Regarding my fitness status, there's really nothing new to write from a couple of days ago. All training is suspended, but my carnivore continues. I don't know if I'll get that -1% bump on April 14. But, if I must settle for a -4.4% weightloss, that sure ain't bad! I'm not resorting to emotional eating—

—there are no Twinkies in my life!

—no JJ's Apple Pies!

—no Pancho's cheese dip!

In fact, if I wasn't eating an inherently anti-inflammatory diet already for the past 131 days, I suspect I would be WRECKED!

Looking back, Saturday night was the last time I slept in that upper-50s/lower-60s BPM range. Since Sunday, March 3, nights have been 80s-90s with one night in the 100s. I've considered benching my Garmin so as to not be reminded!

I have confidence that my body is responding appropriately to the threats at hand. And if I must dial back my sensitivity a couple of notches to achieve success...

Nevertheless, I am reminded of this theme again, this time from this morning's 1 Peter:

All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord remains forever.

1 Peter 1:24-25, ESV

...which is a callback to Isaiah:

A voice says, "Cry!" And I said, "What shall I cry?"

All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers,
the flower fades
when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
surely the people are grass.

The grass withers,
the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.

Isaiah 40:6-8, ESV

Last night, I watched an invigorating documentary, Is Genesis History? There was a time I was an ardent student in apologetics. Today, I value it as just encouragement when the waves of this world crash against me (for that matter, I take comfort, that my Father chooses the king in power—not the media or the voter. Daniel 2:21).

A feature I like about this film is that the shooting locations include places that have meant a lot to me: the Memphis Zoo, Discovery Park of America, Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon, Sedona, and Chino Valley (well, not a whole lot of value in that last one, but I did buy my first LCD monitor over in Prescott). I've been to those places; I have seen with my own eyes God's handiwork and can understand how everything was shaped by the violent upheaval of the Earth and its immediate aftermath in the months thereafter.

The film also highlighted to me the value of how much was packed into the DNA of each "kind" so that we can have so many cats, so many dogs, etc. Our world was kicked off with complexity with an ecosphere already in place, a symbiont circle of sorts.

I hear so much media blast garbage that this sort of discussion does my soul good.

And how this song interwoven with Piper's message tugs on my heart as my tears well up...

YouTube Link