Lifestyle change

Well, Cara and I had one last indulgence tonight, we stuffed ourselves at Chipolte with burritos, chips, and soda. I enjoyed it all, yet I am ready to take on this challenge starting tomorrow. So many fad diets have come and gone, yet the real answer I think I need is a serious change in lifestyle. I've said in the past that food needs to be for fuel, not fun. A lifestyle change is what I need and am going for...wish me luck.

Today's prayer is for all the youth and everyone else starting to read the New Testament in 2012, that they would find something in God's word that they haven't read before.

Getting close

Only two more days until I start this adventure.  I am ready and I hope that I can stick with some of the things I want to obtain this year.   My first physical test will come on March 31, the Run Ruckus.  I am looking for a bit of redemption from pretty much failing at the Run Ruckus just a few months ago.  I didn't train for it properly and was too heavy and too weak for it.  I finished in about exactly an hour and had to walk quite a bit of it.  I hope that I can train pretty hard for three months and drop some weight.

Tomorrow I'll write about making lifestyle changes vs. drastic diets that don't usually work for very long (although I think Cara and I are going to try a version of a drastic diet to kick start the year.,..the cabbage soup diet).

Prayer request for today is for little Austin that we met today...Cara's friend Marissa had a new little boy yesterday who is doing well., and we went and met him today for the first time.

Goals continued...

Okay, a few more goals for the new year.  I guess one tough one will be no soda for the entire year...yikes that is a tough one for me.  Although I know that soda is so bad for you and water really quenches the thirst better than anything, but a lot of mornings I get up super early and really need the caffeine...we'll see on this one.  A Spiritual goal would be to pray everyday, my pastor Joel Atwell recently preached on how prayer is one of the best spiritual weapons we have, yet it is one that often is the least utilized.  So this year I really want to spend some time every day praying.

Part of this blog will be to include a daily prayer request.  Sometimes specific to a person or thing, sometimes just a general prayer request for a country or random thing.

Today, I'd like to pray for Leigh Hobson's dad Darryl.  He is battling some lung issues including cancer for quite some time and is not doing that well.

Goals continued...

Another physical goal for this year is to lose a bunch of weight.  I am at an all time high weight these days thanks to lots of reasons/excuses of working too much, eating awful, and exercising way too little.  I can't remember the last time I saw a "1" as the first digit on the scale for me, so my goal this year is to get back below 200 pounds.  It is going to be a long haul, but hopefully with a new dedication to this SPF plan (Spiritual, Physical, and Financial), I can get there, we'll see.

Prayer for the day is for a lady that Kristin knows who's best friend died recently.

Hitting rock bottom

This is a familiar term for many for many different things...for me I hope I have hit rock bottom for my lack of exercise and for my horrific eating habits of late.  We are currently visiting Springfield, MO to have Christmas with my side of the family and to visit some long time friends from the area.  My dear friend Kristin McDaniel is a maker of many fine snacks and goodies and I have indulged in them WAY TOO much over the last few days.  I am sure I have gained at least 3 or 4 pounds just in the last few days and hope that I have hit rock bottom with my eating (well maybe after she makes breakfast tomorrow).

Prayer request today will be for my sister-in-law Jodi who is expecting their first child...all is going well, and I pray that things continue that way until Madelyn is born.

Goals continued

Today, I'll focus on a physical goal for 2012.  I have a lot of attainable goals and a few that might not be so reachable. 

First of all, I am going to shoot to get in 300 workouts in during the year, which is on average 25 workouts each month.  I did this a few years ago and it was a really good goal to hit.  A few of my more lofty goals are that I would like to run the Ruckus run in March, a half marathon during the year, and maybe if things really go well, I would like to run a full marathon...we'll see.

Prayer request today is for safe travel for those traveling for the Holidays.

Setting Goals

I am going to use the next week to set out my list of goals for 2012.  Some will be specific and some will be general...

My whole idea behind the SPF (Spritiual, Physical, Financial) is to make sure to put God first, so I really want to have a Spritual goal before I have any other goal.  So with that said my first goal for 2012 is very specific, I want to read God's word everyday, whether it is opening my Bible, reading it on my phone, I want to be in the Word every single day.  As stated in one of my earlier posts, I have challenged a bunch of the Youth at our church to read the entire New Testament during the year, and I am going to be sending a text to them every day with that day's  verses to get us through the New Testament in one year.

Today's prayer request is for all of those families who are having to deal with someone sick or dying during this Holiday season.  It always hurts to lose someone close or to have to be in the hospital, but I think those feelings are amplified during the Holiday season.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2011

I'll keep today's blog short and sweet since it is Christmas Eve and things are crazy busy around the Henderson household.  We've got almost everything bought and wrapped for the big day tomorrow.  The SPF comes into full play around Christmas time, between keeping focused on the real reason (S), and trying to not over spend buying for everyone (F), oh, and not eating til you are sick on sweets and everything that is good around the holidays (P)...it is pretty nice here today, maybe I'll try to get a quick jog in.

Merry Christmas.

Today's prayer focus is on my boss's Dad Jack.  He is in the hospital with some pulmonary issues.  Can't be much worse of a time to be sick and in the hospital, than around the holidays.

Ready for a fresh start

It is crazy how we always need a fresh start to get things rolling.  How many diets will start tomorrow, or will start on Monday, or will start on January 1st?  I am tired of carrying around the weight that I have gained yet, I keep putting off starting to get serious about eating and exercising until January 1st.  Why not start today, or tomorrow...well I guess there is just too much good food, snacks, and dinners waiting around the corner over the next week or so.  And, there just doesn't seem to be enough time to get a good workout in with last minute shopping to do...excuses excuses, I know...

I would also like to have a daily prayer request written out, so for today I'll pray for safe travels for all who are getting ready to get on airplanes, or on the road traveling for Christmas (including ourselves who will be traveling next week to Springfield).

Accountability

I need accountability if I am going to have any luck at being successful on any of the three areas that I am trying to improve on (Spritually, Physically, Financially).  Jeff and I have numerous attempts at holding each other accountable for running, eating healthy, pushups, the list goes on.  A few years ago I joined my brother-in-law in a challenge to workout 300 times in one year (or 25 workouts a month).  That was one of the few times I actually accomplished a workout goal.  Besides being accountable to Brad, I also put up a spreadsheet at work for anyone interested to keep track of their monthly workout numbers.  I think for January 1, 2012 that worksheet is going back up and I may make another run at 300 workouts as well.

Spritiually, I hope to get a bunch of people (youth and adults) on board to read the New Testament in 2012...we'll see how many commit to the challenge.

Creating good habits

I am a serious creature of habit.  It drives Cara crazy because I am either super serious about something (diet, exercise, you name it) or the complete opposite, one or the other, no middle ground.  As I think about how bad my habits are now with eating terrible and basically a non-existent workout plan, part of my goal for this blog is so I can start to think about what I am going to do better in 2012 and what type of good habits I can try to create. 

On a Spiritual goal note, yesterday I sent my daily bible verse text out to some of the youth group at Grace Community Nazarene Church in lovely Spring Hill, KS, and issued a challenge to any of them who were interested.  For the past few months, I've been texting a verse or two every day as an attempt to get the youth to get in the habit of opening their bible (or finding it on their phone) and read at least one verse every day.  So, I thought I'd turn up the volume a little bit and issue a little bolder challenge to them for next year since I've had a great response to the daily reminder I've been giving.  Our Bible reading challenge for 2012 is to read the bible daily and to read the entire New Testament during the year.  As with any good habit or challenge like this, accountability is huge and as much as I want to see a bunch of the youth group read the whole New Testament, I need it just as bad. 

Now is the time to be thinking about and setting goals for 2012, rather than waiting for January 1st to throw some things together that probably won't stick.

Time to get things back in order

Ok, so I am ready to get some thing back in order...organized that is.  I've had an idea for a while now about writing a book or something, so I'll start with the blog to detail 36 ways that might help improve yourself Spritually, Physically, and Financially (hence the SPF).

My goal is to come up with 12 things throughout the year, 1 from each category for each month.  1 thing to focus on and continually improve on each month while I try to grow closer to God, get in better physical shape, and better my financial situation.  All of things, I hope will greatly impact my life, my family, and anyone else who cares to read this.

When it is all said and done and I have millions of followers on this blog (yeah right), I'll compile my notes and write a best setting book (again, yeah right).  The official start will by January 1, 2012, but I'll try to lay out the frame work over the next week or so as we head towards the New Year.