Update:
I’ve decided that Thursdays are my official “I need a break from
exercise” days. I’ve been riding my bike
about 5 miles (45 minutes) and exercising (45-60 minutes) five or six times a
week, so taking a little rest break is good!
I did ride my bicycle to work and back, but other than that, I didn’t do
any other exercises or workout on Thursday.
Besides my muscles were still not happy with me from what I did to them
on Wednesday evening!!
I was disappointed that this week when I weighed in I had actually
gained 1.6 pounds. After all the
workouts and portion control on my meals I was disappointed; but my wife
reminded me that I am adding muscle mass while losing the fat. So I probably
gained weight in muscle mass while I lost body fat. If the fat is disappearing, so I am content with
that. I wore a pair of jeans yesterday
that use to be snug around the waist; now without a belt they would have fallen
off of me. So it’s working!
My buddy, Mel, felt well enough to come by for a visit at my office on
Thursday. That made me so happy to see
him out and about. I’m hope for more
days like that for him and his wife. Mel
has faced a series of ups and downs after an accident last summer left him
paralyzed from the waist down. Go Mel!!
I really enjoyed spreading my work out on two monitors at church. That
was so helpful, thanks again Corey for getting my new computer up and
running. My wife and I were laughing
about the fact that when my children see my new computer set up at church, they
will know that someone else set it up for me.
“Warning! Old Man with Technology!”
As long as it works, I’m fine—otherwise, call in the support team.
By the time I got home from work and the appointments that I had on
Thursday, I was worn out. After dinner,
I spent a few minutes watering the flowers and getting the recycling ready for
pickup on Friday morning and then I sat down to read. I didn’t get through but a couple of pages
before I got sleepy and started getting ready for bed. It was lights out for me by 9:30 p.m.
Friday was a busy day for me and I never got to finish my Update and
Thought, and Saturday will be busy for me as well; so I decided to combine
Friday and Saturday’s Update into one and get it sent out.
Friday morning started with a meeting that went until after noon. I got several phone calls while I was
grabbing a quick lunch and construction began at the church today. Construction workers dug out the two addition
locations and poured the footers today.
The concrete truck got stuck in the yard. Big piles of dirt everywhere (actually mud
not dirt). Sidewalk to the front
entrance is gone! Lots of things to
distract me today! I struggled working
on my sermon all day and haven’t finished it yet. So that is Saturday morning’s project along
with typing the notes from Friday’s meeting before I have another meeting on
Saturday afternoon. I look forward to
Saturday at 6 p.m. when both my wife and I will be off work and get to spend
some time together.
All this and my leg continues to work beautifully. On Friday I did a lot of walking in the grass
(uneven terrain is very taxing) and everything was still fine. I am back to making progress on my walking
skills again since I am mobile once more.
Thought for the Day:
“Courage is not something that you already have that makes you brave
when tough times start. Courage is what
you earn when you’ve been through the tough times and you discover they aren’t
so tough after all.” [Malcolm Gladwell,
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants].
In his book, Gladwell recounts the discovery that in London at the
beginning of World War 2 that residents were afraid of the impending bombing of
the city by the Germans. But as night
after night, the bombs fell something happened in the hearts of Londoners. When they first climbed out of the shelters
unscathed, they were exhilarated. Then
as they continued to emerge without a scratch, they became bold and
courageous.
He says that people are “also prone to be afraid of being afraid.” For example we dread going to the dentist
because we are afraid of the pain. After
our visit, we discover that we had over exaggerated our fear—the pain was not
as bad as we expected. When we live
through events that caused us fear beforehand and find out that we are fine,
what happens then? “The conquering of
fear produces exhilaration. And the
contrast between the previous apprehension and the present relief and feeling
of security promotes a self-confidence that is the very father and mother of
courage.” [Malcolm Gladwell].
I remember while I was in the hospital there was a procedure that I was
terrified of undergoing. I didn't have
that much experience with medical procedures anyway and they were going to shove
a camera down my throat to take some “photos” of my heart valves while I was
lying down with my head lower than the rest of my body. The thought of having my leg amputated wasn’t
as frightening as this procedure was to me.
My wife and the nurses helped calm me down enough to undergo the
procedure and while it was uncomfortable, it certainly wasn’t as bad as I had
imagined beforehand. Once I made it
through that, I really wasn’t too worried about anything else they wanted to do
to me. Comparatively, it seemed easy.
What about you? What tough times
have you made it through? Do you
remember how anxious you were beforehand and now that you’ve made, it has
changed your perspective? “That wasn’t
so bad. I could do that again.” If you think back over the course of your
life, there might be dozens of events like that for you.
What should we learn from all of this?
We shouldn’t let fear hold us back from something new or different. Fear shouldn’t immobilize us. We should step forward in courage based upon
our past life experiences. We may have
been wounded or knocked down sometimes; but we weren’t destroyed and taken out.
Be wise in the battles that you choose; but don’t allow fear alone to
stop you in your tracks. Even the
Cowardly Lion learned to stand up and be courageous. “Wait, I hear singing…’If I was King of the
Forest…’”
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