Tomorrow is never promised.

James and Lauren Rutledge. Photo courtsey of J.A. Laub Photography. http://www.jalaubphotography.com

 

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. Psalm 34:18 (NLT)

This was a verse tweeted by someone from Southland Christian Church Saturday.

This week has been an emotional week for me and especially for several friends of mine from our old church. A friend who got married just less than a month ago lost his wife this week.

As the old saying goes, James and Lauren was a match made in heaven. Some couples you can just tell by the looks on their faces that they are in love and this was James and Lauren. I have known James for about 5 years now through the production department at Southland Christian Church where he works. During the first couple of years, James was always one of the happiest people I have ever met. Always a smile and nothing was ever wrong. He was always positive.

But once Lauren entered his life, he got even happier. You could tell just by the smile on his face and what he would post on his facebook page about her and for her. I wish I could have gotten to know Lauren before God called her home but I know I will see her once my time here is done.

This past week has had me thinking a lot. Since summer I have tried to refocus my thoughts and energy on my family and my marriage. Tomorrow is never promised. You never know what will happen.  I have learned this week that I need to cherish each moment I have with Misty and my boys.

One thing I have learned this week is the importance of a church family. Seeing James’ friends all gather around him during his time of grieving has been an amazing display of Acts 2. I feel blessed just to know these people. This week has been a major learning experience and a major eye opener. There is so much I need to work on in my life and this week has been has shown my areas that I already know I need to work on but hadn’t. I need to really push myself in these areas but sometimes I just don’t think I can.

Am I quitter? Can I do what needs to be done? I know I can’t do this myself. I can only put my faith in God let Him take me through this. God has a plan for me and I so need to shut up and listen and just do what He wants me to do. I have some big decisions soon and only God can help me with. He has the answers that I need. I just need to get in tune with Him and get the answers.

Book review:10 Things I Hate About Christianity

I would say I want to take a break from my regular blogging to post this book review but considering I haven’t posted in a while I think I have taken a long enough break as it is Anyway, I do want to post this book review of “10 Things I Hate About Christianity” I first had contact with Jason through a blog we both participated in call dadbloggers.com.I have always reading Jason’s post and his book is great. So here is the review Enjoy.

Oh yea. One more thing. You can  purchase Jason’s book at his website. He is currently offering his book for a price of 2 copies for $20. One for you and one for a friend

We all struggle at times with our faith and we sometimes have problems explaining our faith to others. Jason’s book covers some of the biggest problem areas we face as a Christian. No matter if it is faith, heaven, hell or 7 other areas, Jason goes over each and why it is hard for him believing in these areas. Jason is very transparent in his writing and in his life on why these are important for us. Jason talks about friends he has lost to his relationship with his dad and his wife. This is Jason’s first book but it is well written. The thing I liked is that these are also many areas I struggle with. Sometimes I don’t think of how my struggles in these areas affect people around me but after reading this book I see how they do. I need to go back and study this book now so I realize how much my actions impact those around me, Christians or not. This book really needs to go on your list to read and soon.

Reaching my target heart rate

Ok. I don’t mean to be gross in this post but a lot of sweating will be involved so be warned

So what is your target heart rate? Your target heart rate is where your body will be most effective at loosing weight. There are several thoughts on this. One of the most popular is calculated age method. Basically you take 220 and subtract your age and 70 percent of that is your target rate.

For example for me, it’s 220-39 to get 181 and 70 percent of that is 126.7. Is that correct? you betcha. I know when I am working out and if I keep up with my heart rate, once it hits the 130 mark I start sweating like crazy. It’s like a switch gets thrown and my body starts working at a whole new level.

So I need to find a way to reach that rate quicker so I can work in that zone more and increase my weight loss. Right now it takes about 10 to 15 minutes to get there. I know with more weight loss I can work harder and that should get me there quicker but I just can’t do that yet. I guess I can if I work at it.

So, what is your target rate?

dj

Water and excerise

Ok, so I almost missed posting at all in March. Not good. Just so much going on. I need an easy way to post from my BB. I will find a way before to long.

Anyway on to my post

Everyone knows how important it is to drink plenty of water especially during exercise. I know it’s important but didn’t know how much until just recently. I have tried to use an elliptical before and it never turned out so good. In fact I was never able to go more than 15 minutes if that long. That last couple of weeks on the bike has been rough also. My legs were just giving out after just 15 to 20 minutes. It would take everything I have to just keep going. I started talking to my boss and another co-worker about it and they asked about my water intake during exercise. Well I haven’t been drinking any during exercise. So lets see what happens next

The next day I take a water bottle in with me to drink some water while trying the elliptical again. And 45 minutes later, I decide to stop. Yes I was able to go 45 minutes. Last week with skipping a day, I spent 2 hours and 20 minutes on the elliptical and walked almost 2 hours at home later. And oh yea. I lost 5 pounds last week

So now, I make sure keep water with me when I work out. Now I just need to find a bigger water bottle that will keep my water a little colder. The one I have is just a cheapy that the company I used to work for gave me one year.

dj

Breakfast on the go

Ok. So on this new morning routine, I have been struggling a little bit for breakfast. I have been doing a variety of thing from Lean Pocket breakfast pockets to making my own breakfast burritos. These are ok but I get tired of having the same thing every morning so I am up for more ideas. I need something I can grab and go or stick in the microwave for a couple of minutes and run out the door. I don’t have time for a bowl of cereal and I just can’t grab a banana or a granola bar. If I did, then I would be hungry by the time I got to the gym.

I will post my breakfast burrito recipe here now

3 eggs, either scrambled or egg beaters
2 slices ham
1/4 cup of shredded cheese
about 1/2 cup of frozen onion/pepper mix (it has green, red and yellow peppers mixed together)
2 whole wheat tortilla shells

I put the onion and pepper mix in the skillet along with the ham to start heating up. I then add the eggs and cook until pretty much done through. I then flip the whole thing over (easier said than done ) I then heat the tortilla shells for about 30 seconds in the microwave. After the eggs are done, I add half of the cheese to each shell and scoop half of the eggs on each shell. I then fold the burritos and put them on a plate and cover them in put in the fridge for the morning. In the morning I will remove the cover and put in the microwave for about 2 minutes and grab and go

I want to maybe try some turkey sausage in place of the ham some time.

So, what’s your favorite breakfast on the go solutions. Share for the world

Fast food experiment

Ok. I tried something different the other night. During the ice storm we had, we went to Chick-fil-a for dinner. I love eating there. It’s a good clean place to eat that is Christian based. The people are nice and the service is excellent but enough of the advertisement.

I love the chicken sandwiches there but the waffle fries, well I can do with them. I knew though if I didn’t eat them then I would be hungry later and would eat something else and that wouldn’t be good either. So instead of getting a meal deal or a value meal or what ever they call it, I decided on getting two chicken sandwiches and no fries. Lets see the numbers.

1 Chick-fil-a chicken sandwich – 430 calories, 17g fat and 31g protein
1 order of waffle fries – 420 calories, 6g fat and 5g protein

If I had gotten the fries then my total would have been 850 calories, 23g fat and 36g protein while the two sandwiches were 860 calories, 34g fat and 63g of protein.

I looked for a nutrition guide there but couldn’t see one. I may not have done it if I had known the fat content of the fries were that low but I was much happier with my meal. I guess the one good thing was the fact that I was trying to see different ways of eating and trying to modify how I eat. I have to break these habits and that only comes by working hard and making yourself change. It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time but it is something worth fighting for.

dj

Almost like starting over

Well if you hadn’t heard the news, most of Kentucky was hit by a ice storm last week and late Tuesday night, we lost power here at the house. With the icy roads and my work being all but shut down, I didn’t make it to workout other than Monday of last week. And with our schedule being thrown all out of wack, I wasn’t able to eat like I should either. So I guess on Monday it’s back to the grind. I guess for my legs especially, it will be like starting over. I could start to feel a difference in how my legs felt in difference situtations. I guess I will just try and start back where I was at and go from there.

One thing was when I took the twins out for dinner one night. We went to a fast food place and I didn’t know what to get. I had no idea on what I should get. Fastfood salads just don’t do it for me. There are usually just something tossed together so they can say they offer healthy options. I guess I need to do some more research on these places so next time I can walk in there with a plan. When you have no plan going in there, it is just so easy to fall back into habit and order what you alwasy did. And that is excately what I did eventhough when I sat down and looked, I realized I made a mistake. Old habits die hard but they will die

dj

Workout music

I have used Spiralfrog.com for downloading music here lately. It’s free music but you have to visit their site every so ofter and renew your account or your music license runs out. It can be a pain but hey, its free. Well after rebuilding my laptop with Windows 7 beta, I lost my license. It took a while but I finally got it renewed.

So now I have my music back and have put together a workout playlist. It’s a combination of 80’s hair metal and christian with some Toby Keith mixed in.

So, what’s your workout mix? Share a sample of your music here What song really motivates you to workout?

dj

Workout equpiment and bad day

Well Thursday was not a good day fitness wise. The first couple of days while working out I have been using a stationary bike. The only issue was the seat was not very secure and I felt like I was being beaten silly. So I thought I would use a differnt bike. Well the bike I picked didn’t have the straps for your feet to hold them on the pedels. While pedeling, my foot kept bumping the bars that holds the pedels and then my foot would come off of the pedel. Well after 15 minutes I finally gave up and decided to try an eliptical for the rest of my time. I think I will prefer it but have to get used to using it.

Then lunch was bad also. I had taken my lunch but my friend asked to go out for some Mexician. Well I have been wanting some fajitas for a while so I gave in. Not a good choice but did it anyway.

After coming home and eating dinner and hanging with the boys before bed, I decided to go for a walk. I knew I needed to do something to make up for the rest of the day. I headed out in the nice cool air and walked for about 20 minutes. Friday I hope will be a better day

dj

Workouts

I just finished my second day of working out. I went 26 minutes yesterday on a bike and went 30 minutes today. I went at a faster pace than yesterday so my calories burned went up. The question I have is how much did I burn? The bike said this morning that I burned about 70 to 80 calories while Sparkpeople.com site tells me that I burned a little over 300. That is a huge difference. I wonder if I am just not going at a fast enough pace to really burn 300 calories? Any insight on this?

dj