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Nerd Fitness Plan

There are many voices online — especially this time of year — giving advice on how to loose weight and get fit. As someone who’s been tubby and/or weak his entire life, I’ve listened to and tried much of this advice. They all absolutely work. But, they are not sustainable.

Observations from the Newly Fit

I thought it might be worthwhile to document my observations of what it’s like to be fit from the perspective of someone who never has been.

St. Joseph, Steadfast in Faith

St. Joseph is an important saint in my life. I first knew him, as most do, as simply the adopted father of Jesus. Hardly mentioned, hardly thought about. He helps Mary and then Mary and Jesus in their travels and then quietly disappears from the gospel story. Later, in ministry in the jail and on the streets, I came to know him as St. Joseph Terror of Demons. Finally, in the last few years through my work at Christ our Anchor I’ve come to know him as St. Joseph the Worker.

Bear Fruit in Keeping with Repentance

The second Sunday of Advent is, for me, when things start to feel real. When Advent truly starts.

In the first week, we’re still coming out of Thanksgiving, surprised we’re already in December, faced with blue after months of green, and thrown into remembering our place in the world, but not of it, as society begins feasting while we’re still reflecting and preparing.

In some ways, I wish we’d add a fifth week of Advent and just spend two weeks on the first readings. We read of the return of King Jesus, God making the world new, judgement, and hope. In the blur of it all, each year I feel like I don’t sit with that as long as I should.

Updated Training Routine

Since my last post in October, I’ve made some slight modifications to my strength training routine. I’ve got a new lifting routine that I’d like to share.

Pray Always

I come to you this morning “fresh off the plane” from the 148th synod of the Diocese of Quincy. Due to weather conditions, our flight was delayed and we ended up taking an in-air detour through Michigan and Ohio to get safely home to Tennessee at around 10:30p last night. But, neither the airport, hours in a cramped plane, hoards of travelers, nor the stresses of travel could remove the joy, hope, and peace I received at our synod.

Strength Training Snack Routine

Since August of 2024 I’ve been on quite the health journey. I started walking on my desk treadmill that month and, starting January 2025, committed to hitting 50,000 steps per week.

Since January, I’ve consistently exceeded my 50k steps and have had quite the physical transformation. I’ve lost at least 15 pounds and have seen my waist go down by a few inches. I have more energy, my joints hurt less, and — even with an incredibly difficult work situation — my depression and mood are under control. I’m still amazed that something as simple as slowly walking while I’m in meetings has had such a positive effect.

Pliable Chickens

I’ve spent the last week reflecting on Jesus cooking for and feeding the disciples. While we often don’t think about it, cooking is deeply personal and domestic. As Fr. Dan explained to us last week, there is much love and care in cooking and feeding. Especially when we’re talking about family and friends. In cooking, we sacrifice our time and enjoyment so that we can focus on the nourishment, pleasure, and happiness of others. Cooking isn’t glamorous. It’s often hot, smelly, and leaves one covered in grease, flour, and sticky.

Daily Supplements

For several months, I was taking this mixture of supplements daily. My goal in this mixture was to target imflamation, depression, and increase my energy and metabolism. I saw great results.

Health Plan Success

The last fifteen years have been a wild health ride for me.

I entered my mid-20s at nearly 200lbs. Which, when you’re only 5'5" is a rather unhealthy place to be.

Thankfuly, my early 20s found me fully immersed in anarcho-capitalism, LewRockwell.com, and — of course — Ron Paul. Radical libertarianism aside, LewRockwell.com in the late aughts was rife with posts and essays on the benefits of the various paleo diets. As one does in their 20s, I went all in.

Why do you Sleep?

Welcome to the climax of the Christian year. This service, much like Holy Week itself, is all over the place. Highs. Lows. Joy. Suffering. Light. Darkness. Everything we talk about all year long, comes to a head in this holiest of times.

With such a long gospel reading today, there is much to preach on. In a hundred odd verses we have the entire ministry and person of Christ on display in high speed. On a Sunday such as this, there really isn’t a wrong way to go. This year, however, I’m going to focus on the verse that immediately stood out to me.

What is Sin?

The topic of sin is an interesting thing. On one hand I think your common person on the street would quickly answer that they know exactly what sin is. It’s something you’ve done that’s bad or maybe something that you’ve done that hurts another person. But, I think if you press most people to start defining what bad is and even when something crosses from good, to neutral, to bad; you’ll start to see how complex the topic of sin actually is.

Hope in Anxiety

Yesterday morning when I came out of my office, Rosemary asked me a very important question. Knowing that I was working on my sermon, she asked me, “Daddy, how do you write a sermon?”

It’s an important question, because I think a lot of people have a certain idea about sermon preparation that’s actually a good bit different from what happens. (At least for me.)

I’ll pull the curtain back a bit and fill you in on my process. First, I pray. Then I read the lectionary readings for the week. Then, I pray again. Then I stare out the window. I wait for the Holy Spirit to give me a faint starting idea. Then, I write and listen. So often, the place I’m taken by the end of the sermon is very different from what I’d have expected. So often, there’s something in the reading I hadn’t noticed before. More often than not, conversations and readings from the last several weeks come into focus and I realize that God was preparing my sermon for me weeks in advance.