Fitness: What Does It Really Mean?

By Don Otis –

I just read an article in National Geographic about solo-climbing some of the great walls in Yosemite, namely El Capitan. What used to take days or even weeks is now done in a matter of hours, sometimes without a rope. You read that right. One mistake, one missed foothold, fear, fatigue and you are dead! This takes extreme conditioning and plenty of mental acuity. I don’t recommend it.

For most of us, fitness is an elusive dream that we never manage to achieve. If you look at health, fitness or fashion magazines you can feel insecure. Few of us will ever be completely satisfied by how we look or how fit we are. That’s why we’re talking about how to define fitness in this column. In general terms, fitness involves our ability to fulfill a particular physical task or role. This definition will change based on the task. For example, if you want to run a marathon the task is much greater than if you want to walk up a flight of stairs. For an older person, getting up a flight of stairs or walking around the block may be a big challenge.

Physical fitness is most often defined as the capacity to carry out the day’s activities, pursue recreational activities, and have the physical capability to handle emergency situations. This raises more questions than it provides answers. For example, can a person be overweight and be fit at the same time? Yes, in some cases. Obesity is another matter. It hampers our ability to perform the basic functions of everyday life. These also vary depending on whether you are a ditch digger or sit at your desk all day like I do.

The majority of us just want to enjoy life, do the things we take pleasure in, and not huff and puff our way around a park or up a trail. Others of us are goal-oriented and feel the need to achieve through physically challenging experiences. As a general rule, you should engage in some activity five days a week for twenty to thirty minutes that gets your heart rate up to 70 percent of more of your maximum. If you are faithful and consistent, you can call yourself fit.

The elevated heart rate is necessary for putting an adequate workload on your cardiovascular system (heart and lungs). This means that going to the gym a couple of times a week or walking lazily around the block is often not enough. Your fitness level is directly proportionate to how hard you work. One’s fitness level and effort at 60 is clearly not the same for someone in their 20s so this is why checking your heart rate and maintaining it during exercise is important.

Finally, your level of fitness is not just exercise-related. It involves far more, such as how you’re doing emotionally and spiritually, as well as what you consume. Imagine putting sugar water in your gas tank and expecting your car to operate effectively. It won’t.

In order to be totally fit, we must consider exercise as well as what we put into our minds (such as television and movies) and what we put into our bodies.

God’s Batteries

By Jarrod Spencer –

Each parent knows that many of children’s toys need batteries. They are required so the toy can operate, which translates into loud noises, lighting up, or constant movement. A friend of ours gave my son a ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ toy that only used one battery to run. That battery  lasted well over a year. To be honest, my wife and I were very thankful the day that battery was finally used up.

If you’re like me, it can be annoying to hear those toys keep going and going. You look forward to the day that the batteries are drained of their power.

But what happens when God’s batteries run out?

Last month, my family was coming home from attending my niece’s dance recital. It was dark, and there was a storm off in the distance on the right side of the road.

My three-year old son was intrigued by all the lightning that flashed in the dark sky. As his head turned toward the lightning, to our right, he noticed something peculiar off to the left – no lightning.

He watched the left for a few moments with this new found knowledge of no lightning and then said, “There isn’t any lightning on this side. I think the lightning ran out of batteries.”

His mother and I laughed for a while over his simple observance and interpretation.

I love to hear his innocence in these kinds of statements and trust that God must get a great deal of enjoyment out of them also. As adults, but still children of God, I wonder how often we make Him laugh over what we say at various times.

PRAYER: Father, I love being a father and I thank You for the opportunity to have these kinds of moments in my children’s lives. Thank You for my family. Thank You for creating this memory for our family.

“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18: 4 NIV).

Children’s Book Leads Ladies to Jesus

By Pam Kumpe   –

Do you wonder if you are making a difference? Or have you asked how certain events will impact the future for others?

Ten year ago, I wrote a story about a dog named Schade who tasted the foot of Jesus after he followed the shepherds to the manger. The premise for the book was based on Psalm 34:8 taste and see that the Lord is good.

In my original manuscript this stray dog becomes Jesus’ first pet—only much like the story which got tucked away inside of a box, we often feel like strays in life, wondering if we matter.

Encouraged by a series of events last year, I wanted to bring my story out of the archives, and I wanted to look at reworking the tale, to see what I might do with the poor lost dog that never made it into a storybook.

As I dusted off the pages, an amazing journey took place and Schade who seemed lonely was given a new friend, Priscilla, a sheep with an annoying personality trait of talking too much. She also thought she was called to do a makeover on Schade. He was her new project.

It’s like I heard Schade and Priscilla talking in my head, the playful way Priscilla would speak to Schade, and then in return I’d hear this gruff sounding dog sneeze at being allergic to Priscilla as he tried to run her off, to get her out and away from brushing his tail.

This children’s book took on new life; the banter between best friends jumped from the pages.

Then, I needed an illustrator and through another series of events I hired Ron Wheeler to draw my characters. He captured them exactly as I’d pictured and the book became a 32-page tale of tasting the goodness of God and discovering the makeover of the heart—comes from Jesus.

On May 11, 2011 the books arrived, and I took a copy to the Recovery Center where I hold Sunday morning church service. I shared the tale with my ladies, to take them to Ezekiel 34 in the Bible and how God is like our shepherd and how he is looking for the stray sheep.

By sharing this story from my book and then by using God’s Word to match our hearts with the love Jesus has for the stray, well—the altar call at the end of the service changed my own heart.

C-girl, one of the ladies in recovery came up to me, and she wanted to give her heart to the Lord. I prayed with her, our tears mixed with joy and she was spiritually renewed. Then, in a move that I credit to the working of the Holy Spirit, some 20 ladies also gave their hearts to Jesus as they wanted to make sure they were God’s kid, his child, that they were a part of the family.

I have only one thing to say about this entire story about Schade and his best friend Priscilla—the Lord is after the stray in all of us.

Never underestimate how God can use a story, how God can touch a life, how Jesus loves us—too much—to forget about us. He’ll never toss our life story away, or tuck it away in a box. He’s ready to bind our hearts with hope and give us a tasty life with Him, and it’s all about God’s timing!

A Dangerous Exception

By Rosemary Flaaten –

My task was to whip up a skillet of scrambled eggs for my hungry family. As I cracked one egg after another into my mixing bowl, suddenly an egg hit the mixture that looked a little odd. The yolk was not firm and was a darker orange color. Had the bacon not been sizzling beside me, I would have also noticed the slight pungent odor that wafted from this latest addition. But in my haste, I rationalized that the yolk in question really wasn’t any different than the others and that it wouldn’t affect the taste or quality. My family had a different response, though, when they tasted those eggs. Disgust and gagging brought our family brunch to a premature close.

All the eggs were fresh except one. That one egg became a dangerous exception.

King Solomon had ascended the throne of Israel and scripture tells us that he “showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the statutes of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places” (1 Kings 3:3 NIV– emphasis added). Solomon seemed to be doing everything right by serving God, but he, too, has a dangerous exception in his life. God had been very clear that His people were to have nothing to do with the pagan gods and their spiritual rituals. Solomon chose to follow God’s ways, except in this one area, which eventually drew him away from God with devastating results.

My cooking experience and my study of Solomon has caused me to evaluate my own heart and life to see what dangerous exceptions I have allowed in my life. Could it be said of me that I follow hard after God, except that I choose to be self-sufficient?  Am I obedient to God’s commands, except that I coddle the secret sin of envy? Do I love my neighbor, except for when she gossips about me?

Do you have any dangerous exceptions in your life and heart?

PRAYER: God show me where my heart has become calloused to your conviction and give me the courage to deal with the dangerous exceptions You reveal.

“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38 NIV).

Would You Smell This?

By Rhonda Rhea –

Tell me you’re not one of those people who says to another family member, “Hey, would you smell this?” Unless we’re talking fresh flowers, new cologne or hot-out-of-the-oven bread, that’s rarely a question that causes a family member think, “Oh boy, this is going to be great!”

Why is it that there are those who see chunks in the milk or come across questionable socks in between the clean and dirty pile of laundry, and (emphasis on this next part) being unwilling to sniff any of it themselves, sort of pawn the smell off on someone else? I don’t want to smell this. It might be disgusting. Here, you do it.

Isn’t the sense of smell the only one of the five senses that we regularly use as a weapon? It’s a little like chemical warfare, isn’t it? There should be a standing universal rule of etiquette, approved by the Geneva Convention, that says you should never ask anyone to smell something you’re not willing to smell yourself. Sort of a “smell unto others as you would have them smell unto you” rule. I don’t think we could call it a golden rule, but maybe at least aluminum.

On the spiritual side, anytime we encourage people to live a life of righteousness for Christ when we’re not living it ourselves, we’re definitely sniffing up the wrong tree, as it were. We need to make it our own personal universal rule to follow Jesus out of love for Him. It’s the right thing to do. And as a bonus, it’s a testimony that prompts those around us in right living. Psalm 106:2 asks the question, “Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the Lord or fully declare his praise?” (NIV). Then the psalmist answers the question in the next verse:  “Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right.”

Not to be too nosy here, but have you asked yourself recently if you’re making a positive difference in this world by the way you’re living? Are you maintaining justice? Constantly doing what is right? Is your testimony of righteousness influencing and inspiring those around you to live well too?

Making a personal rule of consistently doing what is right out of love for Christ is always the best idea. It’s ever so much more important than living life according to the aluminum rule—or any other precious metal rule we can come up with. A personal rule of obedience is one that helps spread the charge to right living beyond ourselves as we proclaim his mighty acts and fully declare his praise, just as the psalmist inspires. And that’s like a sweet smelling offering to the Lord. Isn’t that a blessing of the sweetest spiritual olfactory kind?

Of course back on the physical olfactory side, I’m thinking it’s also a good idea to make it a personal rule that if you see chunks in the milk, don’t even bother sniffing. Just have some coffee.

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