Friday 12.31.10

Wake Up:
7:15am

Devotion:

Workout:
WOD: The End

Warm Up:

• Sandbag Complex: 2 rounds for quality
• 10 Deadlift (100 lb bag)
• 10 Bent over row (100 lb bag)
• 10 Power Clean (50 lb bag)
• 10 Front Squat (50 lb bag)
• 10 Kneeling military press (50 lb bag)
• 10 Back Squat (50 lb bag)
• 10 Pushup (hand release at bottom)

Work Capacity: Diane w/ a twist

• 21-15-9 (10:40)
• Deadlift (100 lb bag)
• Kneeling military press (50 lb bag)
• Backsquat (50 lb bag)
• Burpees
• Weighted situps (50 lb bag)
• Notes: Very pleased with the work capacity. Everything was done unbroken.

Stamina:

• Mnt Athlete Hamstring Hell: 3 rounds (each leg)
• 10 poor mans leg curl
• 10 donkey kick
• Jakes Plank Complex: 1 round for quality
• Mnt Athlete Leg Blaster: 2 rft w/ 30 sec rest between rounds. (1:09 and 1:12)
• 20 Squats
• 20 Lunges (10 each leg)
• 20 Jumping lunges (10 each leg)
• 10 Jumping squats

Mobility:

• HAM hip mobility: 2 rounds for quality (each leg)
• HUG hip mobility: 2 rounds for quality (each leg)
• Active stretch including various yoga poses for hamstrings

Durability:

• Snowshoe (62 min in 5 degree weather)

Thursday 12.30.10

Wake Up:
5:30 am

Devotion:
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. (Psalm 138:7)

I have called on God in the day of trouble; I have pleaded His promise of deliverance but no deliverance has been given; the enemy has continued oppressing until I was in the very thick of the fight, in the center of trouble.

Though His answer has so long delayed, though we may still continue to go on in the midst of trouble, the center of trouble is the place where He revives, not the place where He fails us. When in the hopeless place, the continued hopeless place, is the very time when He ill stretch forth His hand against the wrath of our enemies and perfect that which concerneth us, the very time when He will make the attack to cease and fail and come to an end. What occasion is there then for fainting?

The Eye of the Storm
Fear not that the whirlwind shall carry thee hence,
Nor wait for its onslaught in breathless suspense,
Nor shrink from the whips of the terrible hail,
But pass through the edge to the heart of the gale,
For there is a shelter, sunlighted and warm,
And Faith sees her God through the eye of the storm.
The passionate tempest with rush and wild roar
And threatenings of evil may beat on the shore,
The waves may be mountains, the fields battle plains,
And the earth be immersed in a deluge of rains,
Yet, the soul, stayed on God, may sing bravely its psalm,
For the heart of the storm is the center of calm.
Let hope be not quenched in the blackness of night,
Though the cyclone awhile may have blotted the light,
For behind the great darkness the starts ever shine,
And the light of God's heavens, His love shall make thine,
Let no gloom dim thine eyes, but uplift them on high,
To the face of thy God and blue of His sky.
The storm is thy shelter from danger and sin,
And God Himself takes thee for safety within;
The tempest with Him passeth into deep calm,
And the roar of the winds is the sound of the psalm.
Be gald and serene when the tempest clouds form;
God smiles on His child in the eye of the storm.

Workout:
WOD: Kona

Work Capacity:

• 130 pushups
• 100 squats
• 100 situps

Notes: short on time. This week has been so busy my workouts have really suffered. 

Wednesday 12:29:10

Wake Up:
5:30 am

Devotion:


Workout: Took another day of rest and recovery. Body is pretty beat up and just did not have time as the week has been extremely busy. Sleep and nutrition has been extremely poor last couple of days. Looking to get back on the horse tmrw with nutrition, sleep amounts and workouts.

Tuesday 12.28.10

Wake Up:
4:30 am

Devotion:
His neck was put in irons. (Ps 105:18)

The irons of sorrow and loss, the burdens carried as a youth, and the souls struggle against sin all contribute to developing an iron tenacity and strength of purpose, as well as endurance and fortitude. And these traits make up the indispensable foundation and framework of noble character.

Never run from suffering, but bear it silently, patiently, and submissively, with the assurance that it is God's way of instilling iron into your spiritual life. The world is looking for iron leaders, iron armies, iron tendons, and muscle of steel. But God is looking for iron saints, and since there is no way to impart iron into His people's moral nature except by letting them suffer, He allows them to suffer.

Are the best years of your life slipping away while you suffer enforced monotony? Are you afflicted with opposition, misunderstandings, and the scorn of others? Do your afflictions seem as thick as the undergrowth confronting someone hiking through the jungle? Then take heart! Your time is not wasted, for God is simply putting you through His iron regimen. Your iron crown of suffering precedes your golden crown of glory, and iron is entering your sould to make it strong and brave.

But you will not mind the roughness, nor the steepness of the way,
Nor the cold, unrested morning, nor the heat of the noonday;
And you will not take a turning to the left or the right,
But go straight ahead, nor tremble at the coming of the night,
For the road leads home.

Workout:
WOD: Rest and Recovery

Monday 12.27.10

Wake Up:
5:30

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert
Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts. (Zech 4:6)

I have only to get in touch with Him and to maintain communication with Him, though it may be only one little finger of faith, and that will be enough to make His power mine for the doing of this bit of service that just now seems too much for me. And I was helped to dismiss my weariness and to realize this truth.

Abandoned
Utterly abandoned to the Holy Ghost!
Seeking all His fulness at whatever cost;
Cutting all the shore-lines, launching in the deep,
Of His mighty power, strong to save and keep.
Utterly abandoned to the Holy Ghost!
Oh! the sinking, sinking, until self is lost!
Until the emptied vessel lies broken at His feet;
Waiting till His filling shall make the work complete.
Utterly abandoned to the will of God;
Seeking for no other path than my Master trod;
Leaving ease and pleasure, making Him my choice,
Waiting for His guidance, listening for His voice.
Utterly abandoned! no will of my own;
For time and for eternity, His, and His alone;
All my plans and purposes lost in His sweet will,
Having nothing, yet in Him all things possessing still.
Utterly abandoned! tis so sweet to be
Captive in His bonds of love, yet so wondrous free;
Free from sin's entanglements, free from doubt and fear,
Free from every worry, burden, grief or care,
Utterly abandoned! oh, the rest is sweet,
As I tarry, wating, at His blessed feet;
Waiting for the coming of the Guest divine,
Who my inmost being shall perfectly refine.
Lo! He comes and fills me, Holy Spirit sweet!
I, in Him, am satisfied! I, in Him, complete!
And the light within my soul shall nevermore grow dim
While I keep my covenant... Abandoned unto Him!
---Author Unknown---

Workout:
WOD: Barber

Warm Up:

• Body Weight Complex: 2 rfq
• 30 Mnt Climbers
• 20 Pushups
• 10 Groiners
• 5 Burpee

Work Capacity: (14:58)

• 21-15-9: Hanging Squat Clean, Upright Row
• 50 Burpee
• 9-15-21: Military Press, Suitcase Crunch (full ROM)

Notes: Squat cleans and upright rows were done unbroken, burpees were hell as usual, especially after poor diet during the holidays. Military press were very tough especially after the burpees. 

Mobility:

• Sealfit Hip Mobility
• Pause Squat (1 min)

Durability:

• Snowshoe (60 min)

Sunday 12.26.10

Wake Up:
8:00 am

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert
Sit here while I go over there and pray. (Matthew 26:36)


It is a very difficult thing to be kept in the background during a time of crisis. In the Garden of Gethsemane, eight of the eleven remaining disciples were left behind to do nothing. When Jesus went ahead to pray, Peter, James, and John went with Him to watch, but the rest sat down to wait. I believe that the ones left behind must have complained. They were in the garden, but that was all, for they had no part in the cultivation of its flowers. It was a story time of crisis and great stress, yet they were not allowed to participate.

Perhaps you have seen a great opportunity for Christian service arise, and some people are sent immediately to the work, while still others are being trained to go. yet you are forced to do nothing but sit and wait. Or perhaps sickness and poverty has come your way, or you have had to endure some terrible disgrace. Whatever your situation, you have been kept from service, and not you feel angry and do not understand why you should be excluded from this part of the Christian life. It seems unjust that you have been allowed to enter the garden but have found no path assigned to you once inside.

Be still, dear soul... things are not what they seem! You are not excluded from any part of the Christian life. Do you believe that the garden of the Lord only has places for those who walk or those who stand? No! It also has a place set apart for those who are compelled to sit. Jesus is delighted by the sight of us. For through our mere fragrance and beauty , we have brought Him joy. An just our existence and the preservation of His law has lifted our Masters heart.

Workout:
WOD: Test Day

Warm Up:

• Snowshoe (Approx 1 hour 15 min)

Work Capacity:

• Grappling Complex: 3 rounds for quality
• Use two 35 lb db's resting only long enough to complete each round w/out putting db's down
• 8 bent over row
• 8 upright row
• 8 military press
• 8 split squats (each leg)
• 8 squats
• 8 military press
• 8 rdl
• Test
• 2 min max situps: 
• 100
• 2 min max pushups:
•  115 
• Notes
• Disappointed in situps was aiming for 110-115
• Pleased with pushups, especially after all shoulder work in the WC portion previous.

Durability:

Mobility:

Saturday 12.25.10: Daily Disciplines

Wake Up:
8:00 am

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert

Workout:
WOD: 

Warm Up:

• Snowshoe on lake (45 min)

Work Capacity:

• 8 rft (10:24)
• 25 Pushups
• 25 Squats
• 25 Situps

Durability:

• 45 ruck march w/ 45 lb pack (Approx 3 miles)
• 40 min walk at night (Approx 2.5 miles)

Friday 12.24.10: Daily Disciplines

Wake Up:
5:30 am

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert
He went out to the field one evening to meditate. (Gen 24:63)

I would be a better Christian if I spent more time alone, and I would accomplish more if I attempted less and spent more time in isolation and quiet waiting on God. The world has become to much a part of me and I am afflicted with the idea that I am not accomplishing anything unless I am always busily running back and forth. As a society, we no longer believe in the importance of a calm retreat where we sit silently in the shade. As a people of God, we have become entirely too practical. We believe in having all our "irons in the fire" and that all time we spend away from the anvil or fire is wasted time. Yet our time is never more profitably spent than when we set aside time for quiet meditation, talking with God, and looking up to heaven. We can never have too many of these open spaces in life... hours set aside when our soul is completely open and accessible to any heavenly thought or influence that God may be pleased to send our way.

Someone once said, "Meditation is the Sunday of the mind." In these hectic days, we should often give our mind a "Sunday," a time in which it will do no work but instead will simply be still, look heavenward, and spread itself before the Lord like Gideon's fleece, allowing itself to be soaked with the moisture of the dew of heaven. We should have intervals of time when we do nothing, think nothing, and plan nothing  but simply lie on the green lap of nature and "rest a while" (Mark 6:31).

Time spent in this way is not lost time. A fisherman does not say he is losing time when he is mending his nets, nor does a hunter feel he has wasted his time by taking a few minutes to sharpen his blade. And people living in cities today would do well to follow the example of Isaac and as often as possible visit the fields of the countryside, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. After having grown weary from the heat and noise of the city, communion with nature is very refreshing and will bring a calming, healing influence. A walk through a field, a stroll by the sea or a hike across a meadow sprinkled with snow will purge you of the impurities of life and will cause your heart to beat with new joy and hope.

The little cares that worried me,
   I lost them yesterday.
Out in the fields with God.

Workout:
WOD: Maintain 

Work Capacity:

• 4 rounds for quality
• 25 Goblet squats
• 10 Unilateral kneeling curl to press (each arm)
• 3 rounds for quality
• 10 Unilateral strict curl (each arm)
• 25 Military pushups 

Thursday 12.23.10: Daily Disciplines

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Wake Up:
5:30 am

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed. (Heb. 11:8).

Whither he went, he knew not; it was enough for him to know that he went with God. He leant not so much upon the promises as upon the Promiser. He looked not on the difficulties of his lot, but on the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, who had deigned to appoint his course, and would certainly vindicate Himself. O glorious faith! This is thy work, these are thy possibilities; contentment to sail with sealed orders, because of unwavering confidence in the wisdom of the Lord High Admiral; willinghood to rise up, leave all, and follow Christ, because of the glad assurance that earth's best cannot bear comparison with Heaven's least. 

It is by no means enough to set out cheerfully with your God on any venture of faith. Tear into smallest pieces any itinerary for the journey which your imagination may have drawn up. Nothing will fall out as you expect.

Your guide will keep to no beaten path. He will lead you by a way such as you never dreamed your eyes would look upon. He knows no fear, and He expects you to fear nothing while He is with you.

The day had gone; alone and weak
I groped my way within a bleak
And sunless land.

The path that led into the light
I could not find! In that dark
night God took my hand.

He led me that I might not stray,
And brought me by a new, safe way
I had not known.

By waters still, through pastures green
I followed Him--the path was clean
Of briar and stone.

The heavy darkness lost its strength,
My waiting eyes beheld at length
The streaking dawn.
On, safely on, through sunrise glow
I walked, my hand in His, and lo,
The night had gone.



Workout:
WOD: Active Recovery
En-Durability:

• 4.2 mile ruck march w/ 40 lb pack (1 hour 22 min)
• Jakes Plank Complex
• Mtn Athlete Hamstring Hell (1 round)

Mobility

• Mtn Athlete HUG hip mobility drill
• Mtn Athlete HAM hip mobility drill
• Static yoga stretches
• Frog Stretch (12 min)

Wednesday 12.22.10: Daily Disciplines

Wake Up:
5:30 am

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert
A thick and dreadful darkness cam over him (Gen 15:12)

Have you every experienced a terrible sorrow that seems difficult to reconcile with Gods perfect love... A sorrow that comes crashing down upon you, wrings from your souldl its peaceful rest in the grace of God, and casts it into a sea of darkness that is unlit by even one ray of hope? Have you experienced a sorrow caused by unkindness, when others cruelly mistreat your trusting heart, and you even begin to wonder if there is really a God above who sees what is happening yet continues to allow it? If you know this kind of sorrow, then you know something of this "thick and dreadful darkness."

Human life is made of brightness and gloom, shadows and shushine, and dark clouds followed by brilliant rays of light. Yet through it all, God's divine justice is accomplishing His plan, affecting and disciplining each individual soul.

The disciples thought that the angry sea separated them from Jesus. In fact, some of them thought something even worse... they thought that the trouble they were facing was a sign that He had forgotten them and did not care about them.

O dear friend, that is when your troubles can cause the most harm. The devil comes and whispers to you, "God has forgotten you" or "God has forsaken you" and your unbelieving heart cries out, as Gideon once did, "If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?" (Judg 6:13) God has allowed the difficulty to come upon you, in order to bring you closer to Himself. It has come not to separate you from Jesus but to cause you to cling to Him more faithfuly, more firmly, and more simply.

We should abandon ourselves to God more fully at those times when He seems to have abandoned us. Let us enjoy His light and comfort when it is His pleasure to give it to us, but may we not attach ourselves to His gifts. May we instead attach ourselves to Him, and when He oplunges us into the night where pure faith is required, may we still press on through the agonizing darkness.

Oh, for faith that brings the triumph
   when defeat seems very near!
Oh, for faith that brings the triumph
   Into victorys ringing cheer...
Faith triumphant; knowing not defeat or fear.

Workout:
WOD: Edge

Warm Up: 5 rfq

• 10 dips
• 10 pushups
• 10 squats

Work Capacity: 5 rft  (Time: 21:11)

• 30 Pushups
• 10 Squat Clean
• 20 DB Swing
• 30 Upright Row

Strength/Stamina:

• Mobility Complex (5 reps of each excercise, each arm, using 35 lb db)
• DB Swing
• Goblet Squat
• Hang Squat Clean
• 1 arm hang squat clean
• 1 arm hang squat clean to thruster
• 1 arm hang squat clean, press to stand
• 1 arm hang clean to jerk to squat

Durability:

• Skipped due to time

Mobility:

• Skipped due to time 

Tuesday 12.21.10: Daily Disciplines

Wake Up:
6:00 am

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert
And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was let by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted byy the devil. (Luke 4:1-2)

Jesus was full of the Holy Ghost, and yet He was tempted. Temptation often comes upon a man with its strongest power when he is nearest to God. As someone has said, "The devil aims high." He got one apostle to say he did not even know Christ.

Very few men have such conflicts with the devil as Martin Luther had. Why? Becasue Martin Luther was going to shake the very kingdom of hell. Oh what conflicts John Bunyan had! If a man has much of the Spirit of God, he will have great conflicts with the tempter. God permits temptation because it does for us what the storms do for the oaks... it roots us; and what the fire does for the paintings on the porcelain... it makes them permanent.

You never know that you have a grip on Christ, or that He has a grip on you, as well as when the devil is using all his force to attract you from Him; then you feel the pull of Christ's right hand.

Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces. God hath many sharp-cutting instruments, and rough files for the polishing of His jewels; and those He especially loves, and means to make the most resplendent He hath oftenest His tools upon. (Archbishop Leighton)

I bear my willing witness that I owe more to the fire, and the hammer, and the file, than to anything else in my Lord's workshop. I sometimes question whether I have ever learned anything except through the rod. When the schoolroom is darkened, I see most. (C.H. Spurgeon)

Workout:
WOD: Whitten

Warm Up:

• Body Weight Complex: 4 rfq
• 30 Mountain Climbers
• 20 Pushups
• 10 Groiners
• 5 Burpee 

Work Capacity:

• Whitten: 5 rft: 
• 22 DB Swings (11 each arm)
• 22 Squat
• 22 Pushups
• 22 1 Arm SDHP (11 each arm)
• Total Time: 11:04

1 minute rest then:

• Mountain Athlete Leg Blaster: 5 rft
• 20 Squats
• 20 Lunges
• 20 Jumping Lunges
• 10 Jumping Squats
• Times each round: 1:17, 1:16, 1:17, 1:17, 1:14 (30 sec rest between rounds)

Durability:

• 111 situps in 2 min
• 100 Flutter Kicks (unbroken)

Mobility:

• Sealfit Hip Mobility x 3

The Spell of the Yukon, Robert W. Service

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I wanted the gold, and I sought it, I scrabbled and mucked like a slave. Was it famine or scurvy — I fought it; I hurled my youth into a grave. I wanted the gold, and I got it — Came out with a fortune last fall, — Yet somehow life’s not what I thought it, And somehow the gold isn't all. No! There’s the land. (Have you seen it?) It’s the cussedest land that I know, From the big, dizzy mountains that screen it To the deep, deathlike valleys below. Some say God was tired when He made it; Some say it’s a fine land to shun; Maybe; but there’s some as would trade it For no land on earth — and I'm one. You come to get rich (damned good reason); You feel like an exile at first; You hate it like hell for a season, And then you are worse than the worst. It grips you like some kinds of sinning; It twists you from foe to a friend; It seems it’s been since the beginning; It seems it will be to the end. I've stood in some mighty-mouthed hollow That’s plumb-full of hush to the brim; I've watched the big, husky sun wallow In crimson and gold, and grow dim, Till the moon set the pearly peaks gleaming, And the stars tumbled out, neck and crop; And I've thought that I surely was dreaming, With the peace o' the world piled on top. The summer — no sweeter was ever; The sunshiny woods all athrill; The grayling aleap in the river, The bighorn asleep on the hill. The strong life that never knows harness; The wilds where the caribou call; The freshness, the freedom, the farness — O God! how I'm stuck on it all. The winter! the brightness that blinds you, The white land locked tight as a drum, The cold fear that follows and finds you, The silence that bludgeons you dumb. The snows that are older than history, The woods where the weird shadows slant; The stillness, the moonlight, the mystery, I've bade 'em good-by — but I can't. There’s a land where the mountains are nameless, And the rivers all run God knows where; There are lives that are erring and aimless, And deaths that just hang by a hair; There are hardships that nobody reckons; There are valleys unpeopled and still; There’s a land — oh, it beckons and beckons, And I want to go back — and I will. They're making my money diminish; I'm sick of the taste of champagne. Thank God! when I'm skinned to a finish I'll pike to the Yukon again. I'll fight — and you bet it’s no sham-fight; It’s hell! — but I've been there before; And it’s better than this by a damsite — So me for the Yukon once more. There’s gold, and it’s haunting and haunting; It’s luring me on as of old; Yet it isn't the gold that I'm wanting So much as just finding the gold. It’s the great, big, broad land 'way up yonder, It’s the forests where silence has lease; It’s the beauty that thrills me with wonder, It’s the stillness that fills me with peace.

Monday 12.20.10: Daily Disciplines

Wake Up:
5:30 am

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert
I am not alone, for my Father is with me. (John 16:32)

It is certainly unnecessary to say that turning conviction into action requires great sacrifice. It may mean renouncing or separating myself from specific people or things, leaving me with a strange sense of deprivation and loneliness. Therefore, if I am to ultimately soar like an eagle to the heights of the cloudless day and live in the sunshine of God, I must be content to live a relatively lonely life.

There are no birds that live in as much solitude as eagles, for they never fly in flocks. Rarely can even two eagles be seen together. And a life that is dedicated to God knows devine fellowship, no matter how many human friendships have had to be forfeited along the way.

God seeks people to be like the eagle, for no one ever comes into the full realization of the best things of God in his spiritual life without learning to wak alone with Him. We see Abraham alone "in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities... near Sodom" (Gen 12:12). Moses, although educated in all the wisdom of Egypt, had to spend forty years alone with God in the desert. And Paul, who was filled with all the knowledge of the Greeks, and who sat "at the feet of Gamaliel" (Acts 22:3), was required, after meeting Jesus, to go "immediately into Arabia" (Gal 1:7) to learn of the desert life with God.

May I allow God to isolate me, but not the isolation of a monastery. It is in the experience of isolation that the Lord develops an independence of life and of faith so that the soul no longer depends on the continual help, prayers, faith and care of others. The assistance and inspiration from others are necessary, and they have a place in a Christian's development, but at times they can actually become a hinderance to my faith and welfare.

God knows how to change my circumstances in order to isolate me. And once I yield to Him and He takes me through and experience of isolation, I will no longer be dependent upon those around me, although I will still love them as much as before. Then I will realize that He has done a new work within me and that the wings of my soal have learned to soar in loftier air.

I must dare to be along, in the way that Jacob had to be alone for the Angel of God to whisper in his ear, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel" (Gen 32:38); in the way that Daniel had to be left alone to see heavenly visions; and in the way John had to be banished to the Isle of Patmos to receive and record "the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him" (Rev 1:1).

He has "trodden the winepress alone" (Isa 63:3) for me. Therefore, am I prepared for a time of "glorious isolation" rather than to fail Him?

Workout:
WOD: Self-Mastery

Warm Up:

• 21-15-9 
• Upright Row
• Squat
• Pushup

Strength/Stamina

• 100 Strict Kneeling Military Press
• 100 SDHP

Work Capacity: 10 rft, Total Time: 17:37

• 6 Strict Kneeling Military Press
• 20 Flutter Kicks
• 14 DB Swing (7 each arm)

Durability:

• 2 hours of basketball

Notes: 

• Busy day so did not get to this one until 10:30 pm. Not overly difficult physically, but a mental bear getting started so late at night after a busy day. Glad I had the mental fortitude to finish. 

Saturday 12.18.10: Daily Disciplines

Wake Up:
6:30 am

Workout:
WOD: Complex

Warm Up: 4 RFQ

• DB Complex 1
• 6 RDL
• 6 Upright row
• 6 Squat
• 6 Military Press
• 6 Squat

Work Capacity: 5 RFQ

• 6 Squat Cleans
• 20 Situps

Friday 12.17.19: Daily Disciplines

Wake Up:
6:00 am

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert
"What I tell you in the darkness, speak ye in the light" (Matt. 10:27)

My Lord is constantly taking me into the dark, that He may tell me things. Into the dark of a shadowed home, where bereavement has drawn the blinds; into the dark of the lonely, desolate life, where some infirmity closes me in from the light and stir of life; into the dark of some crushing sorrow and disappointment.

Then he tells me His secrets, great and wonderful, eternal and infinite; He causes the eye which has become dazzled by the glare of earth to behold the heavenly constellations; and the car to detect the undertones of His voice, which is often drowned amid the tumult of eartsh strident cries.

But such revelations always imply a corresponding responsibility, "that speak ye in the light, that proclaim upon the housetops."

I am not meant to always linger in the dark, or stay in the shadows; presently I shall be summoned to take my place in the rush and storm of life; and when that moment comes, I will be called to speak and proclaim that which I have learned.

This gives new meaning to suffering, the saddest element in which is often its apparent aimlessness. How useless I am! What am I doing for the betterment of men? Wherefore this waste of the precious spikenard of my soul?

Sure are the desperate laments of the sufferer. But God has a purpose in it all. He has withdrawn me to the higher altitudes of fellowship, that I may hear God speaking face to face, and bear the message to His fellows at the mountain foot. Were the forty days wasted that Moses spent on the Mount, or the period spent at Horeb by Elijah, or the years spent in Arabia by Paul?

There is not short cut to the life of faith, which is the all-vital condition of a holy and victorious life. I must have periods of lonely meditation and fellowship with God. That my soul should have its mountains of fellowship, its valley of quiet rest beneath the shadow of a great rock, its night beneath the stars, when darkness has veiled the material and silenced the stir of human life, and has opened the view of the infinite and eternal, is as indispensable as that my body should have food.

Thus alone can the sense of God's prescence become the fixed possession of my sould, enabling it to say repeatedly, with the Psalmist, "Thou art near, O God"

"Some hearts, like evening primroses, open more beautifully in the shadows of life."

Psalm 1: The Way of the Rightious

Psalm 1

 ¹ Blessed is the man
         Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
         Nor stands in the path of sinners,
         Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
 ² But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
         And in His law he meditates day and night.
 ³ He shall be like a tree
         Planted by the rivers of water,
         That brings forth its fruit in its season,
         Whose leaf also shall not wither;
         And whatever he does shall prosper.
       
 ⁴ The ungodly are not so,
         But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
 ⁵ Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
         Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
       
 ⁶ For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
         But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Thursday 12.16.10: Daily Disciplines

Wake Up:
6:00 am

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert
"There was also a prophetess, Anna... She never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying." (Luke 2:36-37)

There is no doubt that it is by praying that I learn to pray, and that the more I pray, the better my prayers will become. For people who pray in spurts are never likely to attain to the kind of prayer described in the scriptures as "powerful and effective" (James 5:16)

Great power in prayer is within my reach, but I must work to obtain it. Abraham could not have interceded so sucessfully for Sodom if he had not communed with God throughout the previous years of his life. Jacob's entire night of wrestling at Peniel was certainly not the first encounter he had with his God. I look at my Lord's most beautiful and wonderful prayer in John 17, before His suffering and death, as the fruit of His many nights of devotion, and of His rising often before daybreak to pray.

If I believe I can become powerful in prayer without making a commitment to it, I am living under a great delusion. The prayer of Elijah, which stopped the rain from heaven and later opened heaven's floodgates, was only one example of a long series of his mighty pleadings with God. Oh, if only I would remember that perseverance in prayer is necessary for it to be effective and victorious!

The great intercessors, who are seldom mentioned in connection with the heroes and martyrs of the faith were nevertheless the greatest benefactors of the church. Yet their becoming the channels of the blesings of mercy to others was only made possible by their abiding at the mercy seat of God.

Remember, I must pray to pray, and continue in prayer so my prayers may continue.

Workout:
WOD: Active Recovery


Strength: Pullup Work

• 2x10 strict DH close grip pullups
• 2x10 strict DH close grip chinups
• 2x10 strict DH commando pullups

Notes: 

• Body is pretty sore from the week. Happy with the pullup work today. Took rest as needed in order to finish each complete set. Planning on stretching out hamstrings and shoulders tonight. 

Wednesday 12.15.10: Daily Disciplines

Wake Up:
5:40 am

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert
Trust in Him. (Psalm 37:5)

The word "trust" is the heart of faith and is the Old Testament word given to the infant, or early, stages of faith. The word "faith" conveys more an act of the will, while the word "belief" conveys an act of the mind or intellect, but trust is the language of the heart. The words "faith" and "belief" reger more to a truth believed or to something expected to happen.

Trust implies more than this, for it sees and feels and it leans on those who have a great, living, and genuine heart of love. Therefore let us "trust also in him" (Ps. 37:5), through all the delays, in spite of all the difficulties, and in the face of all the rejection we encounter in life. And in spite of our feelings and evidence to the contrary, and even when we cannot understand our way or our situation, may we still "trust also in him; for He shall bring it to pass" The way will open, our situation will be changed, and the end result will be peace. The could will finally be lifted, and the light of eternal noonday will shine at last.

Trust and rest when all around you
   Puts your faith to stringent test;


Let no fear or foe confound you,
   Wait for God and trust and rest.


Trust and rest with heart abiding, 
Like a birdling in its nest,
Underneath His feathers hiding,
Fold your wings and trust and rest. 


Workout:
WOD: Thompson

Warm Up:

• ROM Drills

Work Capacity: 10 RFT - Total Time: 21:33

• 6 Commando Pullups
• 29 Squats
• 15 Burpees
• 16 1 Arm DB Swings (8 each arm)

Durability:

• Active Stretch

Notes:

• My buddy joined me for this one. It was nice to have someone to suffer with and the the element of competition that is added when doing a workout with someone else adds an immensely different variable to both physical and mental performance. 10 rounds was very difficult but I got through it by splitting up the workout mentally into small, attainable goals so as to not get overwhelmed by the workload. Very pleased with my time. Definitely could have done a sub 20 min.

Tuesday 12.14.10: Go to the Woods

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. For I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonley when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers."  Henry David Thoreau

Solitude is beautiful. Wilderness is breathtaking. Yet both are also unforgiving and unpredictable. Why do I go to the woods? Why do I yearn for solitude? Why do I yearn to exit society and its norms? The essential fact of life is that we live and we die. Wilderness brings us back to our primal state. Where our goal, above all else, is to survive. The struggle for survival hightens awareness and arouses senses that have been long made dormant by society and the increased use of technology. You will never feel more alive then standing in the middle of nowhere in below zero temperatures, or paddling a canoe on a lake where the silence is so deafening that it is sound all to itself. Wilderness forces us to face our fears, and embrace the unknown. It shows us that we are not all powerful, but at the complete mercy of something far greater than ourselves, which is directly in contrast with the disallusionist messages of modern society.

The solitude found in the utter silences of the woods are a companion to us. It is strange how the hours we used to watch television fly by when we are secluded in a quiet borrow, caught in the depth of our own thoughts, running conversations with ourselves, staging debates with imaginary people or arguing with ourselves over the next step in our journey. The voices inside of your head slowly become as an old friend. This is not insanity, I would argue that this is a hightened sense of awareness, this is facing one of the undeniable facets of life, that seclusion and isolation for periods of time are healthy, invigorating and absalutely necessary for finding out exactly who you are and what your purpose in this world is... How much can you possibly know about yourself if you have not been in a fight? This does not particulary mean a literal fight, but any sort of struggle where failure is a likely outcome. It could be a struggle for survival or the struggle to mend a relationship lost or the struggle to understand something far more vast than our imaginations can even fathom such as nature or God.

Therefore I go to the woods, my own wilderness. I go to solitude to escape society. To find who I truly am apart from what the magazines, books, media and others try to mold me to be. I invert back to the essential facts of life, that I was born and that I will die. That how I use the time inbetween will directly effect how I spend eternity. That I was created by something greater than myself. I search for the unknown, I search for my purpose. I search for the will of God. I invite the struggle that comes, for without it how can I find out who I truly am? How can I find out my purpose in life? How can I find if I am ready for the calling God has for my life?

Tuesday 12.14.10: Daily Disciplines

Wake Up:
5:40 am

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert
"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong" 2 Corintheans 12:10

Here is the secret of Divine all-sufficiency, to come to the end of everything in myself and in my circumstances. When I reach this place, I will stop asking for sympathy because of my hard situation or bad treatment, for I will recognize these things as the very conditions of my blessing, and I will turn from them to God and find in them a claim upon Him.

"My God, I have never thanked Thee for my thorn. I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but not once for my thorn. I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross; but I have never thought of my cross as itself a present glory. Teach me the glory of my cross; teach me the value of my thorn. Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbows. Alas for him who never sees, the stars shine through the cypress trees."
George Matheson

Workout:

WOD: Burn

Warm Up:

• 200 Shadow Jumps (no jump rope due to low ceilings)
• 100 Funky Jacks
• 75 Mtn Climbers
• 25 Jumping Jacks

Work Capacity: Total Time: 27:17

• 4 min continuous SDHP
• 50 Squats (using two 35lb db's)
• 50 Kneeling Military Press
• 6 min continuous SDHP
• 50 Burpee (3:59)
• 8 min continuous SDHP

Durability:

• 2 rft (103, 88)
• Max rep situps in 2 min
• Yoga: 15 min

Notes:

• Monotonous workout. SDHP were tough mentally and added a very different dimension to the workout, especially when paired with fast movements such as squats and burpees. Low ceiling so thrusters got split up into weighted squats and kneeling military press. Military press took quite a while and slowed my overall time down. I was pleased with burpee time especially since my shoulders were completely shot after military press and SDHP. Pumped about the PR in situps as well. 

Monday 12.13.10: Daily Disciplines

Wake Up:
6:00 am

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert:
"I will give you the treasures of darkness" Isaiah 45:3

Sometimes the darkness in my life is worse, because I cannot even see the web I am weaving or understand what I am doing. Therefore I am unable to see any beauty or any possible good arising from my experience. Yet if I am faithful to forge ahead and "if I do not give up" (Gal. 6:9), someday I will know that the most exquisite work of my life was done during those days when it was the darkest.

If I seem to be living in deep darkness because God is working in strange and mysterious ways, I must not be afraid. Simply go forward in faith and in love, never doubting Him. He is watching and will bring goodness and beauty from all of my pain and tears.

Daily Bible Reading:
Isaiah 28-33

Workout:
WOD: Stillwater

Warm Up:

• 15 min of sandbag drills 
• Completed with 35lb db's and did various exercises including: squats, squat cleans, rdl, russian twists, get-ups, upright rows etc...

Strength/Stamina:

• 5 rounds for quality w/40 lb vest (not timed)
• 15 Pushups
• 20 Squat

Work Capacity:

• 5 RFT 
• 5 rounds of Cindy (5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squat)
• 15 Burpee
• Time: 23:29

Durability:

• Active Stretch

Notes: 

• Was a lot harder than it looked. The work capacity was mentally challenging as it got very repetitive. Took approx 1 hour to complete and I found it to be more mentally challenging than physically challenging.

Monday 12.13.10: Thoughts

Random thoughts accumulated over the years. Various authors, including Mark Twight.

• What we allow ourselves to settle for is largely dependent on our goals and the strength of our character. it is up to the individual to figure out why they are doing something, then to accept responsability for those choices and actions.
• Have the self-dicipline to control what comes out of your mouth, especially if you are ignorannt about the topic being discussed.
• Maybe you need self destruction to lead to self-creation or re-invention?
• As a society and as individuals, we don't test, because we don't want to know... Do not be a pretender or a wanna-be.
• It is easy to pretend to be someone when it is all talk, because realistically there are very few who will ever call bullshit, because everyone pretends and because there are very few willing to try something that they might fail miserably at.
• The goal of physical training is summed up in one phrase: To make onself as indestructable as possible
• Learn to suffer.
• To be transformed by effort, one must dig deep, surpass ones expectations or self-imposed limitations. One must suffer, and risk failure in the process.
• It always hurts when you go as hard as you can.
• When dealing with pain one must:
• Confront it
• Immerse yourself in it
• Become it
• Suffering is the gateway to true knowledge of ones self and is therefore, humility.
• Clarity improves as risk and consequence increase.
• You become what you do.
• Do the workout you deserve.

Monday 12.13.10: 5 Mountains

The 5 Mountains in my life in which I climb. This is something I will be constantly coming back to as it is a daily struggle. As I seek to find discipline, below each mountain is what I plan to do daily as I climb. Each is a small, obtainable goal with the expectation that once achieved, I can move on to larger, more challenging goals. 

Mental

• Wake up before 6:00 am
• Complete workout of the day. Every day. 

Physical

• Complete workout.

Spiritual

• Daily devotional
• Daily Bible reading

Senses/Awareness

• 10 min of meditation in silence, while outdoors (Psalm 37:7 - Be still in the prescence of the Lord)
• Limit the use of electronics - strive for simplicity

Emotional

• Emotions are untrustworthy. Learn to control them.

Monday 12.13.10: Courage

It requires much more courage to stand and wait and still not lose heart of  lost hope, to submit to the will of God, to give up opportunities for work and leave honors for others and to be quiet, confident and rejoicing while the busy multitude goes happily along thier ways, than to rush headlong into the busyness of life. For the greatest life is this: "After you have done everything, to stand. (Eph 6:3)

Monday 12.13.10: Code of Conduct

Discipline:

Hebrews 12:11 - No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of rightiousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Simplicity:

1 Timothy 6:6-8 - But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing inot the world and we can take nothing out of it. but if we have food and clothing we will be content with that.

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 - Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

Self-Denial:

1 Corintheans 9:27 - But I dicipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Romans 12:2 - Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect.