For many of us, the Bible is a very familiar book. But as is true with all things familiar, we can miss much of its teaching. When a passage is so familiar, we no longer think fresh thoughts about it. So it's my job -- and yours too if you're a teacher -- to go into the familiar and help point out what is easily missed, while remaining true to the inspired biblical text.
Have a wonderful evening!
Good evening friends. I spent the afternoon in Richmond and its environs. I drove up there to bike the Virginia Capital Trail. This asphalted road connects the original capital of Virginia (Williamsburg) with its modern capital (Richmond). If you decide to ride the entire trail in one day, you're looking at a total of 52 long miles. I've done that twice and boy was it a killer, especially on your okole (pardon the Hawaiian). Today my goal was less ambitious. I wanted to ride from the Four Mile Park to the Malvern Hill Battlefield. Boy was the park crowded! I was barely able to get a parking place. I think I got the very last spot.
I unloaded my bike, made sure the tires were full of air, and off we went. Biking is so much fun!
After about 45 minutes, I arrived at my destination.
This battle was the last in a series of 7 engagements that took place in one week in 1862.
Union general McClellan had received orders to march overland from Fort Monroe and attack the Confederate capital in Richmond. Despite the name "Malvern Hill," the terrain is more like a slightly sloped field, one that obviously favored McClellan's defenses.
Lee's troops advanced against the Federal lines but were quickly repulsed by sheets of Union fire. Unlike Lee, I had no trouble today making my way to the center of the Federal lines. Back in 1862, charging a battery of artillery uphill was thought to be a good strategy. The end came quickly amid smoke, darkness, and confusion. But that didn't change the final result: McClellan's army was driven away from Richmond.
It was time to remount my bike and make my way back to Four Mile Park. Here's a slo-mo clip.
From there it was a brief 15-minute drive to my favorite Ethiopian eatery in the city, named after the capital of Ethiopia.
The owner, Bitew, is an old friend of mine. It felt great speaking Amharic again.
I ordered kai wat (beef stew) in memory of Becky.
I hope all of you moms, grandmoms, and great grandmoms have a wonderful day today. Perhaps you do not fully realize what you contribute to life or the value of your presence to us. We men simply do not have the gentleness of your touch, the warmth of your heart, or the compassion of your words. We are indebted to you for shaping our lives.
Today I'd especially like to acknowledge this special lady.
Happy Mother's Day, mom. I hope your day in Dallas is a very special one. I miss you and hope to see you soon. Coincidentally, on this day 71 years ago, this wonderful lady gave birth to the first of her 6 children, a daughter they named Becky Lynn. 23 years later, I married her.
No one who was there will ever forget that amazing day in Dallas. Becky and her mom were so much alike. They were often mistaken for twins.
37 years later, her eldest daughter would pass from our presence into the presence of the One she loved and served so faithfully.
Today, as I often do on special occasions, I visited her grave. Becky left her mark on many of our lives, but especially on mine. She was in fact the life behind my ministry. If I've enjoyed any measure of success in my career, it is largely due to her faithful, unwavering support. Though my students don't realize it, her life goes on through me and, as a result, through them. What an enormously important investment. It's an influence that cannot be erased.
On this day we appropriately remember those mothers among us, as well as those who lie beneath headstones that bear their names. Thank you, our heavenly Father, for each and every one of them.
Today's workout reminded me again of why I do this.
I do this because it's often mundane and boring. Just like life.
I do this because I remember a time when I wasn't very interested in physical fitness or health. I'm glad those days are long gone.
I do this because it's not supposed to be easy. If it was, everybody would be doing it.
I do this because I tend to overthink things. One of the most self-sabotaging behaviors that keeps people from doing what they want to do is thinking too much. If you tell yourself you're going to the gym in the morning (or for a walk or for a run or whatever), then just go and do it.
I do this because every time I work out I am happy afterwards.
I do this because it's my journey.
Afterwards I got it another 6 miles at the High Bridge Trail.
Let's face it -- I just like being outdoors on beautiful days. Motivation comes easy when it's warm, sunny, and inviting outside. I know that after my run I will treat myself to a hot shower and a nice meal. I am a mediocre runner but that's okay. There is no "right way" of going about exercising. What matters to you is what is important.
Run on, friends!
Warm ups can make the difference between a good workout and a great one.
I noticed this when I played the trumpet too. No warm-up? No high C.
How does a Greek student "warm up"?
I've noticed that prayer helps. Surveying that day's lesson before doing a deep dive increases your awareness of what's ahead. Also, beware of the danger of over-studying. TMI is rarely helpful. If your beginning grammar has dozens of footnotes on every page, you might want to supplement it with a grammar that gets right to the point. Sometimes less is more.
Just a brief post to say hey!
I am a "good" tired. The kind of tired where you feel like you did something. My run on the High Bridge Trail this morning was outstanding, but suffice it to say that I've got dozens of more training runs before my biggest race of the year. That's right -- I've decided to sign up for the Freight Train 50K Ultra Marathon in December instead of the Honolulu Marathon (also in December). This aging guy of 71 needs to do an ultramarathon while he still can.
As you can see, this year's Freight Train also includes a 100K race.
That's twice the distance of the 50K. (Aren't I good at math?) This will be my fourth 50K race. I am ULTRA excited about it. It's only 32 miles or so. Piece of cake, right? My quads are exploding just thinking about it. When this is over and done with, I am going to write a book titled Confessions of an Aging Moron. I'm not kidding.
To mix things up a bit, today I decided not to run eastward from Farmville to the High Bridge but westward from Rice Station to the bridge. I LOVE this part of the trail. For one thing, it's always deserted. For another, Rice is the first turnaround point in December's race.
And so I ran from Rice to Camp Paradise just east of the bridge.
It's an out-and-back that totals 6.2 miles.
Like my fancy blue outfit?
While historically I've been a music-listener on my training runs, today I listened to live coverage of the Cocodona 250 mile race from Phoenix to Flagstaff in one of the favorite states, Arizona. Now that is perhaps the ultimate ultramarathon distance. Listening to the livestream made me feel I was right there on the course with the runners, which of course will never happen in reality.
As we all know, however, how far you race doesn't matter. You are running. Who cares how far you go? Who are we to critique anyway? If you are out there getting it done -- any distance, any speed, any type of shoes, any kind of music -- you are a RUNNER.
I have many faults -- we all know that! But lack of motivation isn't one of them. For some reason I have never been one to make excuses or not honor my commitments or play the victim. I started running, it's true, to cope with my wife's passing, but that's not why I'm still running. If you have a body that moves, then you are more blessed than millions of other people. Running means you stop buying into all the excuses people make. After Becky died I vowed to make every day the best day possible. That includes treating myself to chori pollo after a run.
I guess you're supposed to have a race strategy when running ultras. Here's mine: Walk at least half the time. Eat 150 calories every hour. This includes both gels and the "real" food they serve at the aid stations. And most importantly: Do not stop. Keep moving forward no matter how slowly. If you stop you will probably never start again.
This race strategy has worked three times for me, but who knows if it will work again? Mentally, an ultra really breaks you down. It's a miracle that anyone finishes. Finish lines are weird because they seem to combine every feeling you have ever felt in your life. You feel elated, broken, extremely fatigued, and significantly thankful. For all these reasons and more, I've always cried afterwards.
Well, that's all folks. That's enough for now, right? Thanks for reading another long, boring, drawn out report. But hey -- if I can run 32 miles in 8 hours, you can read through a blog post. Ha!
Hey friends. Just added two races to my 2024 schedule. They are both triathlons. They are on back-to-back weekends in July. First there's the Knightdale (NC) Triathlon on July 14, and then there's the Williamsburg (VA) Triathlon on July 21.
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| The awards ceremony after the Garner (NC) Triathlon two years ago. There were 6 men in my age group. Somehow I managed to podium. |
I love doing tris because I love to run and I love to bike but I especially love to swim. I can be on board with that!
Here's part 3 of my interview with Dwayne Green.
I had so much fun in this interview. Thank you, Dwayne! You all feel free to put on your tin hats and have fun in the comments section!
I think it's easy to either underemphasize or overemphasize textual criticism. It's a vital part of New Testament exegesis for sure. But it's not the gospel. People will disagree about textual criticism until the Lord returns. Our Lord has made it crystal clear what his mandate is for each one of us. He said that he lived to do the will of his Father and that the souls of lost men and women were white unto harvest. He said he was sending us into those fields just as the Father had sent him. Jesus was always pressing on to preach the gospel to the next village. The heart of every true disciple who follows in his footsteps will be the same. We must be willing, as he was, to let everything go for the sake of lost souls.
Have a wonderful evening!
Just back from the gym.
Today I worked on abs. This is definitely one of my weak points. It's easy to feel left behind when we see everyone else's achievements on social media. But you may not be as far behind as you think. Other than those who are on drugs, their achievements probably took many years of consistent work and effort -- just the kind of work and effort you're putting in. When you go to a fine restaurant, you see the food on your plate but you never see all the work that took place in the kitchen. Audiences attending a symphony enjoy a show but never sit in on the rehearsals. You are the only person who has the best sense of how much work you've put into your workouts in order to get your results. Don't give up. Don't ever let your dreams die.
Part 2 of my interview with Dwayne Green is now up.
I'm loving the comments!
In less than 3 short weeks, Lord willing, I'll be running the Bolder Boulder 10K race in Colorado again. This event on Memorial Day weekend averages 54,000 participants each year. The ensuing patriotic program at Folsom Field at the University of Colorado is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The race is so well organized that they even mail out your shirt and race bib ahead of time.
Today I went into "serious" training for the race. Last year I finished 43 out of 83 runners in the 70 year old age group. This year I'll be in the 71-year old category. My goal is to improve my race results by completing the race in the top fourth of runners in the *geriatrics* category.
Instead of "Training to do pull ups," our mantra should be "Training to be able to pull ourselves up."
This simply means that we train, not to say "I can do pull ups," but to increase our quality of life and our overall fitness. Yesterday my massage therapist reminded me that the older we get, the more flexibility and strength is needed for mobility. Just because we're getting better at a specific skill like pull ups doesn't necessarily mean we're getting fitter overall. The goal is to increase our ability to pull ourselves up when we need to, not to perform a certain number of exercises.
The bottom line? You can train your arms to pull yourself up in many different ways. A vertical pull up is not strictly required. Easier varieties of pull ups (like jumping pull ups or machine assisted pull ups) are no less pull ups!
Have a fantastic day!
Sometimes it's important to define the "edge" in our training. By "edge" I mean that point just beyond which you think your body is capable of. The goal of training is to live on that edge without going over it.
Someone has said that the edge is easy to define but almost impossible to find. That's because the edge is different for each person. In fact, it can be different on different days even for the same person. There are days when what is normally easy is hard and what is normally hard is easy. Every athlete knows this. I experienced this today when what I thought was an "easy" exercise felt really, really hard, probably because I attempted it before warming up adequately. Sometimes the only way of knowing if you've gotten to the edge is after you've stepped over it.
Personally, I try not to push myself past the point of adaptation. And I'm always aware (or, usually aware) that the line between improvement and injury is a fine one. Athletes walk that line with caution. At the same time, I don't think we need to be afraid of training. It's just that we always have to be ready, at any moment, to face the unknown.
Sometimes trusting people can be hard to manage, but being kind is never a mistake.
Smiles, being positive, and trying to get others to talk about themselves instead of talking about you seems to make people more honest and vulnerable. For example, instead of saying "Sorry" say "Thank you." "Sorry I'm late" becomes "Thank you for waiting for me." Of course, it's also important that we relate to others in a healthy way. The ones who love and respect you back are the ones who stay and should stay for that matter. If someone doesn't want to be your friend, they don't have to. And if you believe people are trying to take advantage of you, you are free to move on to people who you enjoy more.
Just some thoughts!
I was scheduled to run a 10K race in North Carolina this morning, but the event was unexpectedly rained out. I say "unexpectedly" because the forecast did not call for rain before this evening, and then only a brief thunderstorm. At Bojangles this morning I heard a lot of griping about the rain, about how this or that event was being canceled or how plans to mow today got derailed. (You hear a LOT of griping and gossip at Bo's. Don't old people have anything better to do?) And that got me to thinking about a conversation I had with the kids the other day. On Thursday they finished baling their first cutting of hay for the year. They remarked to me that the fields were beginning to look pretty dry and how grateful they would be if the Lord sent some rain our way. And that's exactly what he did. It wasn't a quick thunderstorm. Instead, it showered and showered all last night and into the morning -- a quiet, steady stream of rain, a soaking kind of rain, what we call around here a "farmer's rain." It's just what the farm needed.
I know I say this all the time, but I believe that gratitude is the only emotion that can change your attitude and perspective in a heartbeat. Thankfulness is the key to happiness. In fact, the true measure of a person's character is seen when things aren't going the way they want them to go. Focusing on what you have rather than on what you don't have is one way of learning how to appreciate life and the people in it.
We value what we notice. Try to notice the little things every day. Make it a point to be the most grateful person you can be. Rain on a Saturday isn't always a bad thing. For farmers, it may be just what they needed. I do an inventory every morning of what I want to be thankful for before I even get out of bed, including such simple things as the breath that fills my lungs. Let's make being grateful a part of our day just like eating and brushing our teeth are.
My life is far from perfect, but there a million things I'm thankful for. Rain is a reminder for me to give thanks. It's a reminder of something I should do all day, every day.
A marriage requires frequent forgiveness. If you've got trouble forgiving others, don't get married. Both you are your mate are fallen. You'll need to forgive, and forgive often. If you want a lasting marriage, you've got to be good at forgiving.
I'm so thankful that, for 37 years, God granted Becky and me the grace to love long and forgive frequently.
You will never see me without a water bottle.
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| Today's workout. |
Good hydration is absolutely necessary to exercise, and also ridiculously easy. Drink water when you are thirsty. For me, that's constantly. As much as possible, avoid drinks with sugar or extra calories. During a race, drink a little water at each water stop. Again, the rule of thumb of is, "Drink when you are thirsty."
Works for me.
Sometimes our muscles just want a little variety.
Here's one way to do that. Isometrics refers to the choice to hold your position for a time. This can be done either with weights or just with your body weight. You simply hold the weight steady for a minute or two. Happy to elaborate in the future if you like. But for now here's an example from today's workout if anyone is interested.
P. S. My daughter caught some of the grandkids mimicking their Papa B yesterday.
Hilarious!
Tonight I was in the mood for Hawaiian Shoyu Chicken.
We enjoyed this dish frequently while growing up. I'm no chef, but the dish didn't turn out too bad if I do say so myself.
So much better than eating out!
Farming is officially underway for 2024. My son has been doing this full time for 23 years.
Today I spent time in prayer thanking the Lord over and over again that Nate and his family have been accident free all these years. Farm machinery requires great skill to operate. Things can and do go wrong. So I also asked the Lord to continue to look over the balcony of heaven with favor on Nate, Jess, and the boys. I know their main goal in life is to honor and glorify the Lord in everything and to be a good witness to others. In many ways, life is like racing through a narrow river gorge on flimsy canoes. There are some slow spells, but more often than not it's a seat-of-your-pants thrill ride. The only true guide is Christ. He has already mastered the river, and he's left behind a Navigator to keep us from getting too far off course.
I'm so grateful for that -- that I can entrust each of my children and their families to his gracious care.
Recently I was interviewed by a YouTuber on the subject of New Testament textual criticism -- all those variant readings in your Bible's footnotes. I'm not sure I was as clear as I wanted to be. But if there's one point I'd like to drive home, it's this. The world of Bible study is for every one of us. You can study the Bible for yourself and understand it correctly. If you can read, you can do it. This is what makes Bible study so wonderful. God has not reserved the Bible for scholars or the intellectually superior. All you need is the Bible, a pen, some paper, prayer, and the Spirit of God.
My Bible time this morning was in Acts 4 where, incidentally, Peter and John are called "unlearned and ignorant" (KJV) by the Sanhedrin. The Jewish leaders used the terms pejoratively, with utter disdain for the apostles. Yet Peter and John were more skilled in understanding the truth than the scholars of Jerusalem. The apostles had not been to seminary. They were "obviously uneducated and untrained men" (Phillips). Yet this they could understand: God reveals himself not to the wordly wise but to the spiritually sensitive.
Sadly, many if not most Christians today remain underequipped, uninformed, unarmed, and unprepared to withstand the devastating seductions of theological liberalism and political wokeism. Therefore, the goal of my entire teaching and writing career has been to teach my fellow believers some skills that will help them to study the Bible for themselves. It is absolutely essential for each of us -- men or women, young or old, educated or uneducated -- to understand the importance and value of knowing the truth. To do that, we must know God's word.
At the end of the interview I tried to encourage the audience not to be intimidated by the presence of textual variants in the Bible. We have not lost a single word of the New Testament. Not a single word. The original will be found either in the text or the notes. But it's there. Since I am not sitting right there with you (although I would love to do so), let me ask you to consider making an effort to understand the basics of New Testament textual criticism. You can begin with this free resource. If you truly want to learn how to study your Bible, you have to do your part. Now is the time to get active.
Here's an isolation biceps exercise I think you'll enjoy.
It's great as a finisher -- when you're completing your workout. You don't need to go heavy. I never do. A full range of motion is great for this exercise. Focus on the quality of the exercise instead of going really heavy or forcing too many reps. Don't use momentum to swing the weight. Don't bounce the weight at the bottom of the rep. That will lead to injury. Use a nice, consistent movement, as in the video.
Have a wonderful day!
Just signed up for the Running of the Bulls 8K Race in Durham, NC, on June 1.
8K is the PERFECT distance -- not too short and not too long. If you register by tonight you get 30 percent off your registration fee. Last year I met a bunch of you at the race. Hope to see even more of you this year!
Don't let anyone tell you that turning 70 is a death sentence. Stay focused. Stay natural (no TRT). No excuses. I'm going to be 72 this year and my goal is to get into the best shape of my life. I plan to spend my birthday in Hawaii surfing. I expect to be active for the rest of my life. I will keep working out and most of all trusting God to keep me strong so that I can maintain my strength and health for many years to come. Guys, age is just a number. It doesn't matter if you are over 60 or 70 years old, you can still get in the best shape of your life.
Love and aloha,
Dave
A gorgeous day to work outdoors.
Has the farm ever looked lovelier?
Even Becky's rose bushes are in bloom. Woo hoo!
Have a wonderful day!
I feel pumped after today's workout. I have to keep my knees bent or my feet will touch the ground while doing pull ups.
My motivation? Summarised beautifully in this sign at the gym.
It's easy to excuse ourselves from dreaming of physical accomplishments if we believe that our body can't be different than it is. But it can be. It can become fitter, stronger, and more powerful. Don't ask yourself what you want your body to look like. Ask yourself what you want your body to be able to do. This year I'd like my body to climb Mount Elbert and surf Queens in Waikiki. I'd like to run another marathon. I'd like it to allow me to travel back to Europe to teach. Each time I exercise I am discovering new challenges to overcome.
It can be the same with you. In the long run, it doesn't matter if it takes 3 years or 30 years to reach your goal as long as you are moving. Yes, YOU can do it. Just don't quit.