My Anthem

     SPOILER: If you are offended by talk about religion, skip this post.
     If you are like me, you like to listen to music while doing just about anything.   Yesterday morning, I was listening to some Christian music that I find helps wake me up for those early morning workouts, is lively enough to keep my RPMs up on the bike and also relaxes me because of the positive message.
     Most of you don't know me apart from the Challenge or this blog, so I'll go into a bit of detail here.  I dropped out of college at the University of NH (near where I grew up) after my first year.  I spent a year or so trying to "find" myself.  I started going to church and then decided to go back to school.  I decided to go to a bible school in Texas that a member of our church had attended.  A few years later, I met my wife and several years later we moved to North Carolina.  I finished the college degree I had started many years ago online and got a job locally.  I have slowly been learning how to finish what I started and become all that I believe God wants me to be.  Now I am in the midst of applying that same philosophy to my health.
     I believe that God heals us, but I also believe that He has given doctors, and other health professionals (ie - trainers) wisdom that we should draw on to do our part in our own health.  There is a scripture that some people might use as a case against working out.  "Bodily exercise profits little..." 1Ti4:8.  I would say to those people that it still profits! The author is talking about some things being more important than others.  Not that those things don't have any value.  The scripture that I think is more appropriate, though in context it refers to doing good to others, is James 2:17 "So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."   There is a part for all of us to play in our own faith.  I can't expect to go on eating what I want and not exercising and expect that by God's grace I will live a healthy, long life.
     Ok enough preachy stuff.  On to news.  Paula gets back today.. hope your race went well!  My calf is doing much better after two days of wrapping and icing it.  It still has twinges of pain when I walk down the stairs and come down hard on that leg, but otherwise, it is good.  I saw Stephanie in the gym this morning and we found out why she hasn't been joining all the rest of the team or communicating with us.  We had her email address wrong as well.  (We had Joyce's wrong for a while too).  Many apologies Stephanie!
    So back to the anthem... having said all the preachy stuff at the top, the song that keeps motivating me is by Chris Tomlin on his "Arriving" album called "The Way I Was Made" (You'll have to click on the album down below and the song in the list to hear it).