OVERdoing it

I am the champion of overdoing it, especially when it comes to all things sports or physical activity. The glaring problem is that...well...I'm getting older. And to be honest, I'm still in a state of denial. If there were a 12 step program for this type of thing, I'd still be hung up on the first step. Unfortunately, although I'm in denial of my declining physical prowess and deteriorating athletic skills, my body has gladly broken down and admitted that "Houston, we have a problem." See, this week I'm still paying the price for last week's multiplicity (DYoung word) of events.

• Monday: PM chest workout at the gym

• Tuesday: AM early morning legs/ back workout at the gym

• Tuesday: staff olympics - part of a 10 person team that participated in about a dozen random, goofy activities out on the football field

• Tuesday (continued): staff relay - part of a 6 person team that had to do a 6 stage obstalce course. It was a race...yes we lost in the championship. My stage you ask? Climbing through the front of an inflatable bounce castle and then out the back side to tag my teammate. Simple, right? Except there were three men donning Sumo suits with large joust sticks ready to pound me the entire way through. My first run went well. I managed to jump over all three of them. Seriously. I think there's a video of my heroics floating around somewhere. Yes, I will show my grandchildren one day. My second run...not as good. Though I managed to slip by the first two Sumo studs, the third jumped on my back and tackled me to the ground. Like a cat (a very senile, old, arthritic cat) I shook him off and proceeded to get out alive to tag my teammate. Adreneline pounding, I was on top of the world.

• Thursday: PM shoulder workout at the gym

• Thursday: 2 co-ed flag playoff flag football games...Once again, we lose in the championship. If I wasn't a competitive super-freak, I would tell you we had a great showing. We won second place. Secured the silver. Fell just short. But in my mind: second place is the first loser baby!

• Friday: AM arms workout at the gym

• Saturday: stood for 4 hours on an over-crowded bleacher watching A&M take care of business against Nebraska.

Let's fast forward to today (Monday). I have muscles in my legs that I didn't even know could get sore! I've issued personal apologies to both of my hamstrings since Saturday, but they still have yet to respond with anything kind. Worst of all, in the midst of my inflatable obstalce course conquest, the flowing adreneline kept me from the realization that a large Sumo man bruised a few of my ribs. I have whined to my poor wife more times than I'd like to admit over the past four days. And she's already accustomed to a fair amount of whining between two toddlers, a needy 95 lb. lab...and now me.

Now that I've written a small book...

It dawned on me as my body was in the midst of boycotting any hope of a "no soreness day" today, I have a certain propensity for going a little too hard some times without any thought of the toll it will take. Sometimes, I even (willfully?) ignore the warning signs. When I need to rest, I don't. So to all you men out there trying to rewrite your athletic history, please learn a lesson from this guy - don't over-do it! For you, maybe it's not sports or athletics. Maybe you over-do it in another area: golf, music, leisure, hobbies, work, cars, toys, quilting (okay, I just slipped that one in).

My point? Sometimes I just need to slow down. I need to rest. As men we are champions at pouring ourselves into things and dealing with consequences (or not dealing with them?) later. Actions have consquences. Beliefs have consequences. Good or bad. Some men believe they can pour themselves into _______________ (you fill in the blank for you), put off important things and important relationships (i.e. family) and it have no ill effects. How's that working for us guys? How's the intimacy, transparency and authenticity in our most significant relationships? When it comes to overdoing it, whatever it is, it's not worth it.

Take it from me! Because a fractured home is a lot worse than a sore hamstring or back. Take it from Luke (above) and Levi (below). Rest! Enjoy your family. Pour yourselves into what counts. Don't over-do it!

do work son...

Mini Horse...really?

So every once in a while, I watch this ridiculous show on MTV 2 called Rob & Big. Come to think of it, I haven't watched it in several months, so I'm really not sure if they still air it. Now, let me say this first: I don't really watch MTV...at all. However, as a male, I have this innate channel-surfing gene. I can't help it. No ladies, there's no 12 step program for your channel surfing husband. So in the midst of a channel-surfing blitz quite some time ago, I discovered the show. I won't go into the particulars of the show or the depth of its plot (or lack thereof). Suffice it to say, imagine a multi-bajillionaire skateboarder turned entrepreneurial marketing genius with an entire show devoted to creating (and executing) the absurd.

Like...

• writing a song with John Mayer to apologize to your mother
• swimming with sharks...with no cage
• purchasing a pony, naming it "Mini Horse" and allowing it to live in your casa

That's MY line

The list goes on and on, but I'll stop there. So one of my favorite quotes on the show is this: "Do work son. Do work." The sweet irony is that on the show I don't know if I've ever seen either Rob or Big do anything that could legitimately be defined as work! Here's my brief thought of the day (or I guess night):

God, in the midst of calling out a very young Jeremiah (Jer 1:6) and appointing him for a pretty crazy task of being a prophet to a people who absolutely didn't want to hear it, spoke these words: "But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them lest I dismay you before them." (Jer 1:17). So before Rob and Big said "Do work son", God said it first. Of course, the context of the passage is that Jeremiah do the work of speaking truth to God's people.

Worth the price

I'm not saying I'm a prophet (by ANY stretch of the imagination), so I'll go ahead and toss out that disclaimer. But when I look around, I see so many Christian men pouring themselves into work. They do work. Some do it very well (even the "work of the ministry"). And that's great (Col 3:23-24). But what if your greatest work was really reflected in your marriage and in your family? What if in a culture that idolizes "doing work" at the expense of your family and at the expense of meaningful discpleship-oriented relationships, some young guys decided to buck the trend and make their main focus a different kind of work. Just a thought.

One thing I know about work...it's work! My friend John Sherrill used to tell our student ministry at the time: "If it's easy, it's empty." So true. This type of work is hard, requires sacrifice, time, energy, and you have to be in it for the long haul; but the reward of pressing on in the endeavor of leaving a gospel legacy in your home is worth the price. Here's a few pics of my fam. Think about your fam. You doing work? What kind?

blog away...

So my good friend Casey has encouraged me to start blogging. Considering my wife has been on me fairly consistently about my lack of blogability (just made that up) for our family page...I'm not so sure this is one of my better ideas. But here goes nothing!

picture this

I'm pretty passionate about Jesus and about family...and all the ways my faith should impact my relationship with my beautiful wife and my two amazing boys. Mostly, I'd love to see a generation of young pastors model a family life that is a faithful representation and picture of the gospel. I'd love to see them make it the MAIN thing too! I'd love to see them buck the trend of compartmentalization (work, ministry, leisure, family, etc.), integrating family life with everything else they do while inviting others to peek in and take a look.  

culture shift

I do this so imperfectly, but it's what God has put on my heart. So hopefully in the days ahead, I can string a few coherent sentences together and (just maybe) encourage other Christian men to love their wives and families in a way that is very attractive and contageous to a culture that pushes them to love everything else! Although I have no pics to post at this very moment, I'll get some up soon enough. But I'm warning you, my kids are pretty sinkin' cute (they got their looks from their momma, thank goodness)!

Talk to you soon.