DON'T DOUBLE DIP!

For crying out loud, if you go lift weights with a trainer at lunch, don't expect to go to your martial arts class and perform the way you should. You WILL get kicked directly on the chin....you'll take it like a man, but you WILL get kicked, just the same. It'll feel like you're trying to spar with lead weights in your pockets, and you WILL get schooled. Not saying I know from personal experience or anything...I'm just saying.

Oh, by the way, I dropped 4 pounds this week. Not too shabby!

FIRST WORKOUT

So it turns out the guy never rescheduled our trainer appointment, so they guy was booked today, and we rescheduled for tomorrow. Mel and I went ahead and worked out, and she was so funny because she was really worried about looking stupid/out of shape, which of course is silly since we were there to get IN shape. ANyway, we did a relatively easy circuit with free weights, and then cardio for about 20 minutes. It was fun, even if she was freakin out! More to come.

GETTING BACK ON TRACK

Been absent fromt he blog for a bit, and been absent from my life for a bit.... and I'm fed up. I passed my blue belt test a week ago, by the way, now I have just six weeks to prepare for my brown belt test.....YIKES! Also, I had been losing weight several months ago, beginning with a weight loss competition at work from April to June, and i lost 50 pounds (started at 399.6, check out picture to the left)......and that was pretty much that. I kept it off, withthe exception of the last few weeks, where I feel I may have re-gained 5 or 10. This weekend, Mel and I got hooked up at our local fitness center, meeting with a trainer tomorrow to get on a program, and we are committed to meeting at lunch time to work out. I was down to 349, probably more like 355-360 now, and I have a goal weight of 225 (picture ont he right is me at 235, my smallest...but not best shape)....give or take. I am putting these numbers here as a mile marker, a visual reminder of my goal, so I can look back on this in a year or more (130 lbs. from now), having met my goals (obtained or be in mid-terms for my black belt, have run a 5K, and be at or near 225, as my body will determine when I get there).

Here's the latest pic of Andrew, taken on my camera phone. What a cool kid.

37 DAYS TO GO

OK, so no posts in a while, I would guess no one is looking at this any more, but we'll give it a go. By the way, got my purple belt Sept1, working towards blue in October. I am competing at a tournament in Olive Branch MS on Nov. 3, so I now have 37 days to get serious about my conditioning. Yikes. Anyway, I'll be competing in form and sparring- form will be cake, sparring could be interesting. I'm working on dropping as much weight as possible in that timeframe, and building up my endurance, also thinking I'll try some plyometric workouts to try and build some speed and power in my strikes. That's the plan anyway. Anna will compete as well, though at age 5, it is not scored by points, but just by effort and attitude. Should be cute. They look like Rock-em-sock-em robots in all their gear. Too funny.

GREEN BELT TEST PASSED

I am now over half-way to my black belt, I dropped 50 lbs since April 1, and I've started taking classes so that I can become an instructor in a year-and-a-half or so when I'm a black belt (and 175 lbs lighter). It feels good to begin seeing good progress...my instructor says a test for power and proper execution is if your uniform makes a popping noise (like a whip cracking) when you do a strike or kick- last night, first time doing a new strike (ridge hand strike), my uniform "popped" every time. It felt good. It's all about the little things, you know? Anyway, it was a good week.....now I need some sleep.

TURNING THE OTHER CHEEK....into a deadly weapon!

I've been struggling this week with reconciling my faith and my new hobby- martial arts. I've been readin a lot online on both sides of the fence, and I think I've reached a point where I know I'm doing what I should. The interesting part is that I got started with this at a fairly standard Taekwondo school, not one of the many local "Christian" dojangs. Funny as it may sound, I've actually entertained the notion of opening a school one day, but not before I've done it the traditional way first. Ah, I digress. My conclusions.

The two main objections to Christian doing martial arts have been: 1. martial arts teach Eastern religion and mysticism, and 2. The biblical mandate to "turn the other cheek" is in conflict with the idea of self-defense. The first I can debunk from personal experience right away, the extent of the "Eastern mysticism" being taught at my schoo amounts to telling us to close our eyes and meditate, and the meditation consists of picturing ourselves doing the move, or fighting the fight before we begin, so that we have mentally thought through, focused, and prepared our brain to control the movements of our body...... man, that's so wrong. Sounds a lot like the biblical mandate of meditating on Scripture, allowing it to marinate in our mind, so that new understanding comes, and we are more prepared to do what God asks of us. At any rate, I'm sure there are schools teaching Buddhist ideals out there, but with some careful selection, those can be safely avoided. We learn concepts like integrity, perseverance, goal-setting, leadership, etc. Not exactly out of line with Scripture.

The second objection took a little more thought. I've always wrestled with the idea of being a Christian in a violent world, trying to follow this passive, peace-loving Jesus every preacher has proposed to me in my 28 years. Honestly, it never quite worked. What about people who have fought in our countries various wars? What about the victims of violent crime? Law enforcement? How can you reconcile turning the other cheek with these people? Ultimately, I think it's a flaw in our view of Scripture, a cultural presupposition that everything translates into 21st Century American ethics and customs.....context is needed.

In Jewish culture, and throughout other cultures in history, one need only "lay the smack down" on the right cheek of an opponent to issue an insult or challenge. Matthew 5:38-42 is the text, and it points less at an admonission in favor of passivity, as it does at a call to ignore or deny a response to an insult or character-attack of some kind. Would God expect us to sit by and not resist as our family was brutally attacked and murdered- no. There would be as much sin in allowing that to happen as in committing the crime yourself. BUT, if someone insults you, or attacks your character, does it benefit you to sink to their level and attack back, or would it be more beneficial to "turn the other cheek"- to take it in stride, and not let it drag you down as well. THAT, I believe is the concept at work in that passage, and so I take issue with those who stand in judgement of anyone who would defend his home/family/country (within reason). I don't believe God calls us to be sissies, as much as he calls us to operate under love. Two different things. A sissy let's you push him around and feels helpless to stop- a man in love and operating with the love of Christ will still backfist/crescent kick/bust a cap into- any punk who poses a threat to his God-given family. That's just the way I feel about that.

JUST A PICTURE FOR TODAY

My two favorite kids, with a warm sepia-ish glow provided by my crappy camera phone. You gotta love that. Shortly after this picture was taken, he got too much attention, she got jealous, hit his hand, he cried, daddy yelled, everybody got a timeout, and I drove one more nail into the coffin of the myth that I am "nothing like my father". I just am. It makes me crazy.....because I said so.

I'M FEELING BLOGGY

Felt like blogging today, no particular. Everyone seems to be doing it, so I guess I'll give it a go. Could be therapeutic I guess. I don't know, but I'm willing to try. I spent a lovely weekend in teh pool, obtaining the perfect mid-2nd-degree sunburn, and now I am at work, doing what I do. So that's all for now. More to come. Stop looking at me!