Body... Recovery

One of the most-talked about "discoveries" this year, at least for amateur athletes, has been "recovery". Professional athletes have been using cycles of four-days-on, two-days-off for years, but how many amateur athletes have the time or patience to let their bodies just do nothing for two days, when an hour-long work-out in the morning is exceptional rather than minimal (especially those of us who have families and jobs that require physical activity)? Likewise for massage, saunas (who but a pro has the time or money?), and relaxation techniques.

But now there are some really good products and techniques on the market that don't cost a lot of money, and us amateurs can take advantage of them for a few minutes a day and still reap some significant benefits. My favorite in the past has been zen-style meditation with a decidedly Christian twist (I taught myself how to clear my mind before God seized me, but now that I am His I meditate on His Word, or pray to relax, rather than focusing on something meaningless or trying to find the "core" of my "being"), but this year I've been really impressed with a product called simply "The Stick" (http://www.thestick.com/ ). (I've got the link on my main page as well as here in this post.)

Maybe sometime I'll tell the story on here of how I intersected paths with that of a deer last year, on April 17th, 2008 (yes, I definitely do sympathize with Matt Lauer), but for now let's just say that the result of that crash left my left hip and lower back very stiff. Just running The Stick over those areas for a few minutes each day has helped bring back some flexibility and feeling, and the results for my legs have been significant as well. I actually don't worry as much about pushing too hard on my strength-interval days, because I know that I can get rid of most of the muscle soreness in my legs on that same day with The Stick, and what remains is usually gone by the third day I use it.

I got my "travel" model from an on-line retailer, but lots of sporting-goods stores and bike shops are starting to carry them (just google "the stick massage" to see lots of places to buy). I recommend the travel size as a good starter, since it costs less than $35 most places and is easy to shove into a gym-bag or suit-case, or carry with you in the car (using The Stick while driving is by no means recommended or endorsed by me -- use it once you get to your destination, or while your spouse drives!).

As God tells us in His Word (remembering the Sabbath day is part of The Ten Commandments and Old Testament law, and Jesus expounded on God's reasons for the Sabbath in the New Testament), "down" days are required of us as humans, and smart recovery depends on us taking the time to treat our bodies well. The Stick is a great invention, but it really just makes use of God's magnificent design of our bodies, including their ability to heal themselves and make themselves stronger.

Soul and Body... Discipline

I found this article on CNN interesting: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/27/fall.dogs.cats/index.html . Did you notice the quotes from the pet-expert (Dr. Doverspike) about how proper training (discipline) brings freedom to the pet itself, in that it knows what to expect?

Why do we want to reduce Godliness to a bunch of psychobabble and/or mysticism (the common theme seems to go something like, "if I just pray about it long enough then I'll feel 'convicted' of what's right"), when God has already provided detailed instructions, telling us exactly what He expects? Why do we as American Christians spend so much more time (and money) "watching" and listening to and reading the "news", and talk-shows, and gossip-magazines, than we do reading His Word and meditating on it? (I'm pretty sure I know the answer, so maybe I'll write about that some other time.)

Wise athletes (especially those of us who would be mediocre otherwise!) discipline their bodies through training, practice, and exercise; those who hunger and thirst after God discipline their hearts and minds through study and meditation on God's Word, through time in prayer, and through true fellowship (not just sitting around talking about the football game!) with other Christians.

Discipline is NOT a bad thing, for heart, mind, body, or soul -- we've just accepted the lie that it is. Growing in grace requires that we vehemently and completely reject such lies.

(Psalms 94:1-13 , Proverbs 3:11-12, Hebrews 12:5-13)

Mind... Our "simple" world

In my job as an engineer, I'm sometimes told that "you're making things complicated." I usually smile and finish my explanation, or try to explain in simpler or more meaningul terms, but what I really want to tell them is that our world is infinitely complicated on its own, and I just exposed a small portion of that complexity to them.

With apologies to all engineers, doctors, scholars, physicists, and anyone else thought to be intellectual out there, I'll share a closely-guarded secret: the world is infinitely complex, and so are the very simplest portions of it. What we engineers do is all based on modeling: we take an infinitely complex system and model it in terms which are so crude that we can understand them, hopefully in a way which will approximate the truth closely enough to allow us to predict some of the results of acting upon it. And engineers are not alone. Think your doctor thoroughly understands your body? Ask him or her to describe the quantum mechanics involved with keeping just one of your cells intact, or even to explain with certainty how any single drug will behave within any single patient on any given day.

As J.I. Packer wrote in his excellent work, Knowing God, what we know about someone or something becomes exponentially more complex as the someone or something becomes more complex. That is, it's easier to "know" a bug (or at least anticipate how it will behave in a given situation) than it is to "know" a horse, and it's almost impossible to really "know" a person (which is why we husbands have the blessing and challenge of continuing to study our wives, recognizing that their feelings and interests can and often do change throughout our lifetimes).

There are lots of reasons for this, including the fact that each mechanism within the physical world has an almost infinite number of parameters affecting its operation. Think of a drop of water running down a window-pane -- it can and will be affected by the size of the water droplet (which also affects surface-tension of the droplet and a host of other parameters), the slope of the window, the frictional coefficient of the window's surface, the gravitational pull on the droplet, the ambient temperature, the speed and direction of the wind, the amount and direction of light (photons), and on and on and on (it makes one's head spin!).

Why then are we surprised, as Christians who believe in an infinite, all-powerful God, that He is infinitely more wise and complex than we are? (My guess is that as limited creatures we get very uneasy, if we are honest with ourselves, with the realization that our sphere of control does not extend as far as our sphere of responsibility, even if it is "our" God who is in control of it all!) There is an aspect of doctrinal understanding that says that God does not just reign over His creation, He sustains it. That is, without His continuous, powerful control over all things, they would all fail within an instant.

The knowledge of this adds to my life one more blessed paradox -- that being confident of God's goodness and wisdom I can know that all things work together for true good, and yet I can have little confidence in the results of my own abilities (but for His grace). I've met engineers who were confident that any and every problem could be overcome if they just thought about it and worked on it long and hard enough, but that is just not the case. God is good in keeping His physical laws constant (our God is a God of physical order), but we usually don't have the resources to predict all of their interactions. I am called upon to be excellent in all I do, and so my limited human mind often necessitates that I fool myself into attacking each problem as though it can be solved, and yet I must take care to continuously call for help from God, Who is the only one who can really solve every problem.

Once again, reality points me to the One True God, for in a world of infinite complexity why would I want to worship a god who is small and definable enough for such a limited creature as me to understand?!?

Body.. Complete with instructions

The One True God is far above any one analogy or role, or even entire sets of comparisons, and yet as I've grown as His child I find that my faith has grown as a result of my growth as an engineer. God is far more than the greatest of engineers, but in engineering we follow rules and guidelines which I see reflected in His creation.

The first of these rules is that things NEVER get better on their own, and in fact the most reliable mechanisms and electronics have "Mean Times Between Failures" and "Uptimes" which are counted in minutes or hours, but seldom in days or weeks. Even the simplest, best-designed processes require maintenance every few days, and none of them are self-sustaining. A few are starting to be called "learning" because they can amass enough data to begin to make better and better "decisions" or even to go faster and faster, but in reality they cannot begin to "learn" until they are set in motion by their human builders, and they cannot sustain themselves without human intervention, including cooling, lubrication, replacement of worn parts, electrical power, and a host of other critical resources.

When God created us (originally perfectly), he too built in certain needs -- food, companionship, emotional fulfillment, warmth, air, sunlight, etc. The fact that we are not self-sustaining points to God, while the fact that we are fragile, limited, immoral, and self-destructive reminds us of our downfall -- sometimes called "original sin". These limits, none of which are outside of God's control, in the light of His Word show us our sin, His Goodness, and our dependence on Him.

One of the other "rules" in engineering is that a process is only as good as those who use it, and maintain it. I would be a pitiful engineer if I set up the most brilliant process in the world and then handed it over without further explanation to people totally unfamiliar with its workings or its maintenance needs, setting them "free" to do whatever they wanted with it. A good manual, and/or set of drawings and instructions, is critical for the process to do what it was designed to do.

God is not limited by engineering rules, but I believe that He too has provided a manual for proper operation and maintenance, in the form of His Word. Countless lives have borne out the impact of His Word upon spirit, emotions, and even mental health, but I believe that His Word also contains the best instructions for healthy physical living. After all, why would the designer's instructions not be the best?

This is a "Body" post, and I realize that I've already gotten way too spiritual for some, so I'll limit my remarks here to God's instructions for our bodies. I recognize God's hierarchy, that our spiritual well-being is far more important than that of our physical bodies, but in calling us to be excellent in all things I am assured that God does not intend for us to neglect our physical bodies at all. On the contrary, His "Old Testament laws" as found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, as well as throughout the rest of His Word, are not to be ignored (except those which Jesus specifically replaced, that is the priesthood and the sacrifices) and in many cases deal with physical well-being.

"Modern research" has borne out what God told His people thousands of years ago; in fact, I would hazard to guess that few of us would live up to "newly" recognized standards for diet, exercise, and rest (often called "recovery" today) as well as an Israelite in 500 BC would have done. Don't eat shellfish, hogs, bottom-feeders, and other toxin-collectors (God designed them for the specific purpose of cleaning up stuff that would be deadly to much of the rest of His creation); work hard for 6 days; rest completely on the seventh day -- God's instructions to His people were specific, intentional, detailed, and good. Dr. Don Colbert does a terrific job of expounding on many of God's dietary and physical laws and instructions, and how to apply them, but really we can get a pretty good understanding of how God's "Levitical laws" aid in our physical welfare by just taking the time to literally read them.

I realize that many, if not most, Christians today, even those who are disposed to careful reading and understanding of the Old Testament, dismiss many of the Levitical laws as not being relevant to us, in the light of Christ for our salvation, and cite the example of Peter's vision of "unclean" foods in Acts 10 as evidence that we don't have to follow the Old Testament dietary guidelines. But Peter's vision led him to take the Gospel to non-Jews -- those he had formerly considered "unclean", and so it was intended (and he understood it) as spiritual teaching, not dismissal of good physical instructions. Jesus Himself said that He came to fulfill the Law, not to destroy it, and Paul pointed out that the Law, given by God, was as such good, even though it was never intended to bring the righteousness of salvation (but instead was intended to show that we could never achieve righteousness apart from God).

There are plenty of Christian cliches I dispute as misleading (or outright lies), but here's one I like: "Read the manual."

(Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Acts 10 and 11, Matthew 5, Romans 7)

Soul... It's Easy (and other lies)

One of the most common inaccuracies I hear in marriage seminars is "men, it's easy for your wives to submit to you if you're doing a good job of loving her and leading your household". I want to jump up and yell, "No it's not! It's IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to fully submit constantly, just like it's impossible for anyone to selflessly love constantly!"

This inaccuracy is often presented to us as "encouragement" for men to love selflessly, as Christ loves the Church, usually within the context of improving "sexual intimacy" within marriage (giving us men the idea that our sweet and somehow-less-sinful wives just need to be nurtured into giving us all we desire when it comes to sex). (Don't get me wrong, we men are commanded to love selflessly, just as our wives are commanded to submit completely, and this includes the arena of sex within marriage -- huge blessings follow obedience to God's commands, but they often don't include the results we want.) Why the people who put on and write material for Christian marriage seminars want to promote this lie baffles me, just as it baffles me that we want to make excuses for God rather than admitting that He's in control of everything, including those destined for salvation.

In fact, we who are saved by His grace are the ONLY ones who have even a chance of submitting, or of loving selflessly sometimes, for just as Augustine wrote, we are the only ones who can choose that which is not sin. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit, living within us, that we can do that which is otherwise impossible.

Don't believe me? Check out Genesis 3:16, where God pronounces His judgment upon women for Eve's sin. I'm incredulous (and cynically amused) that some Bible scholars actually interpret this verse to mean that woman's sexual desire will be for the man (though many women would no doubt think that to be a curse!). No! Women (and therefore men, whom they were designed to help) are cursed with women's desire to take the role of leadership AWAY from men, and our society (and churches) are loaded with examples of women "stepping up" because men "won't" (or won't quickly enough to suit the women watching and waiting).

The Christian life is not easy, or "simple" (though it is for those who are simple, as a word-study within God's Word shows), any more than human life on Earth is. Even becoming a child of God is impossible... except with God! (Matthew 19:26)

(Genesis 3, Matthew 19:16-26)

Soul... Bible Study update

We'll be starting Psalm 119 at 8 pm at Java Jive this Thursday night!

If you're not already in a weekly Bible study group, please consider joining one. If you've studied enough to be Biblically accurate, please consider forming one!

Body... Velocomp iSport

My favorite new "tool" is my iSport from Velocomp (http://www.ibikesports.com/ ). Yes, $210 or so is a lot of money to spend on something that essentially sits on your bicycle handlebars and provides feedback about what your body is doing with said bicycle, but when you consider that a device to get the same feedback costs $1,000 more from any other manufacturer it suddenly becomes a relative "bargain"!

I realize that there are a lot of people out there who just ride their bicycle for fun or to save on gas, and even more people who don't ride a bicycle at all, so I'll keep this fairly short. If you're interested you can find out more about the iSport (and all its big brothers, the iBike Pro and iBike Aero) at Velocomp's website -- just don't pay too much attention to most of what you read about it on the rest of the internet, because most of it is out-dated. Oh, and don't bother trying to pick up a used one "cheap" on eBay, because the current models (Generation III) are a huge step above the Generation I and II units you'll find eBay littered with.

The guys at Velocomp are unusually responsive and customer-oriented, and their product shows a level of thoughtfulness that I usually don't see in electronic devices (and I see a lot of electronic devices). Check their forums on their web-site (http://www.ibikeforums.com/) and you'll see that they answer most questions within a day or two.

One of the best things about the iSport, besides the fact that it displays calculated real-time power in Watts (which is HUGE to a cyclist), is that once you set it up for your bike and do a 20-minute "fitness test" then there are three different workout-types you can choose from, each with at least two "levels" you can select. This means you can work on strength-training one day and cardio the next, and the displays will guide you by telling you what your target wattage should be, along with your actual wattage at that time.

If you ride your bicycle for fitness of any type, whether your goal is losing weight, gaining strength, or punishing your fellow competitors at your next triathlon, this is a product worthy of consideration. Forgive me for sounding like a marketing slogan, but it's true (and no, I've not received anything from Velocomp other than good advice and the iSport, which I paid full price for).

Soul... Tickling the Tale of the Dragon?

One of the men who has been a great influence and mentor to me tells the story of a "game" some physicists used to "play" back in the early days of nuclear experimentation called "Tickling the Tale of the Dragon" (my mentor is a nuclear physicist himself). My understanding is that it involved placing two radioactive materials close enough to each other to start loosing free electrons (which would register as quickening clicks sounded by a Geiger counter), without getting them so close to one another that a full nuclear reaction began (which would register on the Geiger counter as well as on any human soft-tissue nearby!). Predictably, the "game" usually ended with just a few extra clicks of the Geiger-counter, but on a few rare occasions it ended in disaster for the participants -- at least one physicist died of radiation poisoning and burns from this experiment, and many students who witnessed "mistakes" during the "game" had long-term effects which would have been impossible for anyone to predict back then.

He uses this as an illustration of how we often make "mistakes" in dealing with sin. Things that are not sin in and of themselves become idols to us, or themselves have sinful elements that are easy to loose on ourselves before we even realize what we've done.

Biblically, this list includes drinking (not a sin in itself, but can lead to drunkenness, which is), comfort (which God's people are sometimes blessed with, but often leads to complacency), sensuality (sinless only within the context of Biblical marriage), self-pleasuring (which can theoretically be done without sinning, but which in practice takes the focus off of our spouse and replaces it, often with adulterous thoughts and/or images), and a host of other "traps".

"Be holy as I am holy." Wow -- what a huge command! Why in the world would God command such an impossible thing of His children? Peter implies that it is both for our own good ("girding up the loins of your mind") and for God's glory ("at the revelation of Jesus Christ") that God calls us to be holy in conduct, "not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance...".

In God's standard of holiness, ignorance is not bliss, it is sin, and in fact may be an indication that we are not who we think we are, for only by God's work to give us a new heart and make us a new creation can we claim the power of the Holy Spirit to help us strive for holiness.

By the way, this is the opposite of "self-righteousness" (though those striving for holiness will often be accused of self-righteousness by the world) -- only by dependence on God and knowledge of His grace in working to change us can we ever hope to keep moving toward holiness.

So do we stay completely away from anything that might cause us to sin? The admonition to flee from sin is not to be ignored, or justified away, and yet we have freedom in Christ to enjoy His creation. The question that I have to keep asking myself is, "Why?" Am I stepping out on faith, taking a risk for God's eternal glory, or just "Tickling the Tale of the Dragon" because it's something that (if I'm honest with myself) I selfishly want? If it doesn't glorify God on all four corners, it's likely I'll get burned -- and act shamefully before God in the process.

(1 Peter 1:10-21, Leviticus 11:44)

Soul... What if Joshua's actions took place yesterday?

[Associated Duress Article, March 22nd, 2009:]

In a brutal act of hostility and violence, the leader of the large group of militant religious followers known simply as "Joshua" ended his week-long siege on the peaceful city of Jericho by somehow causing the walls of the great city to tumble to the ground. This horrific event was followed by unprovoked bloodshed by Joshua and his guerilla warriors upon thousands of innocent people, including women and children. There are unconfirmed reports that one family may have been taken hostage by the invaders, but at this point there is no indication that anyone else survived what appears to have been unmitigated religous genocide upon the citizens of Jericho.

In addition to the massive carnage, it appears that all of Jericho's rich culture of art, entertainment, and sexual freedom may now be lost forever.

The fanatics, whose numbers are estimated to be in the millions, have so far managed to somehow survive long periods in the harsh desert environments of the region, and are reported to be marching into lush green valleys overflowing with resources such as milk, honey, and grapes large enough to be carried on poles between two men. Hysteria over their invasion is on the rise, and religious leaders world-wide have called upon Joshua to halt his horrible reign of violence and tyranny. Unabashed, Joshus has stated that he is "following God's commands ... to destroy all those who now possess the land promised to God's 'chosen people', the 'children of Israel'."

Leaders of many Christian churches in American have distanced themselves from Joshua and his remarks, noting that their god loves everyone and would never harshly judge people who are innocently living out their chosen lifestyles, thus depriving them of their free will to choose eternal salvation.

[(Joshua chapters 2 and 6)]

[Follow-up Note: I got to worrying after I posted this that some readers might misunderstand my perspective as encouragement to break God's commands (such as to not murder) "because God told them so" or even for the sake of God's other commands. My intent was not to address such complexities, but rather just to make us think about Who God really is, what His sovereignty really means, and how He views sin.]

Body... To ride

I'm really looking forwarding to riding some tomorrow, so I'd better go to bed so I have the energy to do it.

Riding is another paradox for me (my life seems full of them, which is of course no accident!) -- it gives me time for spiritual reflection and yet often distracts me from spiritual action; it broadens my circle of friends and narrows my circle of influence. This would all be very confusing if I didn't entrust it all to God (which does NOT mean that I absolve myself of any responsibility for it)!

God gives mercy and justice, blessings and judgments, treasures and snares. Were I not His child, I might think it a worshipful thing to ride. As it is, I'll take the blessing, while taking care not to let any of those two-wheeled things (or even the act of being on them) become an idol.

My Love gave me a poster with a cyclist on it (a mountain biker coming over a peak, to be exact) with the rising sun in the background and Genesis 1:1 quoted at the top. The caption on it says simply "Thank You." There are lots of good reasons to ride, as we care for these human shells, but if my heart isn't right then it doesn't really matter what I do with my body.

Heart... my Best Friend

I have an awesome best friend, who God has blessed me abundantly with and through, and who I get to spend time with most days.

However, we live in a fallen, sinful world, in this complex paradox where fallen, sinful bodies and minds are yet at the same time a miracle of design and, often, of grace. So one of the trickiest, most rewarding pasttimes that I've found is letting my best friend know how awestruck I am, while at the same time trying to be careful not to be so awestruck that I forget to do a good job, or in any way cause my best friend to think she's too awesome for God (or me!).

Ever notice how the most difficult things God calls us to do are often the most rewarding?

(Song of Songs 6:10; Proverbs 27:1-21)

Heart... Love and

(Don't you love challenging verses?!?)

(Ephesians 5:15-33)

I know this passage is a bit longer than we're often used to seeing all together, but I try to be careful not to take ideas out of context. In fact, even truth as full as that contained this passage is not complete outside of the context of the rest of the Canon, so in emphasizing it we must draw on a Biblical understanding of God's commands.

One such understanding is that God's commands are not conditional. That is, when he tells me to do something the actions of those around me really have very little to do with whether He expects me to obey or not.

Therefore, in living my heart first for God and then for my wife, my responsibility to lead (including helping encourage and account for areas as tough as submission) never eclipses my responsibility to love as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it(!)

In asking her to submit herself to me that day I have to first ask myself how I've done in loving her selflessly that day.

Speaking of which, the kids need to go to bed in 10 minutes, and Kate is calling, so maybe I'll get back to this later!

Soul... Have you ever really read the words to this?

I know it's not divinely inspired in the canonical sense (in reality isn't everything actually "divinely" inspired, or at least divinely transpired?), but I'm often amazed at how grace overflows in the words of those who have hungered and thirsted.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.


Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin.

Here I raise my Ebenezer,
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.


Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.


O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.


O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace.

Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.




(Words: Ro­bert Ro­bin­son, 1758; ap­peared in his A Col­lect­ion of Hymns used by the Church of Christ in Angel Al­ley, Bi­shop­gate, 1759.
Music: Net­tle­ton, Wyeth’s Re­po­si­to­ry of Sac­red Mu­sic, Part Se­cond, by
John Wy­eth, 1813)

(thanks to http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/o/comethou.htm )