Perhaps Acoustic Guitar

God's Temple (My Body)

With my new sleep schedule, I have been experimenting with my time management. One such experiment is in regard to my workout schedule. Whether it be my strength and core training or my walking or running routines, it is difficult to settle on a nice pattern in the Winter months in Florida.

Today, I did day 3 of my strength and core training. I achieved this workout Monday, Wednesday, and today, Friday. I've been doing it in the morning as I have managed to wake up by 5am every day this week. Today, I added some core exercises that also help with back pain caused by working a desk job. I have a standing desk. But that isn't enough to overcome years of back torture...hehehe

While I was doing this new core training, I got to thinking about how I was doing my workout during those first 3 hours of the day before work. Today marks 111 days I have started my day with God. Giving Him the first part of my day has been more than a game changer. It has been LIFE changing.

As I was working on my physical health today, I realized I was taking care of God's temple. The body is considered a temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, taking care of my body is actually an act of worship. Doing a workout in those early hours of the day are like continuing to give God the first fruits of my day. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 states,

Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Although that follows the context of sexual sin, I believe it also applies to exercise and diet. In 2005, I attempted to take my own life. I literally wanted to die at the age of 27. The years following that I didn't want to live into my 40s. As I entered my 40s, I no longer wanted to die. However, I felt like I was actually dying. In 2023, as I was going from 44 to 45 years of age, I started working on my physical health. The months that followed proved that I was in fact not dying! Now, well, I want to live until I'm 135 and beyond! Isn't God amazing?!? I'm going to continue to take good care of His temple, my body, until I'm at least 135. Just you wait and see!

New Face

I have had either a VanDike (goatee with a mustache) or beard most of my adult life. When I first grew out my facial hair, it was out of laziness. Shaving every day, or every other day, was a chore. Who wants a chore that often?!? Truth is, there are always daily chores. But I had plenty in my life that shaving just wasn't a priority...hehehe So, laziness settled in pretty easily.

As I gain weight in my 20s, my beard became a way to hide my obesity. My neck and large cheeks were easy to hide behind hair. In my 30s, I even had a season when I allowed my head hair to grow long in the back to hide the fat bludge on the back of my neck. At least in my mind, my hair is what people's eyes were fixed on when they looked at my face and head.

With the extreme weight loss of 70 lbs over the last 12 months, I thought I'd give a fresh smooth shaven look a try. At first, I was like, WHOA! It was quite a shock. It had been so long since I had ever shaved my face completely. For a day or so, I wasn't sure I liked it and thought I'd immediately allow my pepper beard to grow back. This morning, however, I decided to continue to shave my face for the time being. So, I give you my new face!

Tragedy in Paradise

My version of Paradise on Earth is Florida. I've vacation in Florida as far back as my memory will go! Even as an adult, I loved vacationing in Florida. It wasn't much of a surprise to anyone that I decided to move here. Most people expected me to move to Orlando due to my love of all things Disney. But Disney is such a small part of what I love about Florida. In fact, Disney is a bit on the nose, actually.

Besides the obvious Disney connection, I love the climate here! The weather is my type of weather. Rainy, windy, stormy, and sunny all in the same day! The key being that it is sunny most of the time...hehehe And the hurricanes are no bother. There is more than plenty of warning. Nothing like the tornadoes from the midwest and that occasional earthquake. Neither of those had any warning whatsoever! I also love the wildlife here! It is literally my idea of paradise.

Paradise is not always as such, however. Not everything is perfect here. The bad stuff can still happen. When I sent a text to my friend Dan this morning tell him to have a fantastic day, he replied that it hadn't started out so fantastic. Dan is an amazing person and a teacher in a local community here in Florida. Today, his school got the news that one of his students had tragically passed away in a house fire last night. I cannot imagine what he, the students, or the community are feeling today. My heart and prayers go out to them!

Run, Greg, Run!

No matter how the day was going, whether it was tragedy in paradise or whatever was happening at work, I just had to run at lunch today! I actually ran in lieu of eating today. That's just how important it was that I go outside and run!

I set out to run 2 miles today. I had a time constraint and didn't feel I could get in much more than 2 in the time I had. As I began to run, I turned on today's "Bible in a Year" plan so it could be read to me as I ran. That turned out to be quite the motivator. I typically only listen to music when I run. Listening to the Bible turned out to be really nice! Today, it was Genesis 22, 23, and 24. After that, it was back to music!

After my run today, I had an alert from my Apple Health app. Before my health journey, such alerts were about warning signs that I was "dying!" Now, these alerts are more about how I have been improving. Today's?!? Yep, it was a sign of improvement! Back in December 2021, I received an alert that my Cardio Fitness was dangerously low after experiencing a roller coaster at Universal Studios Orlando. In December 2022, I could not even ride that roller coaster. Beginning in 2023, I started my health journey. Today, I got an alert that the same Cardio Fitness I was warned about in 2021 had improved from 26.9 to 34.1! I'm only a few points from being in the "normal" range for that metric!

Although I only ran 2 miles today, I pushed harder than I have ever pushed. I knew I was only running 2 miles. So I didn't need to pace myself for any farther. After my run, and with that positive alert, I realize I need to keep pushing. Not for distance, but for faster shorter distances. I need to push harder for a single mile until I can run all miles at these faster paces. I'm not racing against others. I'm racing for better health!

Furnace

Okay...so...my blood has turned thin living in Florida. Winter on the gulf coast of Florida can feel so cold for me...hehehe My first winter here, I turned on my furnace at the onset of Winter to ensure it was working properly. It was at that time. This year, I decided not to even bother as I never used the furnace that first Winter here. Even when it got into the 20s here, I wasn't even home.

This Winter, I have spent more time at home. It hasn't been cold enough for me to use my furnace just yet. I live on the first floor of my apartment building. The other apartments around me provide enough residual heat that I don't feel it necessary to turn on my own heat. Plus, I can always put on a few layers of clothes to find some extra warmth as needed.

Well, today, I woke up feeling quite cold! Here is the funniest part; it was 72F in my apartment. 72! In the midwest, that is actually pretty warm! When living in Illinois and Indiana, I kept my home at 68F. So, why in this world is 72 suddenly so cold to me!? Regardless, I really wanted to turn on my furnace today. So, I did! Guess what?!? Nothing!

My furnace was not coming on! What!? Although not life threatening, I was cold with no furnace! LOL Yes, I literally laughed out loud. I wish I could say I wasn't all that worried. But I spent out 10 minutes actually worrying about it. Luckily, I had planned to do a strength and core workout today and that would warm me up pretty quick. I still put in a work order to have my furnace looked at.

About 4 hours after I put in that work order, the apartment complex's maintenance showed up to have a look at it. As it turns out, the issue was that some wiring was disconnected from the system to triggered the fan to activate when the furnace started up. It was actually a mystery as to why it even worked that one time I turned it on in late 2022...hehehe Happily, my furnace is working just fine now. Which is really good considering the temps will be in the 30s again this weekend!

Blogs and Social Media

25 years ago, before social media was a thing and before companies truly monetized on the Internet, I started up my first websites. I won't go much into that now. But one thing that stands out about that time is that blogs and any early form of social websites were all about a personal connection. Although ads existed online at the time, they were mostly a part of the software that connected people to the Internet. Websites themselves were just about the content.

I really miss that. I miss the fact that when I was reading someone's posts back then, they were genuine. No one was trying to sell me something on their website. It was their personal space to share their personal insights. That's it! Just them! Blogs and social media today seems to be all about "buy this" or "buy that" or something incredibly shallow.

Sure, there is plenty of room for commercialism and product placement in today's Internet. But why can't real people be real these days. One interaction that sticks out in my mind last year is when I met one of many social media "personalities" in real life at Disney's Hollywood Studios in the Walt Disney World Resort. Online, he seemed like such a fun guy. But when I met him in person, he didn't even look up from his phone when I was talking to him. I mean this literally! I said hello and made mention that I followed him on my socials. Yet, he did not once acknowledge my presence. Needless to say, I no longer follow him on social media.

With me, you get in person what you see online. Warm hugs and all! By the way, I always ask someone if they are okay with a warm hug before I actually hug them. But who I am on social media is actually who I am in person. I recall one instance when I was talking with someone about a life situation they were experiencing. We were walking through EPCOT at Walt Disney World and I encouraged them it was okay to take 2 steps back as they explained they felt bad about failing in something. I then encouraged them to try again. I said keep moving forward. So long as they didn't give up, that is what was important. A random passerby overheard our conversation and said, "That's great advice!"

I don't mention any of this in any way to express that I have life figured out or that in anyway I am setting a great example. My point is that who I am online with all of my "Vitamin G" and encouragement is actually the sort of thing you'll get from me in person. I struggle with the rest of the world. So, I also struggle in person. But who I project in person and online are the same exact person. Why have we lost this as a society?! Why are there so many blogs and social media accounts about junk instead of genuine sincerity. I really miss that about the late 90s and early 2000s Internet.

Music 2024

Speaking of the old days, I truly miss my musical abilities. So, in 2024, I hope to take up music again. I use to sing...I use to play piano...I use to play the bass guitar. Most of which was done in the church and through worship bands. There was a very short stint in a band where we played for weddings and such.

I'm hoping that 2024 is my year of renaissance in music like 2021 was for my painting. The singing part is actually pretty easy for me. But I'd also like to take up an instrument again. The obvious choice is piano. But perhaps acoustic guitar as well?