I've been slow in posting recently, we've been out of town, Sarah's not sleeping again, etc etc etc. One thing that's been weighing on my mind (and stomach) since Tuesday is another correlation between our spiritual lives and physical. After swim class, we went out to eat with a bunch of Ginger's friends at the local pizza buffet. I knew I'd eat some pizza, so I had a pretty big salad before.
As I ate a couple slices, I thought, this isn't **that** bad... However, about 5 minutes after eating, it was. My stomach hurt, I felt bad, actually felt guilty plus felt like I'd been ran over by a truck. It was the stinkin pizza that I'd just had that didn't taste bad eating.
That's the way it is with our spiritual life as well. We do this or that which doesn't seem that bad, but before you know it, we've done way too much of it. Maybe it is something that in and of itself is not bad unless taken to extremes. But... then comes the reckoning when that activity or word or whatever hits. We feel bad, we wish we hadn't, but it is too late. It's done.
The other thing that comes to mind is that before I started eating better, we'd go to these places occasionally and I'd leave not feeling bad. That intake was normal. When we continue doing things we shouldn't, our spiritual lives become such that our conscience dwindles and dwindles.
Let's join together by getting the pizza buffets out of our spiritual lives, then let's get them out of our physical lives.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Running and Boxing (no this isn't Rocky 127)
I've been thinking all week, what is next? I keep going back to 1 Timothy 4:8: For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. (thanks, http://www.biblegateway.com).
The verse really could mean different things to different people. One could look at it and say, "well the Bible clearly says that physical training is of little or no value, so why do it?" I, on the other hand, see that the Bible mentions it and the verse seems to say, at least to me, that physical training is important, but not nearly as important as spiritual training. OK... I got that; had that before. What keeps ringing in my head, though, is the mention of physical training. I mean, it could have said the color clothes you wear, the kind of breakfast you have or any of a million things. So, I'm thinking Paul must be saying physical training is important. Why else would he mention it?
Let's think a little broader, Paul also mentions in 1 Corinthians: "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." Hebrews (author unknown, but credited to Paul) says "let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith".
So the New Testament authors are telling us of running and boxing. Preparing our bodies for these two sports. I see from this, that if I have my body under control and tamed for running, I have it under control when other temptations come about. I need to be training to "run with perseverance". Once I have my body tamed, then I'll be in better shape for the spiritual combat I'm faced with every day.
Don't do like I did for so long and pass over the boxing reference. Boxing back in these days was nothing like it is today. Boxers wore gloves with spikes in them and usually fought until one was dead or at least incapacitated. Sounds like something I'd want to be in great shape for, what about you? That also reminds me of the stakes of our spiritual "boxing" we do every day. The stakes are high and there are no time-outs. Let's get our bodies in shape and prepare our bodies and spirits for the boxing matches of the day.
May He increase and i decrease,
shane
The verse really could mean different things to different people. One could look at it and say, "well the Bible clearly says that physical training is of little or no value, so why do it?" I, on the other hand, see that the Bible mentions it and the verse seems to say, at least to me, that physical training is important, but not nearly as important as spiritual training. OK... I got that; had that before. What keeps ringing in my head, though, is the mention of physical training. I mean, it could have said the color clothes you wear, the kind of breakfast you have or any of a million things. So, I'm thinking Paul must be saying physical training is important. Why else would he mention it?
Let's think a little broader, Paul also mentions in 1 Corinthians: "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." Hebrews (author unknown, but credited to Paul) says "let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith".
So the New Testament authors are telling us of running and boxing. Preparing our bodies for these two sports. I see from this, that if I have my body under control and tamed for running, I have it under control when other temptations come about. I need to be training to "run with perseverance". Once I have my body tamed, then I'll be in better shape for the spiritual combat I'm faced with every day.
Don't do like I did for so long and pass over the boxing reference. Boxing back in these days was nothing like it is today. Boxers wore gloves with spikes in them and usually fought until one was dead or at least incapacitated. Sounds like something I'd want to be in great shape for, what about you? That also reminds me of the stakes of our spiritual "boxing" we do every day. The stakes are high and there are no time-outs. Let's get our bodies in shape and prepare our bodies and spirits for the boxing matches of the day.
May He increase and i decrease,
shane
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Choices
I know I haven't kept up with doing this once a week like I'd planned. It's been a rough few weeks in the Mason household. I've had to make some decisions here and there and the blog, sadly, has lost out a few times. This got me thinking about how choices often times happen way before a decision is made.
We make choices and decisions every day. I choose to eat better than I used to. I choose to excercise. In an earlier post, I wrote that my kids were not going to be a statistic. That is something that we have to choose now, not when they're 12 and experimenting with drinking or 14 and spending "alone time" with boys or... It happens now. We choose now to do things to set our kids up to make responsible choices as they get older. Because of that choice, I choose to work at the job I do so I can be home at night. I choose to put their well being and happiness above my self pride. Most importantly, I choose to put my faith and hope in my Lord, Jesus. We have to make choices, drive a stake in the ground and say "this is how it is". Once we do that, our decisions will follow those choices (most of the time).
We have to choose to stop abusing our bodies with the plethora of crap the marketing firms we call fast food is dishing out. (yes, I used plethora and crap in the same sentence... that's called talent ;-) ). The time for that choice is at home when you're sure you can make that commitment. Not when you're in the drive through lane at the golden arches trying to **decide** what is the least toxic on the menu. Once we've made that choice we decide in the morning to have oatmeal or yogurt or eggs and toast rather than the doughnut drive through on the way to work. Once we choose to eat better, we'll decide our kids don't need the kids meal with the choking hazard painted with lead paint in a cartoon box.
This also applies to our spiritual lives. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Joshua 24:15. Many of us know it says "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" and I like that. I **LOVE** the whole verse though. From http://www.biblegateway.com/ "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD". We have a choice in who we serve, but make no mistake, we will serve someone. So, my challenge to you is a tweak to this verse. If serving God seems undesirable in your sight, that's fine, but don't put it off, choose today whom you will serve. Whether it be yourself, budda, mohamed, money, fame and fortune, or whatever. Bear in mind, these are all temporal "little g" gods that will have no power to keep you from the gates of hell. For me, Ginger, Natalie and Sarah, we will serve the Lord.
Thanks for reading!!!
May He increase and i decrease,
shane
We make choices and decisions every day. I choose to eat better than I used to. I choose to excercise. In an earlier post, I wrote that my kids were not going to be a statistic. That is something that we have to choose now, not when they're 12 and experimenting with drinking or 14 and spending "alone time" with boys or... It happens now. We choose now to do things to set our kids up to make responsible choices as they get older. Because of that choice, I choose to work at the job I do so I can be home at night. I choose to put their well being and happiness above my self pride. Most importantly, I choose to put my faith and hope in my Lord, Jesus. We have to make choices, drive a stake in the ground and say "this is how it is". Once we do that, our decisions will follow those choices (most of the time).
We have to choose to stop abusing our bodies with the plethora of crap the marketing firms we call fast food is dishing out. (yes, I used plethora and crap in the same sentence... that's called talent ;-) ). The time for that choice is at home when you're sure you can make that commitment. Not when you're in the drive through lane at the golden arches trying to **decide** what is the least toxic on the menu. Once we've made that choice we decide in the morning to have oatmeal or yogurt or eggs and toast rather than the doughnut drive through on the way to work. Once we choose to eat better, we'll decide our kids don't need the kids meal with the choking hazard painted with lead paint in a cartoon box.
This also applies to our spiritual lives. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Joshua 24:15. Many of us know it says "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" and I like that. I **LOVE** the whole verse though. From http://www.biblegateway.com/ "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD". We have a choice in who we serve, but make no mistake, we will serve someone. So, my challenge to you is a tweak to this verse. If serving God seems undesirable in your sight, that's fine, but don't put it off, choose today whom you will serve. Whether it be yourself, budda, mohamed, money, fame and fortune, or whatever. Bear in mind, these are all temporal "little g" gods that will have no power to keep you from the gates of hell. For me, Ginger, Natalie and Sarah, we will serve the Lord.
Thanks for reading!!!
May He increase and i decrease,
shane
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Fuel and Salt
I've noticed recently that we have lots of food that is no-calorie, low calorie, etc. It got me thinking why do we eat this stuff? Is it really a selling feature to sell food that our bodies use for fuel that has no fuel or has had a lot of the fuel taken out of it? Or has had the fuel altered to be different than the "normal" fuel? Would we buy gas for our cars that has had all or most of the chemicals removed needed for combustion to happen? My truck isn't very new or worth very much money, but I wouldn't put anything like that in it. I buy fuel to be able to go places. So the engine will function the way it should. I want the engine to pull a load if I am pulling a trailer, I want it to make my truck go fast if I "floor-it". Let's go a bit further. I buy either gas or E85 for my truck because that is what it was designed to use. It wasn't designed to use diesel, but it is sold where gas is and looks a lot like gas. My truck wouldn't function well, if at all, if I started putting diesel in it (plus, have you seen the prices of diesel???)
Our bodies need nourishment from the food we eat, which includes calories we use for fuel. I had a co-worker ask me the other day if I am still counting calories or not. He was taken aback when I told him I never counted calories. I ate (and still eat) when I'm hungry and I stop or don't eat when I'm not. Throw in some exercise and you've got what dropped between 90 and 100 lbs off me and is still off. The trick is eating the right foods.
So, I come back to my first question... What are these foods (and I use that term VERY loosely) that have had the calories taken out of them? Do we eat them to get full and limit the intake of calories? There is some logic there, but if we're hungry, shouldn't we eat? If we're not, why are we putting things in our mouth? Isn't hunger our body telling us it needs something? Let's concentrate on getting food in our bodies that our bodies can use (like gas in our cars) and let's stop putting things in there manufactured for the taste/smell/appearance. Let's face it... once we're done with it, it all looks the same! Our bodies will function better and I bet if you're not the weight you should be, that you'll notice your clothes fitting better really soon.
We don't need to put tons of calories in our body just for more energy, we can over do. Plus, not all calories were created equal. There are good ones and bad ones. Calories our body can effectively and efficiently use and others that it doesn't know what to do with. There are gas pumps and diesel pumps.
When we go to the grocery store, how do we know which "pump" to use? Look for foods that were not processed. Fruits and veggies from the produce section. Get fresh meats. Remember, God didn't put any of our food in boxes for us.
I've rambled on pretty good about this empty stuff we're putting in our bodies and calling food. What can I use to apply to my walk with God in this? In Matthew and Mark, Jesus talks about Christians being the salt of the Earth and asks what salt that has lost it's flavor is good for. Are we the kind of Christians that make up programs, classes, even whole churches that don't provide saltiness? If our job is to add flavor, why are we bland? And if we're bland, what are we good for? Let's all, as Christians, come out of the box! Let's be good for something. If I were put among a group of people, would they be changed? Would there be a difference in the group? I hope so, but have to admit, I'm probably at best half salty. I'm working on becoming more salty, though. What about you? How salty are you? What are you doing to add flavor? Are you trying to add the right flavor?
May He Increase and i decrease!
Our bodies need nourishment from the food we eat, which includes calories we use for fuel. I had a co-worker ask me the other day if I am still counting calories or not. He was taken aback when I told him I never counted calories. I ate (and still eat) when I'm hungry and I stop or don't eat when I'm not. Throw in some exercise and you've got what dropped between 90 and 100 lbs off me and is still off. The trick is eating the right foods.
So, I come back to my first question... What are these foods (and I use that term VERY loosely) that have had the calories taken out of them? Do we eat them to get full and limit the intake of calories? There is some logic there, but if we're hungry, shouldn't we eat? If we're not, why are we putting things in our mouth? Isn't hunger our body telling us it needs something? Let's concentrate on getting food in our bodies that our bodies can use (like gas in our cars) and let's stop putting things in there manufactured for the taste/smell/appearance. Let's face it... once we're done with it, it all looks the same! Our bodies will function better and I bet if you're not the weight you should be, that you'll notice your clothes fitting better really soon.
We don't need to put tons of calories in our body just for more energy, we can over do. Plus, not all calories were created equal. There are good ones and bad ones. Calories our body can effectively and efficiently use and others that it doesn't know what to do with. There are gas pumps and diesel pumps.
When we go to the grocery store, how do we know which "pump" to use? Look for foods that were not processed. Fruits and veggies from the produce section. Get fresh meats. Remember, God didn't put any of our food in boxes for us.
I've rambled on pretty good about this empty stuff we're putting in our bodies and calling food. What can I use to apply to my walk with God in this? In Matthew and Mark, Jesus talks about Christians being the salt of the Earth and asks what salt that has lost it's flavor is good for. Are we the kind of Christians that make up programs, classes, even whole churches that don't provide saltiness? If our job is to add flavor, why are we bland? And if we're bland, what are we good for? Let's all, as Christians, come out of the box! Let's be good for something. If I were put among a group of people, would they be changed? Would there be a difference in the group? I hope so, but have to admit, I'm probably at best half salty. I'm working on becoming more salty, though. What about you? How salty are you? What are you doing to add flavor? Are you trying to add the right flavor?
May He Increase and i decrease!
Monday, April 18, 2011
What are we thinking (or ARE we thinking)?
You know, I've been thinking about making cakes and how that is different than it used to be. Not sure what got me on this road, but I've been on it for a week or two now. Ages ago, if you wanted to make a cake, from my understanding, you'd get some flour, eggs, milk, sugar and butter and, if you mixed the right amount of that stuff together, you'd end up with a cake.
Let's fast forward to now when we've gotten soooo smart and made so many advances. I don't know what order we advanced so much in, so I'm just going to go in this direction. We decided that whole grain flour really wasn't needed, so we have processed all the nutrients out and ended up with white paste that you can literally make glue out of. Then, we really don't need butter; we can use shortening or margarine because we manufacture that stuff rather than take milk and churn it into butter. It will be cheaper and everyone wins then, right? While we're at it, let's do away with the milk and eggs to and put in manufactured stuff rather than the natural stuff. The bottom line is important isn't it? Well now we're making these things in labs rather than kitchens and people can't really come up to the lab to get a cake or slice of cake, so we have to add preservatives to the cake, and I love this, "to preserve freshness". Thank goodness for this, your chemicals really can't be too fresh, can they? What are preservatives? These are other chemicals that inhibit the food from decomposing and, I'm sure, have some impact on us digesting the concoction we have.
Now, our waist lines are expanding (talk about watching the bottom line), so we have to make this healthy, right? Let's take the sugar out and put in artificial sweetener and lower the caloric value so it will now be healthy... Man, we are SMART! We have now taken the natural sugar out of the chemical frankenstien we've created to make it healthy!
The same goes for our spiritual lives... we introduce a little of this and a little of that until we no longer have a real walk with God. The Bible does say all things are permitted for Christians, but we don't follow through with the rest of that verse where it says but not all things are profitable. We take our daily Bible study out and replace it with a little extra sleep. Then, we take out some prayer time for a few extra minutes at work. Then we take out, well you get the picture. Before long, we don't have the wonderful treat we had when we started. We have something that looks like the real thing, may even smell and taste like the real thing, but is actually full of things that will literally poison us.
Let's stop engineering our food and our walk with God. Let's let both be combinations of natural, basic things to make a very special treat we can savor and enjoy.
May He increase and i decrease,
Shane
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
What are we thinking?
We as Americans are INCREDIBLY blessed! We also do some incredibly crazy things. We actually have an industry that seems to be doing very well based on us just being hoarders or greedy or something. Have you noticed how many storage building rental places there are around and going up everywhere? We pay money to store crap we don't think worthy of keeping at our house. This may make sense if we had really small houses here, but we have a term called mcmansions describing how big our houses are getting.
The Bible says "Where your heart is, there is your treasure also". I don't think there was a Jerusalem mini-storage back then. Think we could scale down today? Do we have things in our houses we could get rid of (regardless if we actually rent a storage building or not)? More importantly, what kind of junk do we have in our diet? Even more importantly, what do we have in our spiritual life that needs to go?
Here's to a week of getting garage sale stuff together, cutting junk out of what we eat and cleaning out our heart.
May He increase and i decrease,
Shane
The Bible says "Where your heart is, there is your treasure also". I don't think there was a Jerusalem mini-storage back then. Think we could scale down today? Do we have things in our houses we could get rid of (regardless if we actually rent a storage building or not)? More importantly, what kind of junk do we have in our diet? Even more importantly, what do we have in our spiritual life that needs to go?
Here's to a week of getting garage sale stuff together, cutting junk out of what we eat and cleaning out our heart.
May He increase and i decrease,
Shane
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Progress or Re-gress
About 2 months or so ago, I noticed a nice elderly man in the local grocery store. He looked as he belonged in our middle/upper class grocery store and I almost didn't give him a second thought. Normally, I wouldn't have paid much attention to his cart, but I noticed his cart that day. He had a box of butter or margarine and one or two other items, but not much. That hit me for some reason and I started thinking of how different the foods we eat are now versus when this gentleman was young. Back then, we didn't have the modern advances we have now like hydrogenated/partially hydrogenated oils, 2-3 kinds of fast food/drive throughs on every corner, gas stations actually sold gas and not lunch, etc. Is that progress or what?
Let's think of other ways that we've "progressed"... Prayer out of schools, metal detectors in and teen pregnancy booming. More two income families, more divorce, more debt and less concern about either. More individualism and less individual responsibility. Tolerance for every belief under the sun, except for the One who made that sun.
So, we now have progressed this far during my lifetime. I am about to turn 40, so any of you out there older than me, feel free to chime in about your memories. Any of you my age and younger, tell me... How does this progress sound? If this is progress, I want to regress. I want more real food, more real family time and most of all more real time one-on-One with my creator and the One who paid for my salvation. I've taken steps toward more real food by changing what I eat, I've taken steps toward more family time by taking a job that pays much less than I'm accustomed to making so I can be home every night and am working on devoting more time to the One who I owe it all to. It is my desire that this will spread to others.
We see what progression has done to our way of life. I am determined that my family will NOT be a statistic or a casualty of this progress. Unless I'm called out of this world, my kids will know their dad and I will be a major part of their lives. My wife will know that she is safe with me and if I'm late coming home, it is because I'm stuck in traffic or something of that sort. There is a phone call on the way. My family might not always like me being around, but they will know I will be there. Now that I'm 95 lbs lighter and in better shape, I can be a bigger part of their lives for longer. I won't be a spectator with a CPAP and oxygen machine; I will be in the fight, leading the charge for a better way of life.
Will you join me in regressing?
Let's think of other ways that we've "progressed"... Prayer out of schools, metal detectors in and teen pregnancy booming. More two income families, more divorce, more debt and less concern about either. More individualism and less individual responsibility. Tolerance for every belief under the sun, except for the One who made that sun.
So, we now have progressed this far during my lifetime. I am about to turn 40, so any of you out there older than me, feel free to chime in about your memories. Any of you my age and younger, tell me... How does this progress sound? If this is progress, I want to regress. I want more real food, more real family time and most of all more real time one-on-One with my creator and the One who paid for my salvation. I've taken steps toward more real food by changing what I eat, I've taken steps toward more family time by taking a job that pays much less than I'm accustomed to making so I can be home every night and am working on devoting more time to the One who I owe it all to. It is my desire that this will spread to others.
We see what progression has done to our way of life. I am determined that my family will NOT be a statistic or a casualty of this progress. Unless I'm called out of this world, my kids will know their dad and I will be a major part of their lives. My wife will know that she is safe with me and if I'm late coming home, it is because I'm stuck in traffic or something of that sort. There is a phone call on the way. My family might not always like me being around, but they will know I will be there. Now that I'm 95 lbs lighter and in better shape, I can be a bigger part of their lives for longer. I won't be a spectator with a CPAP and oxygen machine; I will be in the fight, leading the charge for a better way of life.
Will you join me in regressing?
May He increase and i decrease,
shane
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
