Exhorter Podcast
Welcome to the Exhorter Podcast where we aim to stir up love and good works, through bite-sized biblical discussion. This local effort of the Church of Christ located in Clovis California is hosted by Kyle Goodwin, Paul Nerland, Nate Shankels, and Jon Bradford.
Exhorter Podcast
51 - Fitness & Faith: How Important Should Fitness Be for Christians?
As the new year approaches many have healthy resolutions on the brain. Well so did Kyle, and he asks "How important should the pursuit of fitness be in the life of a Christian?". Being physically fit is a good thing right? Then what could be bad about it? On the other hand, aren't we supposed to be disciplined and good stewards of the lives that God gives us? Join us for a light-hearted discussion on all of these questions and maybe a few fitness tips as well.
Contact the Exhorter Podcast
Thanks for listening!
Welcome to the Exordered Podcast. We're here to stir up love and good works through Biteside's biblical discussions. We have another topic for you from Kyle today. Kyle, what are we going to be talking about?
Speaker 2:Well, if you've ever seen any of my sermon videos, you can probably tell I'm really big into fitness, and that's what we want to talk about today. Fitness how important should it be in the life of a Christian? Let's just start by asking you guys, Nate, how important is fitness to you?
Speaker 3:Well, when you said fitness, I thought, like fitness waste into these pants, like that's kind of tough now that I have. Well, now that I'm married and have kids and I eat a lot of food, how important you have found the weight that I have lost. I have found some weight. I weigh more now than I ever have since my junior year in college. But how important is fitness to me, john are you looking for memes right now?
Speaker 1:Where does it prioritize in your life? So I think of the Monster's University and Arc. And you want to work out and be like yeah, me neither. I don't want to get too big, that's how we just think about it. Yeah, I don't work out because I just don't want to like I don't want people to-.
Speaker 3:If you did work out, you'd probably end up looking like-.
Speaker 1:I'm done with an appropriate eyes on these things right here Guns, these guns, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah well, pea shooters, the old red rider over there, how important is fitness to me? Okay, so, if one is I'm a couch potato and I eat donuts and ice cream all day meaning fitness is not important at all.
Speaker 1:And five you have five.
Speaker 3:That sounds good, huh.
Speaker 1:Sounds really good. You just read that from my diary man, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And then if five is like ultra marathoner David Goggins, then I would say probably I'm a three and a half.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you know who David Goggins is, which-.
Speaker 3:I mean.
Speaker 1:I'm a one yeah probably don't listen to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, guys have you read any of his books.
Speaker 3:I've listened to them. That's even worse. Oh wow, you see I'm in the middle, exactly like I predicted.
Speaker 1:We got John and Nate on both ends.
Speaker 2:I at least know who he is, but I've never read or listened to his books. Oh, okay, I'm right here in the middle. Okay, then I haven't done anything wrong yet. Who is it?
Speaker 3:Who is it? He's a former Navy SEAL and he uses very colorful language to motivate his listeners to get off of the couch and go do something with themselves. He tried to set a pull-up record of like 4,000 in a day and literally the flesh came off of his hands. He got to like you know 3,000. I don't know what it was and the flesh started coming off of his hands right because he did so many pull-ups. Like CrossFit guy, he's more than that.
Speaker 2:He's more than that.
Speaker 3:CrossFit is CrossFit, and Iron man had a baby. That's David Goggins.
Speaker 1:You got to read his book, his biography, and then the baby ate the. Yeah, it's pretty intense.
Speaker 3:No, I think that fitness is important. It's been more important to me at different times in my life, but it certainly is something that I believe is important because I believe it has an effect on every aspect, on every Just about every aspect of our lives. There's a lot of research that shows that exercise can help you reduce anxiety, that it can help you sleep better, that it can help you pay more attention, that it helps memory, that it gives you more confidence. I mean, there's a laundry list of benefits to fitness, and so I see it as very valuable.
Speaker 2:Well, I just want to put our cards on the table. And how important is it to us? I've had times in my life in the past where it was a much bigger priority than it is now. But I guess the next question is how big a priority should it be?
Speaker 1:in our lives. Well, why didn't you even ask me what kind of priority it was for me? Wow, you just skipped me all the other day. Obviously, look at John, it's not a priority. Well, it should be. You're over 40. Wow, wow, okay.
Speaker 3:So let me state my oh, that's right, you are in the next decade. Wow, you look young.
Speaker 1:I did have a personal trainer there last year and I really enjoyed that. I always just get too caught up with life and don't make it a priority. It's not that I don't believe it. As brawdy and my dad having all the health issues he had and being about my age when he had started some health issues, it's been very top of mind for me lately and it is something especially.
Speaker 1:I have young kids and now is when they want to go out there and play flag football and I'm just starting my decline on my energy level. So I'm thinking, okay, now I need to ramp it up. So it's very top of mind and I do think it is very valuable. I should just put it at the bottom of the list of the things that I would be doing for years. So it's kind of hard. It's a muscle. It's hard to work it back up and to get to it. Good analogy. I do think it is a priority. I do think it needs to be, but I haven't made it as priority as Mr Chris Traeger over here, in many years.
Speaker 1:So thanks for asking, kyle no.
Speaker 3:Jimmy is the Chris Traeger. Jimmy is the low chit.
Speaker 1:He's zero body fat. He makes the kids a negative body fat.
Speaker 2:He does have one Achilles heel though.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he's broken every body bone in his body, though he's like Achilles, like you could say he's got zero body fat because it all atrophied when he was in stasis, you know. He's not here, let's move on.
Speaker 2:He's got a freezer full of Talk too much Trash doesn't have ice cream in his freezer. It's plain ice milk. Ice milk no one fat Not fat.
Speaker 2:Well, and I've gone back and forth, like a few years ago when I still lived in Utah, I was going to the gym every morning at least four days, sometimes five or six, and getting together with two other guys and lifting and keeping track of all the weights and all that stuff. And then I moved and had some difficult things. Some challenging things happen in life, and I moved to Texas where there was brisket everywhere, and stopped working out. I gained a lot of weight. But I'm kind of in that boat where it's been a huge priority in my past, but it hasn't been for a while. But I recognize the value in it. Yeah, and that's kind of why I bring it up is we're at that point where we're getting to a new year. People are always making resolutions. You know you can make a resolution any of the other 364 days of the year, but January 1st is like that's the one that really counts, right, yeah, and so it's on our minds.
Speaker 1:At least three weeks. Yeah, just like three weeks. So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So I'm just thinking about it like I go negative, Nancy. This is why I quit.
Speaker 2:I've seen both sides of it in fact very recently because, like I said, going to the gym, that much I was doing heavy lifting, I was trying to bulk it, get the big muscles and all that, and I just kind of realized too, like why am I doing this? I'm spending a lot of time at the gym, I'm enjoying the time with my gym bros, but like why do I need to be this strong? I've never struggled to like move anything at my house. I've never felt like oh, if only I could bench 200 pounds more.
Speaker 2:I've never felt like it was practically useful, sure, and I just wondered am I doing this just because I want to look bigger, I want to have a certain physique? Then is this the best use of my time. But now, on the other side of it, I am struggling to lose weight and get back to a better shape Because, you know, like John, I also have young kids and I want to be healthy and fit. So I'm seeing the other side of that now and I just want to find that right balance point where maybe there is some value and importance to it. But I don't want to waste time on something that isn't eternally valuable.
Speaker 1:I see that vanity at when you're young and I see it a lot in young guys young late high school, early to mid-20s going to the gym and only going to the bench press Right.
Speaker 3:They're only going to there.
Speaker 1:And there's a vanity appeal to this, having a certain aesthetic body. But also you know the camaraderie and the competition of lifting and stuff and I think you can get a little carried away with that aspect of it and believe that that is the most important thing.
Speaker 2:I did need to point out that if you have short arms, you have an unfair advantage on the bench press.
Speaker 1:I just need to get that out there. Get out there. It's not my fault that I have gorilla long arms. But you know what I'm talking about. You're a high school teacher. You know the kids. You actually teach a weightlifting class at school, so you understand what I'm talking about. That can be improper focus and importance in some people's life which can continue on through life, and the balance that he's talking about is important.
Speaker 3:Well, I think it depends on where you're at in your life too, because I think about where I'm at now. Like I used to do CrossFit and do all the competitions, I would probably spend two hours a day at the gym probably only an hour an hour and 15 working out, and the rest, you know, just hanging out, but you know, probably six days a week. So that's 12 to 15 hours a week that I was spending at the gym. I was single, I didn't have any kids. It was like, yeah, so I'd leave work, go there for a couple hours, come home, you know, and do it all over again tomorrow.
Speaker 3:But now that I have kids and a wife, it's kind of like, well, am I going to be there or am I going to spend time with my family? And so I'm going to spend more time with my family, and so I'd spend less time working out, but I still make time to do some exercise. It's changed. It's not all about the bench press and the big weights and that sort of thing. It's more about like, how am I going to have the energy to keep up with my kids and my wife yeah, three little girls. Yeah, my three little girls how am I going to have the energy to do that, okay, well, this is one way that I can do that.
Speaker 2:Well, fortunately we don't have sons, so we don't have to be as fit to keep up with them in sports like John. This is true. Little misogyny thrown into this episode for you two.
Speaker 3:Good day there, John. Pick it up, man.
Speaker 1:So do you think that there are some men out there who do place too much importance on it and kind of escape reality in the world? I mean, is there catharsis to it too? Right, there's. Like you know, people will find themselves into substances and the door fins you get from working out with the substance in itself.
Speaker 2:What I found in brisket, that's what people find in the gym.
Speaker 3:No, but I remember. I mean, okay, everybody makes fun of crossfitters. Why? Because they treat it like it's a religion.
Speaker 2:It is right. It's like oh, you work out. First of all, crossfit is telling everyone about CrossFit.
Speaker 3:That's right. Yeah, it's the opposite of Fight Club.
Speaker 2:If only we had that same evangelistic zeal in the church. Amen.
Speaker 3:Oh, good point. But so there are people who treat CrossFit like it's a religion and I remember meeting those people and it was like, come on, man, there's more to life than you know what your um mile time is, or whatever. So box shots, I think we can certainly make it more important than it ought to be, just like with anything else.
Speaker 2:Scripturally speaking, I think one of the strongest arguments people often make. Well, I shouldn't say strongest, One of the most common arguments people make. I picked up on that.
Speaker 1:It's not the strongest one, I mean I'm talking about the strongest one First.
Speaker 2:Corinthians 6 and verse 19,. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. And when I typed up this question just for fun, should Christians be concerned about physical fitness? This verse was always included in the sense that God does care about what you do with your body.
Speaker 1:But this is also the verse for tattoos and vaccinations and MSG right. This verse is used at a context for a lot of things, is my point.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, and just look at one verse before that Flee sexual immorality.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's really the context of this passage. Is sexual immorality.
Speaker 2:And so I think in a broad sense, you could make that point, but I wouldn't put too much weight on it On the bar. I mean, I wouldn't put too much weight on this scripture as far as really going beyond the sexual immorality and trying to suggest that it teaches more than that. Like I said, as a broad principle, yes, god created our bodies and I think there is some expectation that we should take care of it. Yeah, but this is not a prohibition against smoking. I think there's other arguments you could make against that that are better than this verse. It's not a prohibition against tattoos, or it's not saying you have to be super fit and take the best care of your body. You know, as a kid I used to want to live to be a hundred. I don't anymore.
Speaker 3:It seems like a long time I do, because my wife will only be 80.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's how many kids will actually be in their 30s. Now it's like with all the weight I put on a couple years ago.
Speaker 2:I started to think like, sure, I don't want to be 100, but okay, now I'm thinking I at least want to live past 60. So it's like, again it's trying to find that sweet spot. So it's like you could get into that. For those who watch Parks and Rec, the Chris Traeger mindset of I want to live forever, but that's just kind of from that's taking it too far. The fear of dying.
Speaker 3:I think that you make a good point there where it says so glorify God in your body. I think there's a broader principle there that God has given us this body that we have. We should go out and purposefully mutilate it and that we should treat it with respect and honor. I think that we should definitely do that, and there's enough knowledge out there about the value of fitness to say well, you should probably move your body at least a little bit sometimes, because otherwise it's like mistreating your body and we just see the negative consequences of non-exercise. And I'm not talking about an hour in the gym every day pumping major iron. I'm talking about, just okay, let's get out for a walk 20 minutes three times a week, or something like that.
Speaker 1:So I mean, do we want to go to the Not but clause of 1st Timothy?
Speaker 2:Yeah, go there. I was going to let you. I wanted to kind of set you up. It's going to be a circle around the set. Before 1st Timothy 4-8.
Speaker 1:1st Timothy 4-8. And I say that's a Not but clause because that's what Scott always talked about. Actually it's not in this one. But just because it says one thing is more important than another doesn't mean the other is important to my point, right?
Speaker 3:So great way to explain that this is let's see verse 8.
Speaker 1:Well, starting verse 7, have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths. Rather, train yourself for godliness For a while. Bodily training is of some value. Godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come, and so that verse can. We can talk about physical fitness. There is some value in that. It's just not more than godliness. Godliness, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well with fitness. It's a good training method that, if I can learn to train my body, utilize my body and build it up into something stronger, you can take the same principles and apply them spiritually. Oh sure, yeah.
Speaker 3:I think about why do people want their kids to be in sports and on sports teams? Because it's going to teach your kids a whole lot about pushing themselves, about being goal-oriented and in team sports, about working with a team. But a lot of that requires you to be some level of physical fitness and some level of pushing yourself.
Speaker 2:Well, if you learn discipline and that's going to apply and if you can be disciplined in one thing, you learn how to be disciplined in anything. That's right.
Speaker 3:Another point too, and maybe I'm just drawing conclusions here, but everything in the Old Testament was like physical right. And then we have the New Testament, and Hebrews talks about how these physical things have become spiritual. Well, why would you start with the physical? Because it's easier to see and understand. And then it's a little bit more difficult or challenging to explain these spiritual concepts because you can't always see them. So you start with what's easier and you move to what's more difficult. Well, it's the same thing with physical sports analogies. Everybody understands the analogy of running a race. Okay, so now let's apply that to Christianity or to your spiritual walk. And it's a little bit more difficult without the analogy to understand that.
Speaker 1:Well, and as a discipline to better oneself and to you know.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm trying to teach myself important things. That's where I'm changing my mindset. Before, when I was lifting weights, I was doing it to be strong and look better, basically to show off.
Speaker 1:I wanted big biceps and Well what does it matter if you have big biceps? The only way people know that You're already four inches taller than everyone. You have to be bigger than the two, is it a?
Speaker 2:walk around, you know, pop in the pecs or whatever.
Speaker 3:And you're already married. Yeah, I've already married a 19. Whoa there, kyle. He's been married since elementary school. Yeah, I did it because I was trying to.
Speaker 2:There's so many scriptures against vanity and Well being a peacock. There's so many scriptures against that that we need to be discreet modest making a vanity and not trying to show off, and so you want to see what I used to look like Pfft.
Speaker 1:We're literally giving an example of showing off. Right now, as we're talking about showing up, yes, well, I can show you my. I got my cry picture.
Speaker 2:It's the one I look at and cry because only like six years ago. I looked really good.
Speaker 1:But there's so many scriptures about I'm feeling a little insecure right now.
Speaker 2:Not showing off.
Speaker 1:And you know.
Speaker 3:Photoshop, don't you?
Speaker 2:I do. I've officially lost my train of thought now.
Speaker 3:Sorry, kyle, that was my intent. If you worked out a little more, you'd have sharper mind powers. There you go.
Speaker 2:But that's where my I'm changing. My approach is. I used to do it for the appearance of what I wanted, now it's. I'm trying to teach myself something. I don't need to be functionally stronger, but I think I should be a little more fit. Yeah, and I've got some reasons we can talk about a little bit, you know, at the end of the episode. But I find that in teaching myself to be a more regimented person in every aspect of life, it's always summer camp, shark week, second best week of the year Did you know sharks have a week of TV devoted to Chuck Norris?
Speaker 1:But the best week of my life is camp, and I think the reason is and I'm not going to get all campy here, but the reason is is the whole week of camp every day, and there's so many things that I'm going to be able to do.
Speaker 2:I'm going to be able to do that. I'm going to be able to do that. I'm going to be able to do that. I'm going to be able to do that and I'm going to be able to do that, and I'm going to be able to do that, and I'm going to go to the camp every day, and there's some wiggle room in the schedule. But the whole day is planned out and scheduled and, since I'm the director of the camp, I really can't deviate from the schedule. I have to wake up. I have to be the first one up. I have to make sure the bell gets rung so all the kids wake up. I have to make sure they're all there, and so I have to go and check every class, make sure the kids are in their Bible classes. I have to go, and you know. So I'm just I'm following the schedule and it includes scheduled time for prayer, scheduled time for Bible studies, scheduled time for eating, schedule time for bed, and it's just.
Speaker 2:The whole week is regimented. I just find that week is just the best week of my life. And then I come back and it's all chaos. I wake up at nine one morning, I wake up at six the next, and I need to get that regimented feeling in my life. So that's what I'm looking for in fitness. When it comes to eating food, it's like we've talked about that last year, where there were episodes on gluttony. That's a struggle of mine. I turn to food for comfort when I should turn to God and pray, and so if I can learn to say no to this, learning to say no to one appetite is a good way to train yourself to say no to other temptations or other sins, and so learning discipline is going to help you be disciplined, potentially in any area, especially where it matters. So there are some important lessons to be learned, and so Paul is right that bodily fitness is of some value, but I think we have to keep in mind that that value is in serving the greater exercise, which is spirit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, absolutely so. I read a book a while back called Spark and it's all about, like, the benefits of fitness and exercise, and I was reviewing some of those as I was preparing for this episode, and it just made me think if, like, for instance, exercise makes a person more confident or can make a person more more confident, well, would I be a better Christian if I were a little bit more confident? Exercise can help reduce anxiety. Would I be more influential if I were less anxious? Exercise can improve your energy. Could I potentially be a better servant of God if I had a little bit more energy to go serve? And I just think, okay, what Paul said is right Fitness is of more value, but that doesn't mean that physical exercise is of no value. Physical exercise does have some value and I think that we should place some emphasis on that.
Speaker 2:You know you want to talk about being useful to God and having the energy to do that. I think that's one of the reasons why it should be of some value is, if we don't have the energy to get off our behinds and go out and talk to people and spend some time trying to share the gospel, are we really being useful to our master? Listen to this. One person went through and tried to calculate the extent of Jesus' travels during his three-year ministry and their conclusion was that on foot he traveled about 2,500 miles during three years.
Speaker 3:This is where I was going. It's not like Jesus didn't work out. Walking is exercise. They walked everywhere.
Speaker 2:Well, Jesus could multiply bread.
Speaker 1:It's sandalwood which is actually a lot harder Jesus could multiply bread, so he had to work off the carbs.
Speaker 1:Many of us probably don't consider ourselves as very, very active or very in shape. These are really great things in bringing up Jesus' travels and everything. These can convict me to try to be in a better shape so I have more energy to do things. But I don't think we're saying or we want people to negatively think about themselves in their position right now. Obviously we're not just saying good job if you are fit, but if you're not, you're walking your Well, fitness is kind of a moving target too.
Speaker 2:It is what is fit.
Speaker 3:Well, so what I was thinking is, if people have the view that I am Chris Trigger who works out all the time and is like right, zero percent body, just a super fit person, well, the reality is right now I get about three times a week to work out of about 30 times, sometimes less than that.
Speaker 1:I pay for his gym membership for the last year and then we've come like three times. Yeah, I mean, there's a spectrum here of I'm not coming from a place, of judgment of people who are my exercise is having eight acres of property. I know I say that because if he's not going out with me to the gym, I feel like I'm good because I don't go, but then he's over there chopping logs for his.
Speaker 2:In Bible times. I just wonder what would they think of us 2,000 years later? You guys pay to go simulate chopping wood on a machine.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's like when you talk to a guy who works in construction and you're like, hey, you want to come work out with me. He's like why would I do that? I work with my hands and my body eight hours a day. No, I'm going to go sit on the couch, thanks.
Speaker 2:The reality is, we've all been dealt a different hand of cards physically Some of us, that's true. We grew up eating the same foods and roughly the same quantity.
Speaker 1:He's in much better shape. Well, you'd think so he's also better looking and maybe a little bit smarter too. Kyle, I hear he plays the tuba pretty well. He ran a marathon a year ago here, in.
Speaker 2:California. It broke him. He hasn't run a race like that in over a year now. He said to take a year off to do physical therapy and try and come back from his.
Speaker 3:Oh, marathons are rough.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's better than me and he can run faster, but that's just the way his genetics are. Sure yes over the years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I still have cartilage in my knees, so I think I'm pretty good I have started to eat more.
Speaker 2:But growing up I was always bigger than him. He was a little taller than me until I caught up to him in height, but I was always bigger and heavier than him and we ate the same things. Growing up we all have a little bit different In. Some of us have some more physical hardships or just more obstacles to overcome. So fitness is definitely a moving target.
Speaker 3:When you're not fit, or you feel like you're not fit, then it's super hard to get started because you're like, oh my goodness, I'm not fit, I'm not going to be Arnold Schwarzenegger next week, so what's the point? How do we yeah, keep doing this. How do you get started if you haven't started?
Speaker 1:Well, I was just whether we should or not. Right Cuz You're still there.
Speaker 3:Kyle, let's restart the episode, yeah.
Speaker 1:I just played, obviously, this. It's a worthwhile thing. We've we've laid out lots of reasoning where it it's beneficial to you to be Healthy. Yeah, we'll say these words. We're talking about healthy. Yeah Is a target, and maybe goal is to be healthy and maybe at whatever point in your life You're at like.
Speaker 2:If I took fitness a lot more serious when I was 20 and just worked on maintaining being slim and that's what I want now, I don't necessarily want I don't need to be stronger than I am. I'm strong enough to any chore around my house. I don't need to be stronger, but I do need to be a little bit lighter. I need a better resting heart rate. Those are things that I would like. But if, when I was 20, if I just said Young Kyle, just maintain what you are, you're fine the way you are. Don't waste your time lifting weights. Just go for walks every day and eat, yeah, I Would be a totally different person today.
Speaker 2:I didn't sleep but I didn't do that. I'm nearly 40 and I'm a lot heavier than I should be. I've I'm losing weight, but I have a lot more I need to lose. So this is me at 40. You might be 50, you might be 60 and You're not gonna be the same weight you were in college or you're not gonna slim down. You know, at whatever point you are in your life, I think we all have to be realistic with with where we are, what, what the hand of cards we've been dealt genetically is, what injuries we might have had. So it's always a different Question for everybody and we just have to do the best with what we've got.
Speaker 1:It's so funny they talk about this because in my mind I think of I'm 10 years ago. I'm still the skinny person that I was, but I did not get sleep working on a startup for like 10 years. So you don't get sleep, man, that's like the first thing, right? You get four hours, five hours a night. You're eating late. I mean metabolism can't keep up with all that. So I mean I mentally project myself and think of myself, especially at football, flag football, every turkey, every turkey day, every year. I get I'm so excited to get out there. Like 10 minutes out there I'm like what happened this year? Mm-hmm. I mean the way we project and think of ourselves is differently.
Speaker 2:Sometimes I laid into you pretty good at the beginning of this episode. But I will say this to your credit, john, for the despite the fact that I'm physically superior in every other way, I am actually envious of how well you throw football.
Speaker 1:I can't throw a tight spiral, I can't throw half as far as you can. So what do they will? I will put that feather in your cat 15 minutes, while I do it before my arm.
Speaker 3:What are they called, those underhanded compliments? The Goggins approach to motivating John your language would be very different If you were trying to go against it.
Speaker 2:I was trying to wrap this up. I, I get. I think we're just trying to say that.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna interrupt you. I didn't even ask to interrupt. Can I interrupt, can I? I want to say just a couple of things and you're the junior.
Speaker 1:I have one thing, three things and then five more things.
Speaker 2:You're still third chair.
Speaker 3:Wow, I don't even know what that means because I play the Jews harp. So when it comes to fitness, I think if you're struggling to get started, I just want to say this it doesn't take a lot to start that journey. 15, 20 minutes to three times a week Can be all that's needed to get started on that path and the other thing too.
Speaker 2:I'll try and jump the Grand Canyon in one.
Speaker 3:We don't try to jump the Grand Canyon one leap and if you can find someone to help you be accountable to to that, that will help you continue. And then the last thing this is what I have done when I have fallen off the fitness horse In the past is Right down my progress. Today I walked 10 minutes cool. Today I walked 15 minutes cool. And just continue that on a daily basis and have someone to share it with. And if you do, if you do those things, I think you'll slowly get to a point where it's like, okay, well, maybe I can jog for two minutes and then the next week it's well, maybe I can jog for four minutes and and just get on that path.
Speaker 2:And I think if you continue on that path, it'll have a realistic goal for for you know, for where you are in life. Looking like someone from a Marvel film is not realistic for anybody. It's not even realistic for them. They can't maintain that longer than it takes for them to film the.
Speaker 1:The movie then they.
Speaker 2:it's just unrealistic standard. I think you look like tracks I. I look like Fat Thor. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2:But just kind of summarizing what we're really talking about, I think First Timothy 4 and Verse 8 is probably the best scripture we read today about this, where there's some value in it. We need to prioritize the spiritual fitness way above anything physical, but there's some value. If what you want again, we're not trying to look like a Marvel movie comic book hero but if our goal for fitness is to just have a little more energy, a little more zeal, be able to run around with our kids, be able to go out and do the work that God wants us to do and share the gospel with others, get a little more confidence and just feel better about things, then that's good. That's a good thing as long as it's in service of the greater needs of our soul. It's easy for this to become an extreme on both ends, to not even care about it. But I think you're undervaluing what you can offer to God if you just had a little more energy to do it.
Speaker 2:But on the other extreme I was thinking of Third John, verse 2, beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers, because I wish your body would match your soul. How many people are the other way around, where it's like they look great on the outside but their soul is like struggling struggling for life? Paul is talking to this guy, his friend Gaius, and says I wish that your health would be just like your soul prospers. The soul has to come first. Just in wrapping up, we could just give some practical suggestions. If we're going to prioritize fitness in our lives, we need to know its proper place. I think there's some things we can do to maybe get the most out of it. If you're going to go for a walk or lift weights or go to the gym or do some exercising, what do you listen to when you do that?
Speaker 1:I think it's a podcast.
Speaker 2:Maybe you should listen to the Exxorder.
Speaker 3:Or maybe you should listen to some.
Speaker 2:Christian Russian music, or listen to some good, positive, encouraging Caleb A cappella music Listen to our next episode, or maybe your last one?
Speaker 1:I see a cappella hymns.
Speaker 2:Now, when I go for walks, I do listen to something that is more spiritually valuable than Metallica. Is that?
Speaker 3:even possible.
Speaker 1:Just getting down to sarcasm. So a little less swole, but yeah.
Speaker 2:Another suggestion is work out with a friend, someone that you can talk spiritual things about as you work out. One of my favorite memories is when I was first learning to run. Yeah, it's something you have to learn how to do the right way my friend Devon. He said you know, it's really good for you to talk while you run.
Speaker 2:Here I am gasping for you know, I would say like Easy to say with walking with Devon, I would say like two words and then struggle for breath for five minutes and then say two or three more words, but by the end we would carry on conversations as we would run five or six miles. I found that to be a really good bonding experience. If it's time you're going to spend, find someone that you could share that time with and strengthen a friendship and talk about some spiritual things and just learn some things about this other person, maybe how you can pray for them. And you know, I think in the church we need some strong friendships and this is just a good way to do that.
Speaker 1:Do you guys have any other practical no, no, I'm thinking Devin has three kids. I'm hoping he's fat, he's not. He's not. I know Just his luck, man, he'd give you a run for your money, man, it's just all genetics, you know, just like my brother, yeah. No, I think that's good. I do think it's it. Just find ways to be healthy so you can be in service of God. Glorify him more, but prioritize, yeah.
Speaker 2:So if you're going for a run this week, please listen to this podcast. We got basically two full seasons now. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Subscribe like share.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know, this year just do it.
Speaker 3:We're not sponsored by Nike.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I'm just going to do the TB12. I'm going to commit.
Speaker 3:What is that?
Speaker 1:TB12 method. I don't even know if that is. Tom Brady wrote a book on.
Speaker 3:Okay, how to exercise and be healthy, but you need dear antler velvet.
Speaker 2:What is?
Speaker 3:it, John. I like Tom Brady he has stim cells?
Speaker 2:Yes, he has avocado.
Speaker 1:He has avocado, chocolate, ice cream, the avocado pit into my smoothies.
Speaker 3:It's got fiber in it, lots of it, what? That's what I heard from the guy who was doing the demonstration at Costco, so I started.
Speaker 1:Well, I think, on a scale, I didn't really believe in anything. I was so literally.
Speaker 2:So let me just say this John, On a scale I found this on the ground.
Speaker 1:Eat it.
Speaker 2:It's fibrous On a scale of one to five. Does making his own kombucha and rewarding himself with sparkling water really sound like a three and a half?
Speaker 1:Rewarding himself with sparkling water.
Speaker 3:It's soda water. It's soda. It's not sparkling water. But how is?
Speaker 1:it a reward? There's no value to it, there's nothing in it.
Speaker 2:I heard about it. I did a cinnamon challenge and so that's very similar. You did almost diet doing that. I did once diet. I saw the video.
Speaker 1:Man, it's so bad, that's terrible.
Speaker 3:Cinnamon is very good for your blood, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, not that day. I have this, I have this beautiful, I found this beautiful hourglass of my dad's and I'm going to put it right there in the table. And just why it will slowly come down because if we go past the sands, we know we're broaching way too far. People still listen, really. Yeah, do people listen to this podcast? Yes, I give you employee numbers. I give you employee numbers a lot, dude, don't worry, don't you have the?
Speaker 3:Google analytics. We have a few fans, so you're saying what we're doing isn't worth it.
Speaker 1:It's really just for my own benefit, so you can tell the elders that I did something.
Speaker 3:It's really like. I just really like hanging out with you guys. Please continue, so that I can say that I did something yeah.
Speaker 1:I just really want to hang out with you guys, that's the wrong.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
