faith

Devotional for January 4

January 4, 2023January 31, 2023 Bruce ColemanLeave a comment

Ascribe to the Lord Glory and Strength

29 Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength.
2 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.
7 The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.
10 The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever.
11 The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace. Psalm 29 (KJV)

The Prayer Appointed for This Week

O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. The Book of Common Prayer

The Morning Inspiration

We will limit what is possible without adequate belief in the truth. There are two types of believers. There are those who believe the truth, and then there are those who sincerely think they believe the truth. The first can be known by the fruit of the Spirit manifested in their life. Blindness of the unbelief in their heart keeps the second type from seeking the very mercy they need from God. The righteous are called to live by faith. From faith to faith is a chain of belief that weakens with any link of unbelief allowed to remain in the heart. It is so easy to convince ourselves to spare the best of the sheep like king Saul. He turned back from following God with his whole heart. Saul’s example serves to warn us that we are often in danger of being led astray by unbelief to follow our own limited reasoning, our own feelings about what is true, and/or the worldly wisdom without God taught in our secular educational institutions. Believe God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength. Jesus has said that the one who obeys Him is the one who loves Him. To obey Him, we must believe Him. To believe Him, we must know Him. There is no substitute for knowing God. We come to know God just as we come to know anyone. We come to know any person we live with by watching what they do and listening to what they say. In time, learn what they like and dislike. We are able to recognize their voice by its tone and manners of speech. Intimate relationship allows us to understand how a person thinks and what they are likely to do and not do. We can have such an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. It starts with the plain matter of fact getting to know Him that comes from watching and listening to Him in the four gospel books of the Holy Bible. Dare to believe that Jesus is Christ, and you will come to know Him without doubt. Almighty God, infinite in wisdom and goodness, can certainly turn any weak link into strength. He will not break a bruised reed that calls upon Him with sincerity. Therefore, pray my brothers and sisters. Pray for His help to overcome all unbelief. All things are possible to the one who believes. Therefore, pray and believe.

Today’s Question to Consider

Can you share an example of a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) displayed in everyday life?

fitness

Workout On the Fly

January 3, 2023January 14, 2023 Bruce ColemanLeave a comment

Biceps curl with Fat Gripz and blood flow restoration bands

Workout Log 002

How does that old saying go about the best laid plans of mice and men? Started my workout this morning with a gnawing feeling that the workout plan I came up with yesterday wasn’t so smart. There are three main ways to increase intensity: 1) increase the resistance; 2) increase the frequency; or 3) increase the volume. It is not smart to make increases in more than one of these ways at a time. If we do, best case is we end up being really sore the next day, and the worst case is we get injured. I would spare you the pain of obtaining this bit of knowledge that is usually only acquired at the Experiential University of Hard Knocks. Still, I nearly fell into the temptation to increase both volume and frequency. Came to my senses somewhere in the beginning of this morning’s workout. I will share the details of my new plan when I have more time.

Even with being a little preoccupied with working out a new workout plan, I still managed to get in a half way decent light dumbbell session this morning. Here’s what it looked like this morning:

PLANNED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Start/Finish – 0430/0600	04:3506:25
Daily Min. (Floor)	short form	didn’t time it, but estimate about 10 minutes.
Jump Rope Tabata	skipped	Will try to move this to a PM workout after work today.
Ab Wheel	as planned	10 reps on knees
Light Dumbbell Pump Feast	decided to do only half	Chest: 3 moves, 30+1 reps each move Biceps: 4 moves, 30+1 reps each move Triceps: 4 moves, 30+1 reps each move Shoulders: skipped Traps: skipped Back: skipped
Mandatory Poses	as planned	May start skipping this one and leaving it for the PM session.

The purpose of this blog is to encourage, inspire, and connect with other like-minded Christian men who are over the age of 40. Subscribe with your email. Leave some comments pertaining to the faith, fitness, bodybuilding, and working out. Praying that all who find this blog may be blessed by it.

faith

Devotional for January 3

January 3, 2023January 31, 2023 Bruce ColemanLeave a comment

Hands around a globe reminding all that God has the world in His hands

Tremble, O Earth, at the Presence of the Lord

114 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
2 Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.
3 The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
5 What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?
6 Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;
8 Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters. Psalm 114 (KJV)

The Prayer Appointed for This Week

The Morning Inspiration

Working out seems to be a paradox at the first. We often exercise to the point of fatigue to build more energy and strength. In a similar way, we must be humble enough to acknowledge our own weakness before we will pray for the strengthening grace of God. Grace is offered to all, but only faith receives it. Daily we must feed on the Word. We spend years in schools that undermine faith. The mechanical worldview has come to dominate all aspects of daily life. We are constantly surrender by advertising and entertainment that draws us to the things of this world and openly mocks the gospel more and more every day. Such worldly ideas, void of the knowledge of God, have consequences. Perhaps all of these things are examples of the flood from the serpent’s mouth spoken of in Revelation 12:15. Who will save us from all that is set against us to cause us to be carried away by the ways of this world? Let us humbly turn to God with all our heart and receive the grace of Lord we so desperately need. We can do all things though Christ only because of the love God has for us. By faith, which is setting our will to refuse all that is contrary to faith in His name, are we saved to the uttermost. We believe the witness of men we deem trustworthy. How much more should we accept the witness of the living God who loves us. The only reason we can love Him is because He has first loved us. Remain in His love, set your mind right, fix your eyes on Jesus, and seek to know Him better. This is His will for us in Christ Jesus.

Today’s Question to Consider

What can we do to help us to remember our Lord Jesus throughout the day?

fitness

First Workout of 2023

January 2, 2023January 14, 2023 Bruce ColemanLeave a comment

Grey breaded man over 40 holding kettlebell in clean position

Workout Log 001

Today’s workout was tough! Normally I feel strong for the Monday’s workout after my one rest day a week on Sunday. I suppose me staying up pass my bedtime last night is the most likely cause. I’m early to bed and early to rise like clock work at the same time everyday, weekday, weekend, high water, low water, or whatever. I aim to make it the same. Getting your body used to a set sleep and wake time is the first step to sleeping better. It’s always harder to get up in the morning when my normal 7-to-8 hours of sleep time has been disturbed. I sure didn’t feel like getting out of bed when the alarm went off this morning, but that didn’t matter.

So what was I doing up pass my bedtime? If you know me, you know that doesn’t usually happen. After dinner last night, I decided to watch Netflix. My habit has become to spend about 20-to-30 minutes looking at trailers before deciding that there is nothing worth watching and then getting up to do something else. Last night was one of the rare occasions when I did stumble onto a movie that was worth the time it took to watch it. It was called the Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. It is set in Africa and based on a true story. Most of the movie shows a level of hardship most of us American’s cannot comprehend. I do feel the need to tell you that it has a happy ending though. I didn’t want to stop in the sad middle parts, so I had to see it through to the end before going to bed. It made me late going to bed, but I’m still glad I saw this movie. It reminded me of two things; 1) how many little every day blessings I have been taking for granted; and 2) The Lord’s revelation of the kingdom principle about the one to whom much is given, much will be required (see Luke 12:48). I went to bed with the fire to pray and work fully stoked.

Back to today’s workout. At 46 degrees F, it felt warm compared to last week. This was my A workout with the kettlebell being the centerpiece. Of all the gym/fitness equipment I’ve have ever owned, the kettlebell is by far my favorite. It is literally as good as a whole gym in one compact iron ball with a handle. I like to drive when I travel so that I can always take it with me. The snatch got the call for the random 20 reps this morning. These were made doubly hard due to the fact that I wasn’t feeling particularly strong today. I still consider this a good workout though. It’s just it wasn’t among my best. This is common to all, completely normal, and to be expected from time to time. These less than great workouts are still vital though. Anybody can have a great workout when they are feeling strong and have more than enough energy for the work, but feeling not strong and barely able to get it done builds mental toughness far better than the feeling great workouts ever could. And this type of mental toughness transfers to every aspect of life.

I’ve decided to try increasing the frequency of my workouts this year. Hitting each A and B workout three times a week instead of the two each I’ve been doing for the past few months. I’ve also deceived to make my C workout into the second workout of the day. Maybe with the jump rope and only one superset of calves each day. Not sure how my body will respond to this somewhat large increase in frequency and volume. Like they say in Colombia…vamos a ver.

PLANNED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Start/Finish – 0430/0600	04:22/06:45	First day back to work is tomorrow for me, so I wasn’t too concerned with the time.
Daily Min (Feet)	as planned	a little mentally distracted
Jump Rope Tabata	as planned	Reached a milestone. Didn’t catch the rope at all. Will continue at least another week with no change to hone the groove.
Vitalizer	not planned	I had forgotten to take my pre-skin brushing sup (niacin 250mg) before the jump rope, so I took it after and did ten minutes here to await the flush.
Skin Brushing	as planned
Ab Wheel	as planned	10 reps on knees
Kettlebell	as planned	Goblet Squat 10 reps Australian chin-up 10 reps Swing 10 reps each arm Dive Bomber Push-up 10 reps Snatch 4 sets of 5 reps each arm
Mandatory Poses	as planned	I got through it, but I was left totally out of gas when I finished.

faith

Devotional for January 2

January 2, 2023January 31, 2023 Bruce ColemanLeave a comment

Give Glory to His Name

105 O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.
2 Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.
3 Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.
4 Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face evermore.
5 Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;
8 He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.
9 Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac;
10 And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: Psalm 105:1-5, 8-10 (KJV)

The Prayer Appointed for This Week

The Morning Inspiration

The brain is the sense making organ of the flesh and the heart is the meaning ascribing organ of the spirit. Some of the most intelligent of this world profess that only what is seen is real, therefore it is impossible for them to understand the evil desires of their own hearts. The believer on the other hand, has the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to enlighten his or her worldview. It’s choosing faith in God over what we see and feel which makes all the difference in how we make sense and ascribe meaning to our experience in this life. It is just not possible to determine how best to live using the scientific method alone. Truth had to be revealed to us by the written word of God. Faith without reason is incomplete, but reason without believing is worst as it leads only to death. Believe first, then let reasoning provide support. This will allow faith to grow strong like the Centurion who reasoned that Jesus could heal his servant with just a word because of His divine authority.

Today’s Question to Consider

What happens when our reasoning conflicts with the word of God?

fitness

3 Steps to Make New Year’s Resolutions Stick

January 1, 2023January 6, 2023 Bruce ColemanLeave a comment

New Year’s resolutions work. The beginning of a new year is a perfect time to start something new, even though its common for what is resolved to oftentimes end in failure. Take the surge in gym attendance at the beginning of every year for example. By the time the second week of February rolls around, few of the new “gym going resoluters” will remain among the hardcore regulars. This doesn’t have to be. There are three simple steps anyone can do to make their New Year’s resolutions stick like glue. I offer these three steps here, but don’t expect them to be easy.

Step 1: Start with Why and Finish SMART

I’m pretty sure the “start with why” has been a marketing catch phrase somewhere. It is a very important first step. Before making a resolution, ask yourself why it is important to you to do it. The more personal and important it is the better. Remembering why you are doing something will see you through many dark nights and tough days. Take the time to start with why, and then make your resolutions SMART. SMART is an acronym borrowed from a workshop I facilitate representing Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. Let’s use a resolution to run a marathon to illustrate.

WHAT	HOW	EXAMPLE
Specific	Start with the smallest possible step in the right direction	Look to move ahead by inches. Nothing creates success faster than building on one small victory after another. I will start by walking around the block. Then walking and jogging around the block. Then two blocks. Then a half mile. Program success by small degrees all the way to a marathon.
Measurable	Measurements are necessary to identify progress	For me to run a marathon, I must be able to run a half marathon. For me run a half marathon, I must be able to run a 10K. For me to run a 10k….you get the idea. Keep working backwards until you arrive at where you are today.
Achievable	Dream big, learn from others	I can see myself breaking the tape and winning a marathon. Who has done it before me?
Realistic	Dream big, start small	How have others done it? What obstacles did they overcome? What obstacles will I likely have to overcome? What is the next thing I must do?
Timely	Use “by when” time deadlines	One week to one month provides a good short term target for focused effort. This week I will run three days, and next week I will run four. Don’t get overly discouraged if you are unable to make a time deadline. Don’t be slack. Set a time goal and try your best to meet it. Life happens and when you can’t, make adjustments, set a new time goal, and keep moving forward.

Step 2: Make it Non-Nogotiable

Nike had one of the most successful marketing campaigns of all time using the slogan “just do it.” At least it was until Neil Armstrong had to go and spoil the ride. It was a great slogan because we all have an inner tempter that only wants to do what is easy, fun, and satisfying in the moment. The inner tempter is great at offering excuses and rationalizations for avoiding everything that is not easy, fun, or satisfying in the moment. It has had a lifetime to learn you well enough to craft just the right excuses and rationalizations that are most appealing to you. This is no exaggeration. Learn to recognize your inner tempter’s voice, and making your resolutions non-negotiable is the way to overcome it.

Here’s a personal example of mine from years ago. The alarm clock goes off and immediately the inner temper prompts thoughts like its too early, I’m tired, I can catch up tomorrow, and I deserve a break today. If you enter into debating with the inner tempter, you will lose more often than you will win. The surest way to beat the inner tempter is to avoid getting into a “should I” or “shouldn’t I” deliberation. Overcoming the inner tempter by deliberation is not sustainable because in the end it will require huge amounts of our limited stores of will power to stick to our resoultion. Will power is a big gun better reserved for other battles. Refusing to negotiate with the inner tempter however, requires very little will power. Just do what you have already made the decision to do rather than teeter-tottering over the decision. Ignore the inner tempter and immediately go to work on doing what the inner tempter is trying to get you to avoid. Once action is taken, the inner temper will be silenced and the struggle will be gone. Here are three additional tips I have used to set my daily work habits on automatic:

Tip #1: Do it first thing in the morning soon after getting out of bed. Get up 30 minutes earlier and get it done. If you wait until later, there is a really good chance of all the other cares of the day getting in the way. If it is important for you to do, get it done first thing in the morning. That way whatever else happens during the day, you’ve already got done what you’ve resolved to do.

Tip #2: Never hit the snooze button. This is one of the most useless inventions of the 20th century. Another 10 minutes of laying in bed half asleep doesn’t do anybody any good at all. The alarm goes off, get out of bed and get busy. Settle this before you go to bed at night and make it non-negotiable in the morning.

Tip #3: Avoid rolling out of bed and starting with the news or scrolling through social media. You want to focus on doing what you need to get done. Keep the world and all the social media distractions out. They will still be there when you are finished taking care of the first thing first.

Step 3: Embrace the Suck

This one comes compliments of my years of military service. Embracing the suck means when the pain that brings the gains cannot be avoided, don’t shrink back from it. Accept it, endure it, and get it done. Life will always be full of twists and turns, obstacles and setbacks. It is naive not to expect these things. The ones who consistently overcome are the ones who are willing to take the pain, endure the suffering, and overcome the hardship (in other words to embrace the suck) until they get it done. Hopefully, this won’t require you to dodge any bullets or bombs. Just know that fatigue, not feeling like it, and general laze must be suffered by all of us sooner or later in order to get done what we have decide to do. When that happens, we can either choose to embrace the suck and enjoy the win, or look to avoid what sucks and be forced to suffer the loss.

There you have it. Three steps that will make your resolutions stick like glue. Step 1: Start with Why and Finish SMART; Step 2: Make it Non-Negotiable; and Step 3: Embrace the Suck.

Happy New Year everyone. Now go, get those resolutions done.

faith

Devotional for January 1

January 1, 2023January 31, 2023 Bruce ColemanLeave a comment

Sing to the Lord a New Song

98 O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.
2 The Lord hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.
3 He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
5 Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm.
6 With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.
7 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
8 Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together
9 Before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity. Psalm 98 (KJV)

The Prayer Appointed for This Week

The Morning Inspiration

Calling yourself fat after having prayed for fat loss tempts God and negates your faith. The one who petitions God without trusting Him to grant the request, is like a feather blown about and tossed by the wind. Rather look at your present condition without discouragement and say, “by faith I am healthy, lean, and strong. My God has said first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear. I know my God will perfect all that concerns me.” Pray for the grace you need and consider it done before the mirror or scale reflects the change. Now go to work for it. Believe in the faithfulness of God, and be willing to consistently put in the work. It is wrong to ask God for a miracle to compensate for not following the natural and spiritual laws God has ordained. Turn from all foolishness and hold firmly to the simplicity that is in Christ. According to your faith, so will it be done unto you. Why should anyone think it strange that God Almighty heals with equal ease by miracle as He does by a pill? Believe the gospel. For the Lord has said nothing shall be impossible for us. Trust Him and He will make your Amen strong. Rejoice and let the redeemed of the Lord say, “Amen!”

Today’s Question to Consider

What in your formal education has been the biggest hinderance to your faith?