Training not Working Out

A couple of weeks back while on Slack someone posted something about do you workout or are you training.  I do not remember all of it but the may thing I took from it was what we do at F3 is train men.  We train men physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually to become better men and leaders.  The other thing about training is on an individual level when you train you have to have a goal that you are working towards and goals need to be measurable.  The last thing about goals and training is it typically works better when you have accountability.  That is the reason for this temporary AO to run through sometime in the spring when everyone has reached their goal.  The AO will be run/ruck/walk AO that will increase in length of workout by 5 minutes each week.  It will start at the Java Post in Cape Carteret and go towards Swansboro.

The start of our new AO was scheduled for the first Friday of January, well that ended up being a pretty bad day to start weather wise.  The roads were completely frozen with temperatures forecasted to be in the low teens.  Do you postpone it? I thought about that but what a terrible way to start out on new goals,  to delay your start just because conditions are not optimal.  So we decided to proceed and although the goal for the day may be a little different one of the biggest parts of achieving a goal is showing up.  Our goal today was to show up and then to not get hurt, so no running today just walking.  We stuck together and what a great thing it was.  To have 5 men show up on this day to a new AO committed to bettering each other and bettering themselves is something that is just beyond words for me.  We did not even walk fast, I clocked that we did about 2.5 miles in 45 minutes, but we kept going and we did not slip and fall.  Men you are all champions today because you showed up, and I am certain that each one of you will reach your goal that you set for yourself. JUST SHOW UP

Goals and training are not just for physical though, what about the other parts of your life.  What sins do you want to conquer this year, spiritual goals, family goals, work goals.  Think about all of these things and set some goals, take the next step and tell someone your goals.  Ask them to make you accountable.  Make sure that you are not in the same place at the start of 2019 as you are for 2018.  Unless any of us are Jesus we all have something to work on.  I will start it off here.

Physical: I will be running the EI half marathon as well as the Blue Ridge Relay.  I also want to lose 20 pounds

Sins: I struggle with selfishness, some of you may not think that because I have helped you with something or you see me sacrificing my time for church or etc…  Unfortunately a lot of the things I do are done with recognition and I feel myself enjoying that recognition.  I have struggled with this my whole life and while I have tried to overcome it I have not come close to succeeding.  I think the reason for that is I have not been accountable, well that begins now.  I want to put myself in places where I have to sacrifice my time, money, heart with no opportunity of recognition or praise.  I want to help others without thinking about what’s in it for me.

Spiritual: I want to be more diligent on my bible reading, I teach a Small Group and tell the students that they have to read their Bible yet I do not practice this.  I want to do better at this.

Family: This goes with my sinful nature above.  I love my family but I can serve them better.  I am often there for them physically but not mentally.  I want to do a better job of being in the minute with them and not thinking about what I have to do or what comes next.

Alright, I appreciate you guys letting me ramble and post things you may not be interested in.  I want to challenge everyone to come up with their goals.  Pick a race, ruck, weight goal, spartan, mud run or something that interests you and train for it.  Let us help you or even better do it with you.  You see the things I am doing above please join me.  Pick a sin in your life that you struggle with and work on it, ask God for help, ask us for help.  I want to be better this year and I want for you to be better also.