Surfing Is Not for Youth Only

Watch this amazing video of Brian Wilson single his famous composition "Surf's Up." 

It's one of the most hauntingly beautiful tunes I know. The first time I heard it I was speechless.

Interestingly, "Surf's Up" has nothing to do with surfing. It's a play on words referring to the Beach Boys shedding their surfing image. "Surfin' USA" was now "columnated ruins domino." (For the song's lyrics, go here.) They had left the innocent surfing days behind -- much to the chagrin of Mike Love, who wanted more surfing songs. No, said Brian Wilson. "Surf's up," he wrote, "aboard a tidal wave." The song reflects the blissful innocence of youth, the moment that it is lost, and the trial of what is yet to come. 

For almost two decades, surfing was my life. All that changed when I left Hawaii for Biola College. I still surfed in California, but my days were now largely spent preparing for my career, for marriage, and for raising a family. Yet the child in me hasn't quite gone away. 

I find it highly ironic that as we age and our bodies decline, the desire to surf only increases. Surfing offers devotees of the sport -- falsely -- tantalizing longevity. On the other hand, some have called surfing a "late-blossoming pastime." I've personally found that to be true. Even though I'm almost 73, I think I'm just now realizing how important surfing is to me and have begun to really appreciate it. 

This doesn't mean I'll surf forever. I won't. But I don't worry much about that. I've decided that surfing gets better as you get older. I'll enjoy the sport as a gift from God as long as he enables me to do it. 

We Are All Human

The other day a Boeing 777 was departing from a major U.S. airport when the pilot had to suddenly abort the takeoff. Instead of pulling back on the yoke at V1, he pulled back on the throttles! The technical term for this is "accidental muscle memory." Thankfully the pilot quickly responded to correct the situation and prevented a disaster from happening.

When I lived in Germany, driving was a breeze because they drive on the right side of the road like we do. But the U.K. is another story. You automatically want to drive on the right instead of on the left. It requires a LOT of concentration for an American to do it right. Likewise, I have two bikes. One has rotary gear shifters and one has thumb shifters. Sometimes I find myself reaching for a thumb shifter that isn't there. 😏

You get the point.

My takeaways from the airport incident?

1. People make mistakes.

2. What matters is how we respond to them.

IOW, we are all human. Therefore we slip up. I learned long ago that to be a better, stronger, more successful runner/lifter/climber/surfer etc., I need to keep making mistakes to help me fine tune what works for me. Life is not about being perfect. It's about learning and improving. The airline pilot I mentioned above had 6,156 hours of total flying time. Yet at a critical moment, his muscle memory tripped him up. You can know intellectually what to do and not do it. When I first starting running I went way too hard. I even did two marathons on back to back Sundays. You just want to do ALL the races! You know you should hold back but you can't. Then you either get injured or burn out. Now you get it.

Friend, be the best YOU can be. And when you screw up, admit it and move on. 

For the Love of Music

My playlist during today's workout included:

Good Vibrations

Sister Golden Hair

Don't Worry Baby

We Just Disagree 

Saturday in the Park

The Things We Do for Love

Diamond Girl

God Only Knows

Turn to Stone

Suzie Q (Long Version)

Take the Long Way Home

Lyin' Eyes

Catch a Wave

Tracks of My Tears 

Brandy

Ventura Highway

Back in the High Life Again

Africa

Message in a Bottle

Hope you're having a wonderful day! 

Only 6 Weeks to Go

James 3:17 (Wisdom Defined)

Was in James 3:17 this morning. Here's my translation:

The wisdom that comes from above is first of all morally and spiritually blameless.

Then it's peace-loving and non-argumentative.

It's gentle and courteous.

It's reasoned, conciliatory, and willing to listen.

It's full of compassion and good fruits.

It's without a trace of partiality or favoritism.

It's without hypocrisy and self-serving motives.

Even in Old Age (Psalm 93)

Funny thing -- I just "happened" to read Psalm 93 in my Bible time this morning before heading off to the gym. It inspired me!

"Even in old age they will still produce fruit and be vital and green. This honors the Lord, and exalts his faithful care. He is my shelter. There is nothing but goodness in him!"

Amen!

Friend, life goes by so fast. It's as if it's but a breath of air, which is exactly what it is. As I lifted today, I prayed:

Lord, remind me how brief life on this earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered -- how fleeting my life is. My entire life is just a moment to you. At best, it is just a breath. May I therefore honor you with each day you give me.

Just thought I'd share. Have a wonderful day! 

Elisabeth Elliot on Grandchildren

"We never know what our grandchildren are remembering of the example we set. They may not remember a word we say, but they're going to remember our life and our love." -- Elisabeth Elliot. 

Below: Enjoying lunch today at the grandboys' farmhouse celebrating Peyton's 10th birthday and Ira's 4th. 

When You Ask God "Why?"

I read something the other day that I thought was interesting. The author pointed out that when John the Baptist was murdered by Herod, Jesus said nothing. His didn't try to console his followers. He offered no platitudes. He didn't glibly tell them that the Father would bring something good out of it. He explained nothing. All Matthew records is that Jesus slipped away to spend time with his Father and to mourn privately (Matt. 14:12-13). 

Maybe there's a lesson here.

My kids and grandkids are still experiencing the after-effects of their car accident a month ago. MRI's, x-rays, PT appointments, constant aches and pains, loss of work, the hassle of trying to find a replacement van. The list seems endless. Sometimes I wonder why God allowed such a senseless accident to occur. My kids are good, hard-working people who don't live high off the hog. It all seems so unfair. 

The plain hard truth is that evil exists in the world. And because it exists in the world, each and every one of us can expect to experience the pains of life. No one knew this better than Jesus. He knew that nobody was immune to suffering, himself included. The whys of life must be left to him. When we see him face to face we'll discover why our life turned out as it did. Until then, the believer is called upon to accept what he can't change. 

But not for long. Soon and very soon, every tear will be wiped away without a trace of pain or mourning. At the end of the long night, there will be light.

In the meantime, stand firm. The Lord stands beside you. 

Don't Skip Rest Days!

I'm so proud of myself. I'm taking not one but two rest days in a row. 

Expert lifters will tell you: Muscles grow during recovery, not during training. Rest days also provide a necessary mental break from training. Plus they uniquely lower your overall systemic fatigue. 

Rest days aren't a sign of weakness or lack of dedication. They are a non-negotiable component of proper training. They allow you to recover effectively, prevent burnout, and ultimately achieve better results -- like maybe catching a big wave in Hawaii or summiting a tough peak in the Alps. 

You grow when you rest.

So rest. 

😉

Getting to Know Jesus

When you look for a "doctor father" to guide your Ph.D. program, you'll try to get to know everything you can about him. Ideally you should have at least one interview with him in person. But for a well-rounded picture, you'll need to spend time talking with his associates and former students. This should give you a fairly balanced impression of who he is.

In trying to get to know Jesus Christ, the same method applies. You begin in the Gospels, reading what Jesus said about himself. A red letter edition of the Bible can be helpful here. In addition, you'll want to read what those who knew him best had to say. John's Gospel is a good example. He interpreted Jesus' life as only a close friend could. 

Then there's Paul. Though he never met the earthly Jesus, his epistles are full of reflection and commentary. He knew the Savior well, and he wants us to get to know him as well as he does.

I'd give anything to able to talk to Jesus in person. But I know that won't happen until I see him face to face. Until then, I can still see him clearly through his word. So can you. 

The Prayer of Jabez

I love the story of Jabez in 1 Chron. 4:9-10. It's a cameo appearance if ever there was one. The man is basically a nobody, a bit player on a huge stage. But one day he decided to ask God to give him bigger challenges and to expand his territory. He wanted more opportunities out of life, and he got them.

That's exactly what happened to me 11 years ago after the death of my wife. I asked, and he granted my requests. 

My friend, God is eager to do the same for you. If you're content with the rut you're in, maybe it's time to pray that God would enlarge your horizon. A relationship healed, a past memory erased, a sin forgiven, a habit broken, an alienated family member reconciled, a financial setback reversed, a feeling of inferiority replaced with a sense of self-worth -- nothing is too hard for God. Christ himself said so. "What is impossible for people is possible with God" (Luke 18:17). 

Nothing is too difficult for him. 

Achieving True Mastery of an Exercise

If you're new to lifting, you don't learn good form overnight. It takes hundreds if not thousands of reps to achieve true mastery of an exercise. If your form isn't perfect during the first month or two of your training, I wouldn't necessarily call that a terrible thing. But by the one year mark at the latest you should definitely be on point. 

The truth is that you need to spend dedicated time and effort to actually learning a movement. You shouldn't be just loading weight off the bat. This is why there are so many injuries from weight training. So my recommendation is to spend your first few weeks and months learning good form. Choose a weight that's not very challenging and just see if your form improves week after week. In learning how to perfect a band-assisted pull up, for example, this might involve how to retract your scapula before beginning the movement or being sure to lower yourself all the way back down so that your shoulder blades are stabilized before beginning to pull yourself up again. Next you might want to work on proper breathing or keeping your legs fairly straight while you're performing the exercise. 

Even if you're a few years into your fitness career, don't just automatically think that you already know everything you need to know about having good form on every single exercise you do in your program. Record yourself (as I did today) and make sure that your form is similar enough to a trusted professional. 

You have to be fully in control of the movement at all times, not only on the concentric part, but on the eccentric part as well on the way down. Moving forward, always have the mindset that says you can be performing that movement better and listen to your body if you're feeling any pain or undue muscle soreness, which might be a sign you're doing something wrong. 

Hope this helps! 

It's Your Birthright to Run

Got a grandson who LOVES to run. So every chance I get I send him (via his mom) vids and pics of my "exploits" haha. 

His name is Chesley and we are planning on running our first kid's mile together this summer. 

Eventually he'll probably take after his Papa B and begin running the High Bridge Trail himself. 

After all, ya never know who you might run across. 

Anyhoo, after 9 miles I was able to get in today's steps. 

Such great fun!

It's everyone's birthright to run. There's something magical about both of your feet being in the air at the same time. Ready to feel this yourself? Find a trail and go for it! 

Overweight? I Get It.

Overweight? I get it. I've been there. But something changed. I was tired of a lifestyle that kept me overweight and out of shape. When I made the commitment to drop from 35 percent body fat down to 15 percent body fat, it wasn't for vanity but for discipline. It was to gain control over old habits. And everything started to shift from that point on.

Getting lean is difficult. It's a war against your old identity. But if you can do it, even just once, it will change you forever. 

Before you start, you need to know where you are right now. When I first committed to getting lean, I took photos that genuinely made me cringe. 

But here's the truth. Clarity is power. I didn't like what I saw, but those pictures I took were the fuel I needed. I couldn't believe that I had let things slip so much. The camera doesn't lie. I began to track my weight daily, not to obsess over it, but to see the trend. This is where your "why" needs to kick in. You ask yourself, "What type of person do I want to be? Someone who gives in whenever they get hungry? Or someone who's building discipline?" This isn't a temporary diet phase. This is a lifestyle change. If you want to be lean then you have to become the type of person who lives an active lifestyle. This kind of disciplined mindset just bleeds into everything else in your life. 

The fittest people don't just work out. They see themselves as people who respect and take care of their bodies. If you want to have a great physique you have to change your identity. You need to take a long look at yourself in the mirror and decide who you want to be. Don't just say "I want to lose weight." Say, "I am an athlete in training." Go ahead. Write it down on a sheet of paper:

I AM AN ATHLETE.

Then prove it to yourself with small wins each and every day. Think of two guys trying to quit smoking. One of them is offered a cigarette and replies, "No thanks, I'm trying to quit." The other person is offered a cigarette and says, "No thanks, I don't smoke." The second person has adopted an entirely new identity, and their actions are just going to follow suit. 

The same applies to fitness. If you have to force yourself to go to the gym, it's not going to work. But if you start saying, "I am an athlete who never misses a workout," suddenly the gym is just a part of who you are. 

So who do you want to be? Someone who forces himself to follow a diet? Or someone who's just doing what an athlete does? Most people fail because they don't know how to make this pivot. 

Fitness is about building a foundation for success over every aspect of your life. If I can do it at my age, you definitely can do it as well. 

When A Is the New C

"Praise is warming and desirable. But it is an earned thing. It has to be deserved, like a hug from a child." -- Phyllis McGinley.

The message from the educational elites is clear:

• Don't give Ds or Fs.
• Inflate your grades to be more "fair."
• Boost test scores to get parents off your back.
• Your standards are too high.

I'm not about to do it. Not on your life. If I have to, I will give you a D or an F. Unearned grades help no one.

It should be no surprise that grade inflation has followed students into grad school. Some profs hesitate to grade accurately because they fear student evaluations,. Students are now accustomed to cherry-picking easy-grading teachers while administrators turn a blind eye. (Lowered standards = more students graduating.) Parents are stunned when their more-than-average children are failed.

Today I'm working on my final grades for the semester. I have mixed feelings about the process. The true goal of learning is not a grade or a degree. Unfortunately, grades and degrees are now little more than proxies for a genuine education. The result has been the inflation of both. So grade-assigning has its weaknesses. But unearned grades are even worse.

If you get a bad grade, don't act as if your professor is Scrooge or suspect him or her of being unfair. I'll never forget the first class I got a C in when I was in college. It stung. I needed that wake up call. Thankfully I had a prof who rejected sham work. 

For the record, I oppose grade inflation, but I am 100 percent in favor of rising grades. I am grateful that, for the most part, the students in my classes receive consistently high scores. But they work for their grades. Deep down, I believe they share my support of a grading scheme where a C is still average. 

How to Get In Your Daily Step Count

If you're trying to get in your daily steps, you might try to do what I do. Use the gym's treadmill to get in the number of steps you want to walk daily. 

For me, that's generally a minimum of 20,000 steps. That usually takes me about 3 hours. After about 10,000 steps, I take a coffee break to get some caffeine on board. 

Often I will finish by walking on the YMCA's outdoor track. 

If I have any steps left, I'll shoot baskets. Being the klutz that I am, I miss about 70 percent of my shots, but that doesn't matter as I'm still getting in my step count. 

Et voila! Here are my steps as of noon today. 

So there you have it! 😄

Two Tips to Take Off Those Unwanted Pounds

When you're trying to lose body fat (as I am), make sure your gym sessions are of a good quality. This is the most important thing to make sure you're keeping your muscle mass throughout this process. If you're going to sacrifice anything when it comes to your gym sessions, sacrifice volume.

Do not sacrifice intensity. Don't just slog your way through your sets either. Do 1-2 really high quality sets of each exercise. Be sure to maintain good tension on the muscle along with solid protein amounts. That will allow you to keep this muscle while you're losing an insane amount of fat.

Also, be sure to get in your daily steps. I easily walk 15-20,000 steps a day. It's not impossible. 

Today's step count. 

Yes, it's a bit challenging at first, but wow, the results are amazing. Walking is the greatest and most underutilized tool for fat loss. When you walk, your body isn't looking for an immediate source of energy to burn as fuel, so it ends up using your stored energy (aka, fat cells) to burn as fuel. It's truly beautiful how much fat you can lose just by walking. It's easy to do. It's sustainable. You recover quickly from it. And it doesn't hurt your joints. 

So to recap: During your workout, make sure that your intensity and form are on point for every set and every rep. Remember, it's easy to get complacent and just go through the motions, so making sure you have that intensity is very important. Also, a commitment to daily walking will definitely help speed up the results, especially if you're not active in your daily job. All of this combined definitely correlated to me losing a lot more fat.

A Simple Lifting Hack

Instead of going to the gym and just thinking "I'm going to hit my back today," say "I'm going to practice pull ups and get really good at doing them." 

That tends to direct people in the right direction because by perfecting the skill they'll get more out of the exercise. With better technique they end up getting stronger versus just trying to fatigue a particular muscle group, which typically results in poor form. 

Just a thought 😀

You Never Forget

The consequences of a death in the family never really end. Not even after 11 years. You feel the effects of the loss especially on days like birthdays and Mother's Day. Even if I were to remarry, I would still feel the loss until the day I die. 

Never have I felt more broken. Yet never have I been more aware of the power of God's grace and my need for it. 

I will alway remember the wife God gave me as a precious gift who will live on in my heart forever. Thank you, Phil Collins, for putting this into words and music. 

Happy Birthday!

My wife would have turned 72 today. 

Becky as a child in Ethiopia. 

Who would have imagined that this amazing person would have said "yes" to me! But she did, and 49 years ago we became husband and wife. I'd ask her again in a heartbeat.

Happy Birthday, sweetheart! 

Fulfilled

The goal of life is to find your gift.

The purpose of life is to give it away.

Tomorrow ends another semester in my career as a teacher. God has called me to teach, and I have tried to be obedient. Teaching is demanding and sometimes frustrating, but it offers the rewards of great joy and fulfillment to those who throw themselves into it with prayer and vision.

All praise to you, O Lord. 

One Habit You MUST Overcome to Get Fit

Gal. 6:9 wasn't written for gym goers. But it might as well have been. Whether we're trying to grow in grace or lose weight or build muscle or overcome a habit or become a better spouse, some incentive is needed for us to keep going. Paul recognizes this. The work of God in our lives is tiring, exhausting work, he says. We are tempted to "become weary" (NIV), "get tired" (CSB), "lose heart" (LSB), "grow weary" (ESV), "get fatigued" (MSG), or "become discouraged" (NASB). I thought alot about that during my workout today at the Y. 

Interestingly, here in Gal. 6:9, Paul's answer to discouragement is based on an agricultural metaphor. (Had Paul once been a farmer?) If, he says, a farmer gets tired of sowing and leaves part of his field unsown, he'll reap only a partial crop. If he wants a full harvest, then he has to finish what he started and then wait patiently for the crops to appear. As someone who's harvested thousands of acres of horse quality hay, I can personally attest to the truth of what he's saying. 

I know tons of people at the gym who know plenty about weight training but just don't go hard enough or long enough to get results. Then they blame their genetics. As a person who's struggled to build consistent fitness habits for most of my adult life, I've learned that health and fitness isn't only about intention. It's about showing up. Perfection is the enemy of the good. Something is always better than nothing. However, because we don't see the rewards immediately, we lose motivation. 

I am happy to say that I've gotten myself to the gym 3 times a week for 3 years now. 

My mantra is "little by little." 

I just remind myself over and over again that all I have to do is stay consistent, and step by step I'll get to where I need to be. 

Hopefully the same works for you. Basically, you just have to make peace with the fact that you won't see the gains happen. But they'll be there one day and catch you by surprise. You won't know when. You just have to keep going by faith and trust the process. 99 percent of the battle is just consistently going and doing something without growing weary and stopping.

Thanks, Paul, for the reminder.

Patient Pigeon-Toed Pedestrian Plods Persistently

Just gettin' in my step count, folks! 😁

Why You Must Exercise As You Age

When I officially retired a few years ago, I had no intention of giving up the energy and vibrant health the Lord had blessed me with most of my adult life. There may not be much rhyme to us ancient mariners marathoners, but we've got plenty of reasons not to be content to just sit and rock. I want to walk or run on the beach, then plunge into the breakers with my surfboard. I want to climb tall mountains. I want to do more triathlons. I want to feel my arms and legs and lungs and heart working together in perfect synchrony while I'm lifting weights. I want to sweat and tan and be lean because I know these simple attainments will boost the enjoyment of my final years. When you're running a marathon, you'll often hear someone say, "Every mile is a gift." This is never truer than at the end of the race. You realize that the finish line is near, and you want to fully appreciate every moment.

When you are an accidental athlete like me, you can't imagine a day without moving. Each new day is something to be cherished and nurtured. Most of us past 70 know that life is short and that we need to embrace every day. Little lessons become essentials, like the fact that rest and recovery after a workout is more important than when you were younger. "Long" runs need to be modified to emphasize quality over quantity. We can't turn the clock back, but we can at least slow its effect on the way we feel and look. Exercise isn't just a way to lose weight or get in some cardio. It's our passion, a powerful internal force that in some cases keeps us alive. After all, why shouldn't we keep trying and training to be the best we can be? Yes, we know that our days are numbered. But we don't want to reach the end of life knowing that we didn't give it our all.

This weekend I plan on getting in a 9 mile run. I'll take more time to warm up and cool down than I did a decade ago. I'll run at a steady pace, just happy to be jogging the miles without pain. Exercise has too many positive effects not to like it. I am hungry for more adventures and races. I don't want to die wondering what I could have been capable of if allowed. As long as God gives me good health, I'll keep doing what I do because I love it. 

Below: Getting in my workout today ....

... and my steps. 

A Betrayal of Biblical Scholarship

New Testament scholar C. H. Dodd, in the introduction to his commentary on the book of Romans, wrote "Sometimes I think Paul was wrong, and I have ventured to say so." 

No sir. You have no liberty to do that. The New Testament apostles wrote with special, divine authority. We have no right today to say, "Well, Paul may have believed such and such, but my view is different."

That would be a betrayal of true biblical scholarship.

Mowing Day

And a beautiful day it was! 

Paul's Use of Metaphor in Phil. 4:10

In Phil. 4:10, Paul writes "Now at length you have revived your concern for me" (ESV). The Greek verb rendered "revived" is found only here in the New Testament. The term is a beautiful metaphor. In ancient Greek, the word was used to describe what I see every year here on the farm -- grass sprouting afresh and flowers bursting into bloom, as this photo I just took illustrates.

Hence translations such as "revived" or "renewed" (CSB) seem to fall short. But the New English Bible nails it:

"Your care for me has now blossomed afresh."

Odd that I could find only one New Testament version in English that seems to capture Paul's metaphor. Just another reason to compare many different translations when reading a passage of Scripture.

Have an amazing day! 

Ah. Farm Life

If You Understand This, You Will Get Lean

Any human torso can get from 35 percent body fat down to 15 percent. 

What you need to be successful is the art of delayed gratification. 

This is when you do something time after time without seeing the result. 

That's the approach you need to take with your body. 

Health and fitness isn't like a mountain you climb and get to the top simply to climb back down again. 

This is a habitual task that you're going to do for the rest of your life, like brushing your teeth and showering. 

You must do these things on a daily basis. 

Maintaining 15 percent body fat is exactly the same. 

Think of your physique as something you're renting, and the rental fee that you have to pay is 8-10,000 steps per day, 3 all-out resistance training sessions a week, and maintaining a moderate calorie deficit. 

That's the rent you must pay for the rest of your life. 

Even if you manage to get down to 10 percent body fat, the lifestyle is the same. 

Your mindset is the same. 

Your weekly activities are the same. 

This is an infinite game you're playing. 

It never ends. 

For the rest of your life you will be doing this. 

You're not following a diet plan. 

You are an athlete. 

And because you are an athlete, you live your life according to that lifestyle. 

You are disciplined. 

You are resilient.

You love going to the gym. 

You love watching how your character is being built. 

And as you look at yourself in the mirror you've actually got tangible evidence that it works. 

This is the way human beings were intended to look and function. 

You've just got to follow the plan. 

(All pictures taken today.) 

Revelling in the Revelations of God!

Reveling in general revelation this morning on my drive into town. 

Then reveling in special revelation. (I began a deep dive into the book of Galatians today.) 

What a way to start one's day!