Day 90

Workout- Fit Test
Bible Reading- Revelation 18 - 22

I've done it! I'm done! I have followed the P90X workout plan, Blogged, and read the entire Bible in 90 Days! I am so stinking proud of myself. I have a long history of wanting to accomplish things and never quite following through with them. I am awesome at setting goals, however completing them is quite a different story. Here are some overall general observations that I have from my experience.

- I am stronger and more disciplined than I give myself credit for.
- I sometimes quit before I should. I've learned that I can persevere.
- The Bible is a complete story from Genesis 1 all the way to Revelation 22. It all fits together.
- I still can't say that I love reading scripture. However, I've done it as an act of obedience.
- God doesn't always call us to do things that we particularly enjoy.
- My wife and my daughter are worth the sacrifice of time, sweat, and pain that is required for me to be healthy for many years to come.
- I am worth the sacrifice of time, sweat, and pain that is required for me to be healthy for many years to come!
- I have an incredibly supportive wife
- good writing requires a concerted effort. It just doesn't happen.

Overall, I would say that this has been an awesome experience. It has been extremely difficult and I won't say that I have loved it. It's been good however to see that I can set a goal like this and accomplish it. I have to give a huge thanks to my beautiful wife for being so supportive. Not only did she do the Bible in 90 days with me, but she also didn't complain about the time commitment for me to do my workouts as well. She knew why I was doing it, and went the extra mile to take care of the baby and the house while I was busy working out. I appreciate her so much!

Alright, now on to the results. I didn't lose a ton of weight and I won't be gracing the cover of any fitness magazines anytime soon, but I am still happy with my results. At the beginning I could only do a measly 12 push ups. This morning I did 30! That's still not an incredible amount, but for me that is a huge improvement. I have also lowered my resting heart rate by about 10 beats per minute. Overall, I think I am accomplishing my goal of being healthier. I have also lost 12 pounds in the process and can fit into clothes that I previously could not. Here are some pictures from before and after. You can see the biggest difference in the side picture.

Thanks to all of you who kept up with my progress and encouraged me! I am going to take a week off and start the P90X program again. I must be crazy! My two brothers have talked me into it. If anyone out there is wanting to start up, let me know and you can join me! I especially could use someone to actually work out with, because that would keep me from slacking off!

Thanks again everyone!

Day 89

Workout- Core Synergistics
Bible Reading- Jude 1 - Revelation 17

I am almost done!!! I started the final book of the Bible today!! And it's a really weird one. This book really makes me wish that I had taken a class on Revelation while I was in college. Not that I would have paid that much more attention than I did in any of my other classes, but I think I would at least feel a little more informed. It's all just so foreign to me. I have a hard time picturing what the "end times" will actually look like. I definitely don't go through life living with the possibility of those times in mind. I'm just trying to make it through the day.

What would life look like if all of us lived our lives like it was going to be our last? Would we love people more? Would we spend more time on what was truly important? Would we stop being scared of sharing our faith with others? I'm not really sure what that would look like for me.

It is some thing to keep in mind though. If I believe the Bible to be true, which I do, then I should know that a time is coming when Christ will return. So why do I not always live like I believe it? Maybe this week I can focus that. Instead of worrying about what my business and stress, perhaps I can focus on the really important things. Maybe gain a little perspective.

Perhaps we could all do that.

-Michael

Day 88

Workout- Stretch X
Bible Reading- James 3:13 - 3 John 1

It's soooooo close! I am sooooo ready to put this challenge to rest. 2 more days!!

Today we decided to attend bedside baptist for church this morning. It was a wonderful sermon by Pastor Sheets today. It was a much needed morning for us to relax around the house today. We don't make it a habit to skip church, but given the pending craziness that is about to descend upon us, we decided that we needed a restful day. We had breakfast together and then laid on the couch and watched a Sandra Bullock movie marathon that is playing on ABC today. Then Breanne dawned her cape and became super woman and cooked dinners for us to warm up throughout the week. We wont have any time between work and VBS so warmed up dinners are the plan for the entire week. And now we are relishing the last few precious hours that we have left before we have to go to church tonight. It's going to be fun and it will all be for a good cause, but it's going to be I-N-S-A-N-E. Wish us luck.

-Michael

Day 87

Workout- Kenpo X
Bible Reading- Hebrews 1 - James 3:12

It's a good thing that this challenge is going to be over soon because this week is going to be CRAZY!!!! I was asked to help out with the vacation bible school at our Church and it is starting tomorrow night with a big kick block party and will run every night until Friday. Breanne and I were trying to figure out logistics of picking up baby after work and getting to VBS by 6. We may or may not get to eat this week. We will see. Amidst all this we have to pack at some point in time for our whirlwind tour of the southwest for vacation. We are leaving early Saturday morning. I'm beginning to stress out over all of it.

For VBS, our theme is Egypt. I am playing Joseph and will be acting out his story to all of the kids each night. It will be quite difficult, but I will do my best to refrain from breaking out into song and channeling my inner Donnie Osmond. If you have a puzzled look on your face, you should know that Donnie Osmond played Joseph in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat" on Broadway. I was in this show in college as "Asher", one of Joseph's brothers. The music of this show is fantastic and is already stuck in my head.

So I will do my best to keep my sanity this week and somehow finish these last 3 days with as much enthusiasm as I can muster. "Go, Go, Go Joseph"

-Michael

Day 86

Workout- Core Synergistics
Bible Reading- 1 Thessalonians 1 - Philemon 1

It's late and I almost went to bed without blogging. so here it is. Now you know that I at least didn't slack off with the two major tasks of this challenge. I'm just a slacker when it comes to blogging. I'm just running out of things to say. Maybe I'm just out of time in my day to come up with something clever.

4 more days!!!

-Michael

Day 85

Workout- Cardio X
Bible Reading- Galatians 3:26 - Colossians 4

Every now and then a crisis occurs in our house and I am always surprised at how well we handle it. Tonight Breanne was cooking dinner. She had put some chicken in the oven and apparently it needed to be on a pan that had sides on it because some juices started to drip on to the bottom of the oven. These juices then caught on fire. Breanne was on the couch and I was in the kitchen. I look over and see the flames through the glass on the door of the oven and start exclaiming, "Fire... There is a fire in the oven!" Breanne came over and told me to grab the fire extinguisher. Calmly I did and promptly put the fire out. I have never used a fire extinguisher before, but I had no difficulties using it. So the fire was out and dinner was sufficiently ruined. Although annoyed, both of us kept our cool and never once panicked. We did an awesome job!

So after the fire fiasco, I promptly went to Little Saigon and picked up a couple of orders of fried rice. They were delicious.

-Michael

Day 84

Workout- Rest Day
Bible Reading- 1 Corinthians 15 - Galatians 3:25

6 more days... 6 more days... 6 more days.

that is all that is running through my head right now. I guess you can also count things like "Why is it so hot out side" and "Why am I so busy all the time".

Those two thoughts and "6 more days" are consuming my brain at the moment. Thus preventing me of having anything else of much meaning to say today.

-Michael

Day 83

Workout- Kenpo X
Bible Reading- Romans 15 - 1 Corinthians 14

I am pretty sure that I have super powers. I know you are jealous. You might think that it is something glamorous like flying or shooting laser beams from my eyes. Let me assure, this is not the case. My power is great but it is nothing as cool as this.

What is this mystery power you ask? Well, let me tell you. I have the power to single handedly disable any computer without even trying. That's right. Put me near anything resembling a computer and I can crash it in 10 minutes flat. Amazing I know, but this is the burden I must bare. I am not sure what the problem is, but anytime I have some sort of electronic device, I will more than likely break it. If I don't actually break it, I will some how make it do ridiculous things defy even the most intelligent members of the geek squad. It is the most frustrating thing ever! The motherboard on our laptop completely died on us within less than a year of owning it. Currently the USB ports on my laptop are not functioning properly, I can never get Itunes to work right for me twice in a row, and my Ipod is acting glitchy as well. Ahhhhh!!! And here is the crazy part.... I don't do anything out of the ordinary with these devices! I go on the internet and that is all. I rarely ever download anything! I pretty much check my email, write my blog, and go on FaceBook. That is all! This should not be enough to break my computer. It's not like I am running extensive programs or downloading everything I can find. My computers should not be acting up like this. But this is the story of my life. I have a long history of broken computers in my past to prove it. I just don't know what I do to them to cause all these issues. My only conclusion that this is some sort of super human ability that I have. I must remember what Spider Man said. "With much power comes much responsibility".

-Michael

Day 82

Workout- Legs and Back
Bible Reading- Acts 28:17 - Romans 14

I know that I only have 8 days left, but I am getting exhausted. I feel like I should be all amped up and ready to finish these last few days with a strong positive attitude, but in reality I am just tired! I cannot wait until I am able to take a break.

Addmittedly, my workout was quite pathetic this morning. I had a major case of "the Mondays". Perhaps tomorrow will be better.


So that is my mantra for the day. 8 days left... 8 days left... 8 days left.

-Michael

Day 81

Workout- Cardio X
Bible Reading- Acts 16:38 - 28:16

We have a very crabby baby on our hands! She is being very much unlike herself. We are wondering if she is teething. Based on my extensive Internet research (extensive meaning one google search), babies typically do not start teething until they are seven months old. However, it can happen earlier. She has some of the symptoms that the website talked about. She seems to be extra drooly, she is tugging on her ear, and she is chewing really hard on her hand. And worst of all, she is super, super cranky! We all tried to take a nap today and she was having none of it. When we lay her down, we will typically let her cry for 20 minutes before we go and rescue. 90% of the time she just falls asleep. Well, after 10 minutes or so of crying as hard as I have ever heard her, we went and got her. She fell asleep in moms arms after she got her calmed down. So, she got a nap, while we didn't.

Alas, I hope this is only a phase and will pass soon. I want my happy baby back.

-Michael

Day 80

Workout- Back and Biceps
Bible Reading- Acts 6:8 - 16:37

I discovered something glorious today! Breanne and I went to Hobby Lobby to pick up some crafty things for her. Whilst shopping we discovered that they have put out all of their fall decor! I was so excited! Autumn wreaths as far as the eye could see. There were pumpkin decorations and all shades of artificial fall foliage. I don't know what it is about Fall, but I just love everything about it. I love the smells of all of the fall themed candles. I love the warmth that the decor adds to your house. I love back to school supplies! Even though I am not actually purchasing said supplies, I still love them. Today, has officially engaged my longing for this season to get here.

Alas... I still have about two months of summer to go before fall officially begins. I suppose I will make it, but it won't be fun.

-Michael

Day 79

Workout- Plyometrics
Bible Reading- John 15:18 - Acts 6:7

I'm ready for a vacation. I don't even really need to go anywhere and do anything fancy. I don't want to go site seeing or be busy doing tons of things every day. I can't even say that I necessarily want to go anywhere either. A week at home sounds awesome. I just want to get out of bed at my own leisure, cook breakfast for the family and just putz around the house all day. Maybe do some work around the house, but only a little bit. It is vacation after all.

But alas... that is not an option. No rest for the weary. In a few weeks we are going to New Mexico for a week. That promises to be fun. Super busy, but still fun. We will be doing a lot of visiting and catching up with friends and family which is always nice. Maybe we can find a pool or something to go and relax by while we are there. hmmmm.... time to start searching now.

-Michael

Day 78

Workout- Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps
Bible Reading- John 6 - 15:17

The end is so close that I can taste it! I only have two more weeks left and then I am finished! Well... sort of. My brother's have talked me into another round of P90X, but that is beside the point. I am just really excited to see that I am almost done with my first round of working out and that I have almost read the entire Bible! I feel very accomplished.

I'm hoping all this confidence isn't premature. I still have 13 days left so I need to keep my nose to the grind stone and finish strong.

-Michael

Day 77

Workout- Rest Day
Bible Reading- Luke 20:20 - John 5

Jesus asks the disciples, "Who do people say that I am?". They respond with words like, "Prophet and Messiah". Then Jesus digs a little deeper and asks them "Who do YOU say that I am?". It's a tough question sometimes. Reading the books of the gospels in a concentrated format forces you to answer this same question. Is he truly the son of God or was he simply a nice man. Did he truly perform miracles or were all of these events overblown stories of good deeds. What do you believe of these stories to be true?

Personally, I believe that Jesus truly is the son of God, empowered to do the miracles described in the books of the Gospels. I can't say that I always understand it, but I believe it. I believe that he healed the sick and the hurting. I believe that he brought the dead back to life. The tricky part is, is that I don't feel that you are allowed to believe some and discount others. I can't say that Jesus gave the blind man his vision but didn't really feed the five thousand. If I am going to accept some of them, then I have to accept all of them.

Of course the biggest miracle of all is that He would forgive our sins, allowing us to have eternal life. Do you believe this? I guess the necessity of believing this hinges on whether or not you believe there is more to life than just what we are doing day to day. If you think that what we are living right now is all that we have, then I suppose the idea of grace and forgiveness is null and void. However, if you place your hope in a better life to come, then the need to believe that Jesus came to redeem us is infinitely greater. In my opinion, the need to believe this exponentially increases our ability to believe that this is true to begin with.

So... If we can get to the point that we believe the most difficult miracle of all, (Jesus dieing for our sins so that we may have eternal life), how can we even begin to discredit all the other miracles described in the gospels? So I guess this brings me full circle to the original question. Who do you say that He is? Is he a living eternal God capable of performing miracles in your life or is he simply a nice guy in the history books?

-Michael

Day 76

Workout- Kenpo X
Bible Reading- Luke 10 - 20:19

Going into this challenge, I think I was most excited about the blogging portion. I feel like I am a fairly thoughtful, well spoken, and funny guy when I want to be. The down side is that the obligation to write mixed with the lack of time have forced this part of the challenge to be the biggest drudgery ever. I think it has been motivating in that I know there are people that check this on a daily basis to see what I am up to. So I complete my blog as a means of proving that I am not slacking off. It is also demotivating as I don't feel that I have really said anything of any substance. I'm not looking the change the world here, just hoping to produce something that is not merely a recap of what I did for the day.

And I feel that I have failed. I'm really not trying to be a downer here. I'm just realizing that this blog is fulfilling a more utilitarian purpose. I'm having to rethink what my goals for this are. It is serving the purpose of keeping me on track and for now, I am ok with that. I can be creative later.

-Michael

Day 75

Workout- Legs and Back
Bible Reading- Luke 2 - 9

I'm exhausted! It was such a good weekend, but now I am laying here in bed barely able to keep my eyes open. I'm also sunburned from swimming today, but that is beside the point.

I'm very proud of myself for keeping up with my program over the course of this weekend. I could have very easily decided not to do it as there were many other things that I would have rather been doing. But I stuck to it and even put a really good effort into it. Yay me. Only 15 days left!

- Michael

Day 74

Workout- Cardio X
Bible Reading- Mark 9:14 - Luke 1

Happy 4th of July! I love this holiday for two main reasons. One, I enjoy watching the fireworks, eating watermelon, and all the other various activities that come along with it. Two, I get a day off of work! Tomorrow I don't have to go in and I am extremely excited about that.

Now I know these are shallow reasons to enjoy this day. It just comes down to the fact that I am not all that patriotic. I am extremely grateful to live in the country that I do and that I have soldiers that are willing to risk their lives to protect the freedoms that I have. (Big thanks to my brother Thomas for all that he is currently sacrificing in order for us to live the way that we do.) So please don't think that I am ungrateful. I just don't feel the need to sing "God Bless America" while holding a sparkler.

I suppose a lot of my unpatriotic sentiment stems from the fact that people can't separate their religion from being American. Jesus didn't come to redeem only America, so I don't understand why we make such a big deal of it. People get very bent out of shape with our church because we don't march down the center isle with the American flag and sing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" on this day. I for one am grateful of this. As Ed Stetzer said today on his twitter account, "Today Christians will worship God and celebrate being Americans-- please be sure to not confuse the two in worship". I cannot agree more.

It's the confusion of these two principles that irritates me to no end and kind of steals any last bit of patriotism right out me.

With that said, I will stop. This is treading dangerously close to getting me starting on my God and politics soap box and I don't think you guys are ready for that.

-Michael

Day 73

Workout- Shoulders and Back
Bible Reading- Matthew 26:57 - Mark 9:13

It's been another one of those days where one activity leads right into another and there is very little downtime. I did happen to get in my required workout and bible reading so that is good. Seeing that it is now nearly midnight, I will have to leave my thoughts at that and head to bed. Sorry.

-Michael

Day 72

Workout- Plyometrics
Bible Reading- Matthew 16 - 26:56

I need to vent a little frustration. As most everybody knows, I work for an insurance agency. On a typical day, I sell policies and also service existing ones. I also spend a lot of time on the phone talking to people. There is one particular conversation that I have with people on a daily basis. It involves their premium. I have to listen to people complain all the time about how much they pay and it's getting a little annoying. Now I know that no likes to pay for their insurance. Mainly, this is because it is intangible. You can't hold on to it or display it in your home. You end up feeling like you are paying for nothing and I get that. So here are some bullet points that I wish I could share with people when they yell at me, but I can't because that would be unprofessional. So I am sharing it with all of you.

- Insurance premiums increase. It's called inflation people. It just happens and you need to deal with it! Everything else in this world is increasing so why shouldn't your insurance? You honestly can't expect to pay the same premium that you were paying 10 years ago.

- If you replace your 2003 civic with a 2009 Silverado 1500, your premium will increase. Don't be an idiot and expect it to stay the same. You just put us on the hook for a possible extra $10,000 to replace your vehicle. This isn't rocket science.

- You're not just protecting your car against physical damage. That is not the only purpose of auto insurance. When you rear end someone we are on the hook for a possible $50,000 lawsuit. That's why you have insurance. It's not meant to cover all the stupid little door dings on your vehicle!

- If you make a lot of claims, then we will cancel you. Don't act so surprised! Insurance is not a right. It's a privilege and if you are costing us too much money, then your privileges will be revoked.

- If you have a suspended license, don't waste my time and ask me for a quote. I can't give you one.

There are more frustrations and maybe I will add to this list later. For now, I think I feel a bit better. So the next time you have to talk to your insurance agent, be nice to them. They have people yell at them all the time.

-Michael

Day 71

Workout- Chest and Back
Bible Reading- Matthew 5-15

I just can't think of anything interesting to say tonight. It's hard work to write a blog every day. It's even harder to write something that is at least fun, if not worth while to read. So in the interest of not wasting your time, I think I will leave it at this for the evening, rather than jabber on about nothing in particular. Have great night everyone.

-Michael