2 For Tuesday How Your Gut Can Kill Your Pride.

Ok, I have to be honest. I'm the man. I know that I'm supposed to be humble and all that but for real, I'm the man. It's hard to be humble when you are as awesome at exercising as I am...

That's what I thought before yesterday.

At the end of August my wife and I decided to start a weight loss challenge. Every other day we head to the YMCA and do some cardio and some light weights. We watch what we eat and we make it a point to try to be healthy. And since the last week of August, I have lost 8.8 pounds. Pretty impressive right?  Yeah, I thought so.

To be honest, my weight aside, it's the most active I've been in my entire life. I run 3+ miles three times a week. Every new week I push myself to work harder and go longer. And as a result, I've developed a little problem with pride.

That brings me to yesterday. Yesterday I was running for distance and speed. I cranked up the treadmill and ran at 6mph which is a tough pace for me (I started at 4.0 mph in August). Today I was busting it and it wasn't even phasing me. Here's what I was thinking:

"ha! 6 mph isn't even a big deal anymore! I'm so amazing at this." I kept running in a way that was almost strutting. My stride was long. My back straight.  A big smile on my face. "Look at me world...Look at......"

And then it happened. Apparently when I was in my prideful stride I didn't realize I was running faster than the treadmill. I slowly crept up on the front of the treadmill. My gut reached the front of the treadmill first (because it was sticking out). It was at that time that my stomach pressed the "emergency stop" button.

The treadmill track stopped instantly. The only problem was that I was still in my pride stride. I lurched at the front of the treadmill and bounced off of the handle. I then bounced from one side to the other. I felt like I was playing treadmill pinball.

I even let out a yelp which caused the guy next to me to look over. I took my earphones out to see what had happened. I looked over at him and he simply looked at me and said "your stomach hit the button".

Ouch. All my pride was quickly gone. What I was prideful about minutes earlier was replaced with the realization of the work I had left in front of me.The following verse came to mind.

Proverbs 16:18

 ¹⁸ Pride goes before destruction,
       a haughty spirit before a fall.

I find it interesting that in my case yesterday, pride led to literally a fall. Sometimes my pride keeps me from accomplishing what God wants for me. This is a good reminder to approach everything in life with a lot humility.  I'm going to continue to exercise and run. It's a good way to lose weight and relieve stress. From now on I'm going to be a little more humble about it...


jon

Running in the Rain

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I am starting to run. It's proven to be quite the challenge. My shins burn nearly constantly now. And every morning that I'm supposed to run, my bed is that much more comfortable. This morning was that morning. I slept an hour later than I was supposed to and therefore ran an hour later than I should have. It seems innocent enough, but today it was absolutely crucial...let me explain.

I run with my training team on Saturdays. This is where I push for distance and time. This past Saturday I ran 2 miles. I've never run two miles in my life. It was ridiculously hard for me, but there were at least 75 people with me so I made it in decent time.

Mondays are my re-coup run day. I run the same distance that I did on Saturday but I take an easier pace and walk if I need to. So today I was running another 2 miles. 2 Miles for the second time in my life. And it kicked my tail. I ran, then walked, then ran, then walked, then walked, then staggered, then ran....you get the picture. I was on my way back to my house after having been roughly 1.6 miles. I had walked for about 2 minutes and worked up some energy to run for a bit.

I told myself. "You have to make it to this street. You have to run until you get to this street." So I started to run. Every part of my body hurt. I was having a hard time catching my breath. I was sweating and hot and sweaty. Every piece of me wanted to quit. And then something interesting happened....

It started to rain. A sprinkle at first. Then some bigger drops. And then an all out rain. A heavy cooling and refreshing rain. It was exactly what I needed. I cooled me off and gave me an extra bit of energy to run. At the same time the song "We Win" by David Crowder Band came on my ipod. The music built up, the rain fell down. And I ran. I ran past my goal and kept going. I ran past the next street and ran all the way back to my street. It was amazing....

Sometimes I feel like my life is that way. I feel like every part of me wants to quit. Whether it's tough times with work or maybe I feel far away from God. Maybe I just can't figure out what God wants me to do next. These are the times that we face and we just want to give up on following God. These are the times where we just crave for God to rain down on us....

The amazing thing about God is that He always will rain down on us. It might not be on our time table. We might even have to run on despite everything in us telling us to quite. But God is faithful. God will rain His comfort, peace, wisdom, .etc down on you when you need it most. You just have to keep running.

Until Next Time,
Jon