Training:

rest due to busy day at work

Daily Report:
Devotion: Streams in the Desert, My Utmost for His Highest
Daily Reading: Acts 5
Notes:

rest

Training:
No training, took a rest day due to a very busy schedule. Will make it up later in the week.

Daily Report:
Wake Up: 5:30 am
Daily Reading: 2 Timothy
Devotion: Streams in the Desert, My Utmost for His Highest

• What have you done in the past when you felt weak physically? You could not do anything. You ceased from doing. In your weakness, you leaned on the shoulder of a strong loved one. You leaned completely on someone else and rested, becoming still, and trusting in anothers strength. When you become weak through the fierce fires of affliction, do not try to be strong. Just "be still and know that He is God." "Wait fo the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage." (Ps 27:14)

Body: good, calves are a bit sore from new running technique.
Nutrition:
Workout:

Tuesday 4.26.11

Wake Up: 5:30 am

Daily Reading:

Devotion: Streams in the Desert

I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. (Phil 3:8)

Light is always constly and comes at the expense of that which produces it. An unlit candle does not shine, for burning must come before the light. And we can be of little use to others without a cost to ourselves. Burning suggests suffering, and we try to avoid pain.

We tend to feel we are doing the greatest good in the world when we are strong and fit for active duty and when our hearts and hands are busy with kind acts of service. Therefore, when we are set aside to sufer, when we are sick, when we are consumed with pain, and when all our activities have been stopped, we feel we are no longer of any use and are accomplishing nothing.

Yet if we will be patient and submissive, it is almost certain we will be a greater blessing to the world around us during our time of suffering and pain than we were when we thought we were doing our greatest work. Then we are burning, and shining brightly as a result of the fire.

The glory of tomorrow is rooted in the drudgery of today.

Many people want the glory without the cross, and the shining light without the burning fire, but crucifixion comes before coronation.

Workout:

150 pushups

Notes:

• Body: Feeling a little under the weather so decided to take the last two days off and re-evaluate my workouts and catch up on sleep.
• Nutrition: Poor

Monday 4.25.11

Wake Up: 5:30 am

Daily Reading: Ephesians 3-4

Devotion: Streams in the Desert

Workout: Rest and Recovery

Notes:

• Body: Weighed in at 193lbs this morning. Calves a bit sore from the tabata calf raises yesterday.

Thursday 3.24.11

Wake Up: 6:00 am

Daily Reading: Hebrews 4-7

Devotion: Streams in the Desert

Workout: Rest

Sunday 3.20.11

Wake Up:
7:00 am

Daily Reading:

Devotion:

Workout:
Sealfit: Rest and Recovery

En-durability:

• 75 min hike (approx 4.3-4.4 miles)

Friday 3.11.11

Wake Up:
6:00 am

Daily Reading:

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide: "Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River." (Joshua 1:1-2)

Yesterday you experienced a great sorrow, and now your home seems empty. Your first impulse is to give up and to sit down in despair amid your dashed hopes. Yet you must defy that temptation, for you are at the front line of the battle, and the crisis is at hand. Faltering even one moment would put God's interest at risk. Other lives will be harmed by your hesitation, and His work will suffer if you simply fold your hands. You must not linger at this point, even to indulge your grief.

Weeping inconsolobly beside a grave will never bring back the treasure of a lost love, nor can any blessing come from such great sadness. Sorrow causes deep scars, and indelibly writes its story on the suffering heart. We never completely recover from our greatest griefs and are never exactly the same after having passed through them. Yet sorrow that is endured in the right spirit impacts our growth favorably and brings us a greater sense of compassion for others. Indeed, those who have no scars of sorrow or suffering upon them are poor. God has ordained our truest and richest comfort to be found by pressing on toward the goal. Sitting down and brooding over our sorrow deepens the darkness surrounding us, allowing it to creep into our heart. And soon our strength has changed to weakness. But if we will turn from the gloom and remain faithful to the calling of God, the light will shine again and we will grow stronger.

Lord, You know that through our tears,
of hasty selfish weeping,
Comes surer sin, and for our petty fears
of loss You have in keeping
A greater gain than all of which we dreamed;
You knowest that in grasping
The bright possessions which so precious seemed
We lose them; but if, clasping
Your faithful hand, we tread with steadfast feet
the path of your appointing,
There waits for us a treasury of sweet
delight and royal annointing
with oil of gladness and strength.

Workout:

AM: Skill

• Pullups: 4 x 12 DH pullups (then did an extra 2 to get to 50) limited rest between sets

Notes:

Feeling sick. Body is feeling down. Going to take a few days of just light activity to aide in recovery.

Monday 3.7.11

Wake Up:
6:00 am

Daily Reading:

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert

Workout:

AM Workout: Skill

• Pullups: 50 DH pullups in as few sets as possible (18,12,10,10)
• Really focusing on ROM, no kip, full extension at bottom, chin above bar.

Notes:

• Not feeling well. Decided sleep was more important than a workout today. Slept 10 hours.

Thursday 2.17.11

Wake Up:
5:30 am

Daily Reading:
Proverbs 17
Isaiah 44-45

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert
The land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel (Joshua 1:2)

As faith continues to speak, God continues to give. He meets you today in the present and tests your faith. As long as you are waiting, hoping, or looking, you are not believing. You may have hope or an earnest desire, but that is not faith, for "faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Heb 11:1) The command regarding prayer is: "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." (Mark 11:24)

True faith relies on God and believes before seeing. Naturally, we want some evidence that our petition is granted before we believe, but when we live by faith, we need no evidence other that God's word. He has spoken, and in harmony with our faith it will be done. We will see because we have believed, and true faith sustains us in the most trying of times, even when everything around us seems to contradict God's Word.

The psalmist said, "I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the livin." (Ps 27:13) He had not yet seen the Lord's answer to his prayers, but he was confident he would see, and his confidence sustained him.

Faith that believes it will see, will keep us from becoming discouraged. We will laugh at seemingly impossible situations while we watch with delight to see how God is going to open a path through our Red Sea. It is in these places of severe testing, with no human way our of our difficulty, that our faith grows and is stengthened.

Dear troubled one, have you been waiting for God to work during the long nights and weary days, fearing that you have been forgotten? Lift up your head and begin praising Him right now for the deliverance that is on its way to you.

Workout: Sealfit WOD: Rest and Recovery

Had every intention of doing an active recovery day today with some PT work and a ruck, but went to the pub instead. So I will chalk this as my rest day this week and do an active recovery day on Sunday.

Tuesday 2.8.11

Wake Up:
5:00 am

Daily Reading:
Isaiah 42-44

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert


Workout:
WOD: Long 30

Notes:

• Took a rest day today. Coached a basketball game that went late so did not have time for a workout today. Will do Sealfit: Long 30 tmrw and finish the week 1 day behind schedule.

Thursday 2.3.11

Wake Up:
5:00 am

Daily Reading:
Isaiah 41

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert
At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert. (Mark 1:12)

Aren't your times of deepest depression the moments that immediately follow your loftiest highs? Just yesterday you were soaring high in the heeavens and singing in the radiance of the morning. Today, however, your wings are folded and your song is silent.

Nothing but the Son's vision can equip you to carry the Spirit's burden, and only the glory of the baptism can withstand the hunger of the desert.

The time of testing that distinguishes and greatly enriches a person's spiritual career is not an ordinary one but a period when it seems as if all hell were set loose. It is a time when we realize our sould is caught in a net, and we know God is allowing us to be gripped by the Devil's hand. yet it is a period that always ends in certain triumph for those whho have committed the keeping of their souls to God. And the testing "later on... produces a harvest of rightiousness and peace" (Heb 12:11) and paves the way for the thirtyfold to one hundredfold increase that is promised to follow.

Workout:
REST

Durability:

• Hip mobility drills

Tuesday 2.1.11

Wake Up:
5:00 am

Devotion:
Morning and Evening by C.H. Spurgeon

Daily Reading:

Workout:
Rest and Recovery

Notes:

• Worked from 7:00 am until 6:00 pm then coached my basketball team.
• Got home at 10 and just couldnt get myself to workout. I will make up todays workout on Thursday.
• Felt nice to get an extra day of rest in, legs felt fine from yesterdays squat work.

Sunday 1.30.11

Wake Up:
8:00 am

Daily Reading:
Psalms 1-15

Devotion:
God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved; God will help her when morning comes (Psam 46:5)

Is it possible for us who are so easily moved by earthly things to come to a point where nothing can upset us or disturb our peace?

Everything is Paul's life and experience that could be disturbed had already been shaken, and he no longer considered his life or any of his possessions as having any earthly value. And if we will only let God have His way with us, we can come to the same point. Then, like Paul, neither the stress and strain of little tings nor the great and heavy trials of life will have enough power to move us from the peace of God, which transcends all understanding. God declares this peace to be the inheritance of those who have learned to rest only on Him.

"Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it." (Rev 3:12) Becoming as immovable as a pillar in the house of God is such a worthy objective that we would gladly endure all the necessary trials that take us there.

When God is the center of a kingdom or a city, He makes it strong "like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken" (Psalm 125:1) And when God is the center of a soul, although disasters may crowd in on all sides and roar like the waves of the sea, there is a constant calm within. The world can neither give nor take away this kind of peace. What is it that causes people to shake like leaves today at the first hint of danger? It is simply the lake of God living in their soul, and having the world in their hearts instead.

Workout:
Rest and Recovery

5 rounds for quality

• 10 Hindu pushups
• 20 Hindu squats

50 pushups (chest to deck, full ROM)

Notes:

• Current body weight at 192.2 lbs which is the lowest I have been in a while. Performance has not changed with the lower body weight. This week I will try to get down to 190 lbs.
• Mobility work and yoga at the end of workouts has been very beneficial in functional movement. Looking to increase the load of both at beginning and end of workouts. 

Thursday 1.27.11

Wake Up:
6:00 am

Daily Reading:
Book of Colossians

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert
Make you strong, firm and steadfast. (1 Peter 5:10)

Before we can establish a new and deeper relationship with Christ, we must first acquire enough entellectual light to satisfy our mind that we have been given the righth to stand in this new relationship. Even the shadow of a doubt here will destroy our confidence. Then, having seen the light, we must advance. We must make our choice, commit to it, and take our rightful place as confidently as a tree is planted in the ground. As a bride entrusts herself to the groom at the marriage altar, our commitment to Christ must be once and for all, without reservation or reversal.

Then there follows a time of establishing and testing, during which we must stand still until the new relationship becomes so ingrained in us that it becomes a permanent habit. It is comparable to a surgeon setting a broken arm by splinting it to keep it from moving. God too has His spiritual splints He wants to put on His children to keep them quiet and still until they pass the first stage of faith. Sometimes the trial will be difficult, but "the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast" (1 Peter 5:10)

There is a natural law at work in sin and in sickness, and if we just drift along following the flow of our circumstances, we will sink under the power of the Temptor. But there is another law of spiritual and physical life in Christ Jesus to which we can rise, and through which we can counterbalance and overcome the natural law that weighs us down.

Doing this, however, requires real spiritual energy, a determined purpose, a sure stance, and the habit of faith.

There is a spiritual law of choosing, believing, abiding and remaining steadfast in our walk with God. This law is essential to the working fo the Holy Spirit in our sanctification and in our healing.

Workout:

Afternoon Workout:

Skill: Pullups

• 5 x 6 DH pullups (done on an I-beam)

Evening Workout:
Rest

Tuesday 1.18.11

Wake Up:
4:00 am

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert
Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ. (2 Corinth. 2:14)

God wins His greatest victories through apparent defeats. Very often the enemy seems to triumph for a season, and God allows it. But then He comes in and upsets the work of the enemy, overthrows the apparent victory, and as teh Bible say, "frustrates the ways of the wicked" (Ps 146:9)

If there is a great trial in your life today, do not acknowledge it as a defeat. Instead, continue by faith to claim the victory through Him who is able to make you "more than conquerors" (Rom. 8:37), and a glorious victory will soon be apparent. may we learn that in all the difficult places God takes us, He is giving us opportunities to exercise our faith in Him that will bring about blessed results and greatly glorify His name.

Defeat may serve as well as victory
To shake the sould an dlet the glory out.
When the great oak is straining in the wind,
The limbs drink in new beauty, and the trunk
Sends down a deeper root on the windward side.
Only the sould that knows the mighty grief
Can know the mighty rapture. Sorrows come,
To stretch out spaces in the heart for joy.

Workout:
WOD: Rest

Notes:

• Worked from 4:00 am until 5:30 pm then had to coach basketball, so did not get home until 11. Decided to use today as my rest day for the week. Body still sore from pistol squats done Monday and pullup work done Sunday night.

Saturday 1.15.11

Wake Up:
8:00 am

Devotion:

Workout:
WOD: Rest and Recovery

Thursday 1.13.11

Wake Up:
5:30 am

Devotion:
Streams in the Desert
In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Rom 8:37)

How can we be more than conquerors? We can receive from the conflict a spiritual discipline that will greatly strengthen our faith and establish our spiritual character. Temptation is necessary to establish and ground us in our spiritual life. It is like the fierce winds that cause the mighty cedars on the mountainside to sink their roots more deeply into the soil. Out spiritual conflicts are among our most wonderful blessings, and the Adversary is used to train us for his own ultimate defeat. The ancient Phrygians of Asia Minor had a legend that every time they conquered an enemy, they absorbed the physical strength of their victims and added to their own strength and bravery. And in truth, meeting temptation victoriously doubles our spiritual strength and weaponry. Therefore it is possible not only to defeat our enemy but also to capture him and make him fight in our ranks.

Endurance of hardship is the making of the person. Hardship builds character.

Workout:
WOD: Rest and Recovery

Notes:

• Body: 
• Pretty sore so took today as a rest day. Was planning on a 4.2 mile ruck but will do that Saturday morning instead. Did some light low intensity calisthenics today but other than that trying to catch up on some sleep and stretch out the legs. 

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

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."