of tailgating, great music, and great activities for the kids. It has become a huge summer activity for our church and community. A little before nine, we went across the street to the LA Fitness parking lot, which is a little higher in elevation than our church property, to watch the fireworks. It was amazing watching the "dancing eyes" of our grandchildren as they watched the fireworks explode. It was a magical moment to see that surprise in their eyes. It was like seeing a first-time experience through their eyes.

Today is becoming a day of rest. Patti and I are both on our laptops in front of the TV, but tomorrow will bring us back to reality when the normal week returns. I work at the church and Patti has a few things to do as well.

Patti has a big birthday coming up on Friday. It is the big "Six O". She seems much younger than her chronological age. We are going out to dinner on Thursday night with our dear friends of 32 years--Leroy and Sharon Krolczyk. Gosh, Patti would have been 28 then, that's younger than our own children!

I have learned something on our recent journey to Hawaii. Steve Corn, our son-in-law, has me thinking about "risk-taking" this morning. When we did the Zip Line I realized that it was not so hard to jump off of a box 85 feet in the air. If you can't jump, you never zip line. What is important is the journey on the zip line and the landing. The landing is what concerned me the most. Could I land in that small area and stop enough so the "catcher" could do his job? The answer was "Yes", but I was not sure. That was the risk for me.

More than a decade ago, Steve was the Youth Pastor where I served as Senior Pastor. Steve wanted to start a new ministry to the street kids of that city. Many were skateboarders, but most had never been inside a church or influenced by its ministry. Steve has a dream and it was risky. Imagine 200 unchurched teenagers in your church building. Not a big deal?? You've not been where I've been! This was an atmosphere where even picture hanging was controlled by a committee. Two hundred unchurched kids and this kind of control probably did not go together.

A significant number of those teenagers came to Christ. It all started with Steve's dream, but the journey was what was important. The ministry could have come to a sudden halt at several different times during those formative years, but Steve held true in the midst of pressure and assault. Today, many of those young adults are professional church workers like pastors, worship leaders, graphic artists, teachers, missionaries and the like. I know Steve is proud of them. Some adults did not understand, but Steve did. It was all about the journey and "landing on the other side".

Thank you Steve for allowing me to watch and work with a true risk-taker!

Fantasy Islands--The Epilogue

The Journey to Hawaii began the first week of August last year. I was sitting at the computer in Orange Beach, Alabama and the thought came to be about taking Patti to Hawaii for our 35th wedding anniversary. Then the thought entered my mind to take the family. I suggested it to Patti and she said, "How?" That became my adventure for the next eleven months.

I made airline reservations for us while we were still on vacation at the beach. We were then committed to at least going to Hawaii. Then came the reservations for an NCL cruise of the islands. That just seemed like the wise thing to do and now we know it was definitely the right decision for us.

Once we had a flight and knew where we were staying(Pride of America), the rest was just research concerning what we were going to do while we were there. That was fun and we all got in on the act. I planned almost every detail, but my family knows that I'm like that. They may laugh at me, but also sort of expect it.

Why did I feel that this was so important? First of all, we wanted the kids with us when we celebrated #35. Second, we thought it would be great for all of us to be together for an extended period of time. As it turned out, it was even without children. Third, we wanted them to experience some time with just their spouses, just relaxing. I think it accomplished those things. I would highly recommend it to anyone, especially if you really enjoy being together as a family.

What could be an encore? I'll keep it to myself for now...

Fantasy Islands--Day #9-10

Saturday/Sunday--June 26-27

On Saturday morning we had breakfast about 7:00 a.m. in a really crowded breakfast area. Everyone was getting ready to leave the ship as soon as they could. It was kind of sad to see this great time come to an end, but it was also reality.

We disembarked about 8:30. It was so easy. It was simple compared to our first cruises in 1986 and 2000. I guess the cruise lines have learned a lot and come a long way since then.

We were met by our excursion company at the exit to the terminal and we boarded a bus for a City Tour and Pearl Harbor. It rained during most of the City Tour, but that was okay. We ended up at Pearl Harbor about 10:30 and remained there until about 3:00. Did we need that much time at Pearl Harbor? No, but that was the way to get a guaranteed ticket to the USS Arizona. The boat ride to the Arizona and viewing it only lasted about 45 minutes, but it was a special place to be. Oil still leaks to the surface every few minutes. It is really an underwater cemetery...a place where over a thousand men gave their lives for their country.

There is also a baby girl buried with all of those sailors. You say, "How?" A sailor and his wife had twin girls. One of them died at birth. The sailor was being transferred to Pearl Harbor. He made arrangements with a chaplain to lay her to rest in the Pacific on the morning of December 7, 1941. The sailor and chaplain boarded the Arizona with the cremated remains of his daughter, but never had the time to do what they intended to do. Months later divers attempted to remove the urn, but it was too dangerous to retrieve it and the urn remains there to this day with her daddy and the chaplain.

We headed to the airport about 3:30. Our flight was scheduled for 9:15 P.M., so we knew we had a long wait. When we checked in, we found that the flight was delayed and was not scheduled to depart until 10:55. We think it finally got away around midnight, but we were offered an earlier flight around 7:20. That was magnificent.

We arrived in Houston the next morning. It had been a long ride. We were lucky to get a couple hours of sleep, maybe in smaller increments. The journey was over, but it was wonderful for our family. We will not soon forget this special time together.

Fantasy Islands--Day #8

Friday--June 25

This was our last full day on the ship. Patti and I walked our two miles like we had been trying to do each day and had breakfast. Then I think I did some more reading, before we met the rest of the family by the pool. I then read some more.

At 2:00 the cruise ship departed the island. The next time it docked would be in Honolulu and the trip would be over. We spent some time packing and then went out on the deck to see the area where Jurassic Park was filmed. It was beautiful.

That evening we had our last meal with Christian, our waiter, who had made some really wise choices for us during the week. He became a special element of our evening meals. After dinner I wanted to do something that I knew would be soothing based on my experience from the last cruise we were on ten years ago. I went to listen to a guy play the piano and sing in the piano bar. It was quiet, peaceful, and relaxing. Patti met me there and we went to a show.

We put our luggage outside our cabin door, where it would be picked up after midnight and went to bed.