Monday, May 19, 2008

"The Shack", by William P. Young

Once of my friends from the ministry in which I am involved recently recommended to me a book called "The Shack", by William P. Young. Once I read all the great feedback about it online, I went and bought the book and once I started reading it, I was unable to put it down.

I can't really put into words what an experience this book was for me, and, as I am told, for quite a few of my friends. One of the things many people, Christians and non-believers alike, often ask about God is this: Why does He let bad things happen to good people, and where is God in the midst of our worst, pain, trials, and suffering? Although this book is work of fiction, it posits as good an answer to those questions as any scholar, theologian, or secular journalist as I have ever seen. Even though the "shack" is a fictional place, everyone has such a place in his or her life, whether it is someplace tangible or a place in their mind due to things they experienced which, at the time and possibly since then, were undesirable and painful. Just like the main character in this book, people generally have two choices in life: 1.) they can spend countless amounts of wasted time and spirit-sucking energy trying to "hide" or "protect" these things from the light of day and from God, OR 2.) they can go directly to the source of their pain, confront it head on, and with God's help, push through the walls they have erected (walls that, in times past, may have been necessary for coping and survival, but which now block the way to healing and keep them in bondage) and move forward in life with a lightness and freedom they never thought possible.

If you want to learn more about the author, you can go to his blog here and/or his Myspace page here. All I can say is read the book...I can't recommend it strongly enough. Much love to you all and God Bless!

--Chris :)

Thursday, May 1, 2008

May 2008 Resolutions

Due to my commitments to the ministry in which I am involved, work obligations to prepare for my one year review at my job, and the preparations to move out of my apartment into my fiancee's condo for good later this month, my workouts in April were virtually non-existent. While I know that those other areas of my life are going well due to the attention I have given them, it is much harder to continue to succeed in multiple areas of life if your body begins to break down. Honestly, right now, I don't feel all that well physically and I am not in nearly the shape I will need to be, especially given that I will be walking on a Hawaii beach topless for a week on my honeymoon about five months from now.

My company's softball team started its spring season last month (running from April to June), but with the training coming up in about a week and my one year review pending any day now (meaning I have to get as many big wins in my column as possible at work), the martial arts classes I am paying for (yes, I did join the gym I discussed possibly joining back in this post) may have to wait until later in the month or possibly until June. That said, I figure that I have at least one workout a week (one softball game) scheduled into my weekly routine until June. I figure if I can do that, and fit in workouts of some kind 3 of the other 6 days a week, that will get me to 4 workouts a week, or an average of a workout every other day. There's also a possibility that, when the company softball league ends in June, I may sign up for a flag football or soccer league to try and get my cardio up over the summer.

That should be enough to get a good foundation in place to meet my fitness goal, which is losing 20 pounds (I am up to 245, nearly my college football playing weight, except that I'm nowhere near that cut or strong as I was back then) by the time the wedding and honeymoon get here in October. This action plan to get myself back closer to and eventually into the shape I need to be seems to have a good chance for success, so I am excited to see how it plays out.