The best I can do

     Anna snapped this picture of our boys this Saturday morning as we were getting ready to walk into Grant's Farm. We had an awesome morning, the weather was beautiful and the boys really enjoyed the morning out seeing all the animals and taking the train ride through the park.
     Sunday morning we woke up and headed to church. As we were driving Leyton got on the topic of Jesus. He likes to let us know that, "I love Jesus very much" or one of my favorites "Jesus lives inside my heart daddy, and he lives in Ryder's heart too." Now I know Leyton doesn't fully understand the concept of what he said there and I pray that one day, soon, when he's a little older and has a better understanding of Jesus living inside his heart he chooses to make that decision. Ryder is just over a year and a half old but is speaking pretty well for a child his age. He's just started putting simple sentences together and will say things like, "I love you daddy" or if we're on the way to church and he hears Leyton talking about Jesus he'll say, "I love Jesus!" Back to this Sunday. Leyton was telling us that he loves Jesus and that he loves to give him hugs and kisses. Then he asked me if Jesus would love to give him hugs and kisses and I said "oh yes he would love that." Without missing a beat Leyton tells us, "I can't wait to live with Jesus someday." Then he told Anna and I that Jesus tucks him into his bed every night. The most important thing that Anna and I believe we can teach our boys is that they have a God who loves them very much and that God has a son named Jesus and he loves them like crazy too. We pray before our meals, we pray before bed every night (most of the time Leyton leads our prayers) and from time to time Leyton will just come up to me and say "pray for Leyton." Anna and I want them to know that God and Jesus are real and that we are really talking to them when we pray and they hear us. Anna and I have always done this with Leyton when it was just him and now with both of them since Ryder came along.
     I spent a lot of my life doing the wrong things, making bad decisions and hurting people along the way. I'm sure I influenced people in a bad way when I was living like this and I wish I could take those times and actions back. But I can't. What I can do is lead by example now. I can live my life in a way that would influence people in a more positive way to make good decisions. I spent so much time doing wrong that sometimes it's hard for me to believe that I could influence someone to do right. So as I was sitting in the front seat of the car this Sunday it hit me that I had done something right I was seeing the fruit of that in both of my son's lives. Now let me quickly interject that this has nothing to do with me, it's not about me and this is not me taking the credit for "the good I've done." This is me taking the opportunity to thank God for changing me and through my change letting my sons know him at an early age.
     As they grow I pray that their relationship with God grows and that loving Jesus is something they never walk away from. I pray that I always be a good example for them to follow after and that they be world changers for the Kingdom of God someday.

Watch out!

I took this picture while we were at the zoo this weekend and when we all got home and were looking through the pictures it stood out to me. It stood out for a couple of reasons the first being that I love lions. They are the king of the jungle and one of the most powerful, dangerous and fearless large cats in the world! It also stood out to me in a symbolic kind of way. Try to follow me here... I walked up to the pen and I saw that lion laying there in that empty basin, I know he's dangerous but I see him he's on my radar. Knowing that he's there and that he's dangerous gives me the advantage (well that and the giant wall separating us) I can keep an eye on him, if he gets too close for my comfort I can move away from him. The fact that I am aware of him and that he is very dangerous to me keeps my on point about staying safe when it comes to him. All that make sense? Now the symbolism, we all have things in our life that we struggle with, that are dangerous to us and our well being. It could be food, alcohol, drugs, porn, men or women who knows but those could be things that if we are not hyper sensitive to be careful around they could hurt us. As long as we know those things are around, they are on our radar we can take steps to avoid them. I have a couple (just a couple LOL) old vices that I have kicked the habit of for a long time, but if I'm not careful, if I turn my back on them they can sneak up and attack. Still following? Did I bring it all together there? Well it makes sense to me.

Now here's the other thing that stood out to me about this picture. I see the King of the Jungle laying there on the ground eyeballing me. I'm well aware of him and I wont let him hurt me. But what about that lioness up in the tree that I didn't even see until someone else pointed her out to me? She wasn't on my radar therefore I wasn't careful of her. I could have gotten too close and BAM I would have been in trouble. Here's where I'm going with this. There are things in our lives that could be dangerous to us that we don't even see until we walk under them and a giant lioness jumps on our head! What happened in this exchange for me though was another man who was standing there did see her, and he did warn me about her and then she was on my radar. I try very hard to align myself with men and women who "bring me up." Who are good for me if that makes sense. A good friend of mine once said, "if you're not bringing me up you're bringing me down." Having those people in your life is very necessary, they can keep an eye on you when your walking through life and if they see you getting too close to that lioness up in the tree they can grab you by the arm and say be careful friend you're walking into dangerous territory. Let me also say that I rely on God, heavy, to help keep me out of trouble. I ask him every morning to keep the hedge of protection around me high so that nothing can get to me today and I believe with all my heart that God has delivered me safely MANY times away from some trouble that I got myself, unknowingly, too close to. I also believe that our relationship with man is a very important one and that God places people in our lives to help us on this journey too. I have 4 accountability partners whom I have made a bond with and given my word to that on many different levels "I've got their back." And I know they've got mine too. So be deliberate about who you surround yourself with in life and remember, if you're not bringing me up you're bringing me down.

Playlist

I got up early this morning and got to go for a run. For the last couple days I have had an upset stomach so my goal was to do a nice easy three miles. Nothing crazy, at a nice pace so I didn't overdo it and get sick while out running. As I laced up my Saucony's I said a prayer and asked God to bless my body, espcially my stomach, and also to bless my thoughts. I am a very mental runner and can get in my own head very easily. So I asked God to keep that "you need to stop" thought out of my head while I run today. I grabbed my iPod turned on my favorite running playlist entitled "Prefontain" activated my Nike+ and hit the street! It was pretty clear to me within the first mile that I was feeling really good. Physically my body was feeling perfect, no joint or muscle pain and most importantly my stomach felt great! I attribute that all to that prayer I said as I was lacing up my shoes this morning. I also have nothing but christian music on my Prefontain playlist. I have a lot of Lecrae, Trip Lee, Tedashii and Thi'sl (awesome christan rappers) and I have some Gungor, Needtobreathe, Sidewal Prophets and Jason Castro. I enjoy running, God has blessed me there recently and I can get out and really enjoy my time on the road taking everything in. Often times I use that as my prayer time and that works really well for me. Other times I like to put the headphones on and crank the volume up to some music that keeps me jacked up and ready to run hard! This morning I had an awesome playlist and I just ran it out. There were times when the thought would pop into my head about my stomach and without fail Needtobreathe Lay 'Em Down comes on, just what I needed to hear at that moment. A little later I'm running and facing a pretty long hill. It's not terribly steep but goes for more than a half mile. As I'm at the bottom of that hill "I aint turning back" by Thi'sl comes on and pumps me up to attack that hill! When it was all said and done I did 10 miles in 93 minutes and felt awesome! I am sure I would not have gotten a 10 mile run this morning had I not asked God to bless it for me and I dont know if I would have if I didnt have some positive music in my ears the whole way! Just in case you're interested here's my Prefontain playlist!

1. Rejects by Lecrae
2. 40 deep by Lecrae
3. Lord Have Mercy by Lecrae
4. Dum Dum by Tedashii
5. I'm Good by Trip Lee
6. War by Trip Lee
7. On my Grind by Thi'sl
8. Unashamed by Lecrae
9. Violence by Lecrae
10. Lay 'em down by Needtobreathe
11. Beautiful Things by Gungor
12. Hallelujah by Jason Castro
13. The words I would say by Sidewalk Prophets
14. Just Like you by Lecrae
15. Misconception by Lecrae
16. I aint turning back by Thi'sl
17. Cling to you by Trip Lee
18. Jesus Freak by DC Talk
19. What if I stumble by DC Talk
20. Go until I'm gone by Tedashii

Tough Mudder

I have been constantly training and working out since my weight loss journey started in February of this year. My weight loss total to date is 55 pounds, I started at 240 pounds and currently wegh 185. I have trained for and run and set a personal best for a half marathon this summer. I am currently training for a Warrior Dash in September and then another half marathon the next weekend in October. My training has gone pretty awesome I have to say. I have stayed injury free and completely motivated to stay on it the whole time. As my training progresses and my times get faster, my deistances get longer I want to be constantly pushing myself to the next level. Once I conquer 9 minute miles I want to be running 8 minute miles. When I can easily run 5 miles I want to be able to easily run 7 miles. I dont ever want to become lax in my training and plateau. I have had a great winter and then summer of training and races and feel very blessed that God has given me this body that I can work hard and it responds well. I have been blessed to stay injury free and become much more healthy than I was when I started and I turn all of that back to God for blessing me physicall and mentally and I started this journey. After my Warrior Dash and half marathon in about a month I want to look for the next challenge, the next mountain to climb and eventually conquer. That mountain for me is going to be a Tough Mudder! A Tough Mudder is about a 13 mile run that has somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 British Special Forces style obstacles. It is billed as the Toughest thing you'll ever do! There are obstacles that involve jumping into an ice water filled dumpster (first obstacle), up and down hills, running through fire, through mud, over 12 foot high walls, under barbed wire and through a field of 10,000 volt charged wires just to name a few! This event is done in teams becasue almost nobody could complete it on their own.

Why would I choose to try something like this? Honestly because it scares me a little bit and I'm not sure I could do it. I dont ever want fear to stop me from going after things and I kind of enjoy that feeling of your heart beating really fast, head rush feeling you get when your a little scared of something. That fires me up, I want to run head first into those kinds of situations. Also I want to do it becasue I think it would be an incredible team building/bonding experience for the team of guys I am going to ask to do this with me. I am a team player and I love nothing more than holding up my end of the bargain for the sake of my team achieving a goal. So on top of my cardio training that I do quite a bit now I will also have to seriously work on my strength training. This is way more than just running a straight line for 13 miles, it will be the most physically demanding thing I have ever tried and I cannot wait to jump into this thing head first!

Check it out for yourself.