Ramping Up to 1000 miles

 Come some time this next week I will be breaking 1000 total miles between swimming, cycling, & jogging.  I still but can't help to think about it.. but now also I am drawing closer to entering my first race.  The Freshman Triathlon
Tri-Sition Area It is April 28th. The link is https://www.formstack.com/forms/RedemptionRP-windcrestTri2012

Windcrest Freshman Triathlon - Formstack

www.formstack.com

 

 200meter swim, 10 mile cycling, and 2 mile run...   it's crazy just to think of it....  I am waiting on some information back before I register but as i do i will explain my though process, me registering, and posting that i have finally actually registered for my first race.. my heart is kind of racing as i think about it now.. 

 

   But not as much as my heart races when i think about the things that God is doing in my life.. right now i have the things i do daily to help come along side of our people in prayer & support, our community of Law Enforcement officers God has opened the door for me to build a great friendships with, but also the possibly of Going to India in the Fall.  Possible will be preaching in villages, doing open street preaching & baptisms, and visiting orphanages. In talking with my Pastor friend David it is very exciting to hear the work that God is doing in India.  Even to the point he is calling men & women unto himself via dreams and vision without people having heard the word of God, heard and evangelist or even have been told by a Christian of who Jesus is.. God is calling them to come to follow him, and they are seeking out the church to follow Christ.  It is an amazing story of the work God is doing.. and like Pastor David had shared with me, if God is doing these things around us, how much more should we be willing to join God where he is working in the hearts of people.. Amen... 
         there was a young man who kept having a dream that a man would come and tap on the shoulder to wake him up and as he was waking up he would hear the man say, "Come & Follow me" the young man continued to have these dream for days. until he could stand it no longer. He went to his dad who was in the midst of his Hindu prayers. Afraid that his dad might shun him and disown him, he dared to bother him in the midst of his Prayer time because of this persistent awakening vision he was having.. He said, "dad.. dad... i have had this man coming to me in my dreams, and it is like he is real.. he taps me on the should to wake me up, but as he does, i wake up and find that he is gone, but i hear him saying, "come & follow me".. dad i do not know what to do.. i do not know who this man is.. can you help me dad, who is this man?"  He dad says, "son i know who this man is only because he has started to come to me, and ask me to follow him as well in my dreams to."  "ohhh dad please, you know who he is, tell me.... tell me... tell me who is this man that comes to us."  his dad answers, "son i think it is Jesus the Christ but i do not know him, we should go down to the open baptism down at the market close to the church and listen to what they have to say about him, maybe we can follow him from there."  Those to men came down to where David's church does the open presentation of the gospel and listen to who Jesus was, and immediately, they said, "we want to invite him into our lives, follow him, and be baptized..." wow... then they took the time to share this story with Pastor David what had happen...

          that just gives me chills every time i have the chance to share that with someone.. to Hear our God at work.  I continually pray along side of you, that our God will allow us to be continually apart of his work no matter where we are, no matter where he calls us to go, no matter what lot in life he gives us to have.  prayerfully we will be like those men, "Lord we seek you out to answer your call to follow you, where do we go."  
      have a great night see you at the 1000 mile post... whooooooo!

       triathlon

Week 9 & 10 unplanned rest.... it helps sometimes :0)

  Warm up: wow, it has been incredible feeling to get to a point where I can ride a bike 20 miles in 1hr & 45 min.  i know, i know it still slow right,  but i remember when it almost took me 3 hours to ride 20 miles.   I pushed for 40 miles last week but because of my work scheduled i could only hit 34.97... i know i know .03 short of 35.. ha ha. that's what happens when you Mile tracker is in you pants and not mounted on your bike.. so for your newbies out there... the soon you can get it mounted on to you bike, the less time you will have recorder like i have of being short of a goal you were trying to reach.. my mistakes may become your wisdom :)
         Advertise something:... Ha ha Check out Map my Fitness it is a great place to log you work outs, it can sync with you heart rater monitors, smart phones, and you can edit from a Real web site when you get back home to you computer. I really like the app end of it..
      
               Experience: The Past two weeks i have experienced two days of late nights for Good reason, (Having a Foxy wife) spending quality time with the family, but in the process it left me with 2 consecutive weeks of no activity, bummer? actually not really... yes i didn't get any work out it, but when i picked up the Day after those 2 extra days of rest.. i felt incredible and picked up major momentum in my Times in what i did.  but i really had to push my self on that third day, and with the help of my wife sometimes, "as i hit the floor" to get out of Bed and really keep after it. It was easy to think, "what am i doing, should i get up?"  the answer is Yes...  yes get you lazy bum out of that bed an push your self to get dressed, quit draggin you bottom and hurry get some protein in you body and some water and start on time...
      
My Tips: one of the biggest things helping me right now is getting ready the night before.... laying out the clothes, checking my bike my, my shoes, my coat, my heart strap.. checking the weather for the next morning...Getting food & Drink ready.... Ect....  I also encourage you to start taking some time of looking out what morning foods are best for you before you start your work out.. for me peanut-butter & honey... just as is.. i use do at least a table spoon of each mixed to gather really good, and eat it just like that.. mmmmm
      
  Spiritual:  last but not least.. prayer time has been great...  i pray about what i should pray about.. i know it sounds weird right, but how else are you suppose to pray when you want to pray about the things you want God for you to pray about???? you ask him.. so that is what i do...  one of the things for me lately that i have really enjoyed focusing on is God himself.. the 4 angels around the throne.... "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty who was, and is, and is to come"  there is something about saying that phrase out loud.....
         i am  not going to lie to you... i don't start glowing, and i don't sprout wings when i say that.. matter of fact my mind usually can not stay focused for long and i start fighting my sinful thoughts about things that same to race into my head even more so then my ability to take time and just Focus on God... it gets down right  sad some times... how in one minute i be really wanting to worship my Creator of the heavens and earth, and in the next flash be so consumed with thoughts of selfishness, sinfulness, failures...  The War within ourselves continues to rage on right... just know as i continue to battle to through these things in my own life, that your not alone..  we all have things we have to fight against, things we have to try to work through and prayerfully some day overcome.. i know, i know, it seams like we never will be able to but we will, and if for some reason we always struggle with it.. when God calls us home we can rest in peace knowing for sure, God will not allow to pursue us any more.. it will be finished.. and prayerfully our not giving up in the small battles even though we get whipped some times... we will not loose the war..  we know this.. God has show us the end.. he over comes and makes a place for us.. so don't give up, don't give in, and continue to push for another day to fight, to love, to give joy, to give assistance too, to empower, and to change the lives of those who are around us through the mercy & grace that has been so compassionately bestowed upon us the sinners. 
   come on get up, lets not quit, one more Lamp post we can make it, one more mile you can do it, one more mail box before we got to walking, one more lap in the pool, one more person that receives that can find the gift of mercy & forgiveness in you.... in us.. with God's help we can do this.. don't....... give...... up...... come on............................................

Honk, big eyes, just don't.......

Hey welcome to week 6.... I am sorry I didn't post on week 5 I was out of town in the country, and my mom is still on dial up.. "there should be a law against that right" ha ha ha

Honk: so I was back at my parents week and I flirted with 20 miles a day... Wolfffff man was I glad I was on vacation.. The first day I came up short, but I was at the bottom of what though was a huge hill.. Ha ha not as big as the one I had to climb getting back home.. Ha ha... One of the coolest things that happen was a trucker Honked at me.. It wasn't , "hey get of my way honk", it was a, " hey man keep going, don't give up" kind of a Honk.. Man that pushed me into my 21 mile a day.. Is was stellar../ it's crazy how a little bit of encouragement goes such a long ways.. Too bad we as Christians aren't trying to tell people, "you can" in stead of, "your never gonna make it" so for all those who honk a atta boy honk!! Especially that trucker an another little black car! You guys rock thanks so much for being a encouragement in that way..

Big eyes: That starts week 6. Sooooo I had gotten up to 20 miles in week 5... Dude at this point the last thing I want to do is get out of Bed and start my ride in the mornings.... Seriously, some mornings are cold, windy, cold and windy (ha ha ha), and sometimes a late start.. Soooooo heading to McCoy exit and back is 23 miles.. My eyes were big... Like at the table too big.. (you know you eat to much) when the down hill part to that kicked off  i knew i was going to have to come back up. i kept thinking, "maybe i should come turn around now.. no, no, no, i have to keep going" finally here it came McCoy exit one mile.  "I made it!!!!!!"
    it felt great getting the 23 miles in for two days.. made the 13 miles today easy..  i had gotten some running shoes during our 14 year anniversary spree yesterday so i had to try them out right...
       so i ran/jog/walked 1.6 miles after the 13 mile ride.... not a great start to running, but hey it's a start..
Just Don't........ quit:  That speaks for it's self..
         the spritual aspect that really spoke to me today as i was praying was this: a young man that had come to our church for some community service hours took his life here recently and his family as asked me to do his funeral. When I had heard by what had happen was was sadden in my sprit over this. From the time i had spent working along side of him some, i come to admire his work ethic, and his personality.  Seem like a great young man still just trying to seek out direction.   This also made me think of the word Akita which is from the boy scout days of Order of the Arrow (long story)..   Akita means leader that comes along side of & helps serve. As i thought about this young man i thought, "could i have been a better Akita to him during the time he was here, could i have worked along side him  more, and could that have made a better difference in his life, could there have been one more sentence i could have spoken that would have given him more hope then he had to stay instead of go?"   I know i feel like many that find themselves in this place. I do know he had a choice, and yes i know i could never make the choice for him.  Even Jesus is grieve in spirit over things, when he saw the city, when he came upon the widow and her Son was in the casket, Lazurs, & so forth, i can't help but be sadden as well. Wanting more for a young man who felt that he had nothing else to live for and just wanted it to end. This is not my first funeral of someone who has committed Suicide nor will it be my last i suppose, but Now prayerfully this young man knew Christ and can find the peace he so desperately was searching for even though it was before God was willing to call him home.     

As you finish this off today, i don't know where you are, but please don't quit, don't give up, keep calling out for help, but just don't give up prayerfully one of us around you will finally understand, or finally be able to share the words you were looking for, or be able to pray or share a piece of scripture you feel that you just can't find, But most of all, Prayerfully, it will be God's voice, His words, his love, and His presence that will help you the most in the midst of where you are.  "Just don't quit"
            Scotty

(this article is meant to help people through a process of Grieving, Please do not use this as a place to post about where you think people are or are not.  Even truth used in the wrong way Bring harm we see that when Satan tried to use the Truth of God's word against Jesus during the time of the desert. i am not saying that there is no accountability for actions, but i am saying there is a chance of hope in God's word, and prayerfully this will help bring a great light & hope in Christ to others who have not found it yet. please be considerate of that, thank you.)