In August, I had my heart condition corrected that was keeping me from exercising, and made a feeble attempt to begin training myself. That lasted about three weeks. A couple weeks ago, while watching The Biggest Loser, I decided I needed to bite the bullet and get a trainer. I met with Brandon Holt at Chadwicks Fitness.

I shared with him the past, and most importantly, what the future holds. I told him I needed him to beat me into the ground and make me cry. Brandon has worked with people at Blood:Water before, so he totally has a heart for the mission. And he totally has a heart for beating people into (healthy and fit) bloody pulps.

It was a perfect match.

So, I’ve decided to take share this journey with you. It’s going to be six months long, and Brandon and I meet twice a week for an hour of one-on-one training. Outside of that, I’ll have “homework” on my off days and as soon as I get my bike, will start training specifically with it (Thanks, Spence.)

I was so inspired by how much effort The Biggest Loser contestants were putting into being healthy, I thought maybe this journey will inspire someone else. Every few weeks I’ll be posting an update video, as well as my actual fitness assessment. It includes every single fact about my weight, my measurements, my body composition, and level of fitness, like the fact I’m not overweight, but I have three too many pounds of extra fat to be considered “fit.” And that I can only do 13 push-ups.

You can download it here. And laugh at my weak, bony arms.

Without further adieu, here’s the first video of me reflecting (pre-flecting?) on what my first day in the gym will be like, you’ll meet Brandon, find out if I beg for mercy like he tells me I will, and then some final thoughts on the day. Will I throw up? Maybe…

I’m getting my bike this weekend, so I’m sure either a video of me rocking it or a video of me in the hospital with a broken leg will follow next.

Here’s to Riding Well…

Related posts:

1. Big News about Summer 2010 Watch the video below for some big news about how...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This one was posted about 18 months ago…back in the day when I didn’t use capitalization properly. Sorry about that.

Read and discuss…What do you think? I’d especially love to hear from churches who do this kind of thing, because I still have a very difficult time wrapping my mind around how this is even Biblical, to be completely honest with you.

—–

Celebrating Big Givers

sometimes churches have special events to celebrate their top givers. most of the churches i know do this for members who give over a certain amount of money per week/month/year. usually there is an appreciation dinner or vision casting event. and the people who don’t “give big” don’t even hear about these events. i was on staff at a church once and was in charge of making sure the invites were sent out. i was talking to someone that worked on facilities to see if he’d be setting up the venue and he didn’t even know about it. his family didn’t give enough to be invited, and the event was pretty much on a need-to-know basis.

so, i’ve always wondered why this is. don’t get me wrong…i realize those who give significant amounts of money to the church typically do it consistently and that saying goes “20 percent of the people give 80 percent of the income” and i do think giving (in general) should be celebrated and talked about.

here is where i get hug up - equal giving does not mean equal sacrifice.

someone who making six figures a year can easily drop $500 a month in tithing but for someone else to give $500 a month could be extremely sacrificial.

why aren’t those things equally celebrated?

why do people even track what other people give? what about the people who give in cash? or the people who have been financially devastated somehow…shouldn’t they be helped by the church, or have a dinner thrown for them?

does your church celebrate the “big givers?” do you celebrate all the givers? do you celebrate giving at all? what do you think?

Related posts:

1. Money, Money, Money! A few months ago (June 29th) my spirit was struggling...
2. I Ain’t Sayin’ She’s a Gold Digga One of the most frequent complaints I hear about...
3. can going to church make you fat? i wonder this. so many churches, big and small, all...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

—

It had been a really long day.

6 am came too soon, and as usual, I was running late to the airport. Due to the extra few minutes I spent taming my hair, I was unable to stop by Sonic for my habitual Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper.

The tragedy.

The flight from Nashville to Houston was one of the bumpiest I’ve ever been on. And I fly. A lot. This year alone, it’s somewhere around 45,000 miles. No kidding.

Several people on our plane threw up and one even passed out on our descent into the stormy city of Houston.

Once in the terminal, I checked my next flight on the screens.

My 12 pm flight to Dallas was delayed until 1 pm.

Then 2 pm.

Then 3:15 pm.

4:15 pm.

Canceled.

(click here to read more…)

Related posts:

1. friends in high places i mean that literally. our friends wes and christy hartley...
2. trip to kansas city chris and are leaving this thursday to go to kansas...
3. departures and arrivals we are in kansas city…we left around 7:30 am from...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tonight after dinner, my friend and I stood underneath a well-lit driveway with large columns and doormen, waiting for the valet to bring my rental car so we could head back to the conference we are speaking at. The valet attendant closed my door, and I adjusted the seat to fit my ridiculously abnormal 34″-inseam-long-legs.

I’m not even 5′5″, so this leg length could easily be considered a freak show by some.

I began to pull out of the driveway slowly, narrowly missing a man who was walking on the left side of my car. As I pushed on the brake pedal, I noticed he was homeless, glassy-eyed, and had literally wet himself, the dark stain of urine soaking through his thread-bare pants from his crotch all the way down to the middle of his right shin.

Quickly I shifted my eyes back to the driveway, then glanced down at the green LED lights telling me it was 7:02 pm and that I needed to hurry back to the venue. I took my foot off the brake and under the lights, we drove away.

The one word that has reverberated inside the folds of my brain tonight is dignity.

Dignity.

It’s something we feel we must hold so tightly to, and also something we don’t know how to give to others who need it, whether they realize it or not.

Related posts:

1. Billboards I write to you tonight from a mysterious location. Only...
2. scribbles before a lunch meeting why do eyes betray and why does the heart escape…destiny...
3. pray for this little guy and his family jordan, chris and i are somewhere in the collision of...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

When I was eighteen, I wondered what I would be like when I was thirty and my imagination then and the current reality are very far apart from each other.

I think I would like to be the kind of old woman who wears chunky necklaces and has bright white hair and that could tell tales of when I was thirty and forty and people would lean in and be mesmerized by my whimsical stories and the way I uncover timeless truth.

But then I wonder if I’ll just end up alone in my bed with hairy legs and maybe a slight mustache. And I’d be laying in a sea of cookie crumbs watching marathons of Law & Order (and all the while my cat is licking the back of my hand).

Do you ever wonder?

Related posts:

1. hibernate silenced by this skin that covers screaming out into this...
2. Cats & Abba We have two cats. A gray one named The...
3. More Lessons from my Cat My cat has been nuzzled up into my stomach...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.