The Walking Dead

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

I am enlightened by compromised lungs, a heartbeat that springs to 130 BPM when I get up to grab a cup of coffee, and a body that is shrouded in a veil of numbness from collarbone to toes. Perhaps, I have become the principal TWD's plot point and I am the Walking Dead 2019.

I felt it coming; my qi just felt off. It just felt like something was off even with no symptoms. Now these days, I wake up each morning to an entire day with my ignition timing off. I'll tap my legs together and it feels like I'm slapping two pieces of oak together. My chest thunders with fatigue as I fry up a simple batch of bacon.

I've never experienced this. Will it pass? If this is a new feature of my life, I am at peace with it. In fact, it would be a gift to remain less sensate as I have a better vision of the future as my focus fails me in the present.

It brings me ever so closer to facing the reality of the beyond. Or, in practice, the life I know from now to the next 6,000 years.

No, I've never felt mortal like this, seeing the threshold that my father and mother once crossed, but never have I been humbled like this. It is a most excellent position to be in. In the past, I have hammered upon my chest acting proudly that I will be in this aspect for many years to come; even my 10,944 step goal was a date challenge to overcome my dad's span. But as I write now, it makes me think breaking my overall daily steps high scores to be a laughable target.

In my morning studies, I ran across this passage:

Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

James 1:9-12, ESV

Of course, you know how much I love John MacArthur. I like Ken Ham's Answers in Genesis apologetics ministry. In fact, seeing his to-scale replica of the Ark is on my bucket list:

YouTube Link

The other morning, I really enjoyed this discussion with the two of them:

YouTube Link

They make a good point: the first attack of all existence comes in Genesis 3:1 as Satan asks:

Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?

Genesis 3:1, ESV

Our take on life, if we're "woke" or not, really does depend on whether we believe in a literal interpretation of Genesis chapters 1-11. If we think it's made up, then the rest of the Bible is as well. "If that part isn't true, what else isn't true?" It becomes just some book written by a bunch of men and now I become god. May this never be!

I applaud and high-five with what Ken Ham says:

We're seeing people redefining marriage, redefining gender, I mean the Devil takes everything God has created and ordained and turns it around. And so they redefine what a family is, redefine marriage, redefine gender, redefine life, redefine man's relationship with the environment.

Instead of having dominion over the creation, they have the creation having dominion over man, redefine life in regard to animal life and human life and even putting animals more valuable than human.

I mean they redefine everything God's own because that's what the Devil does: he takes what God has created and then turns it around.

And that's why it's so important once we start with that foundational history in Genesis 1-11 and you build everything on there, then you will be woke-proof. Because why would you be led astray by the LGBT movement or why led astray by the abortion movement or by the climate religion, which is what's happening in a big time in our culture as well, because once you start with that foundation then you've got that world view comes right out of there you know it.

One bit that I appreciate from the discussion is the word secular really just means anti-God.

It parallels what I read this morning. We know that Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). Look at this:

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

1 John 5:19, ESV

Isn't that exactly what we see in the headlines today?

And what does it mean if this Earth is only 6,000 years old? That we are made in the image of God (think about that). That you matter?


Mortal Kombat: The Results of the 36th Expedition

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Yes, in my SECOND win of 2024, I lost 5.44% for a 13 lb weightloss, skipping the 230s entirely! While I predicted this amount exactly weeks ago, it is the most I've lost in a third of a series of Expeditions in a non-semi-starving (<1200 kcal) context. Incidentally, it is only 1.75 lbs away from tying that Expedition! I prefer to apply my willpower toward other fronts.

You can see exactly what I ate on my Intake section. If you're interested in calories, it was at 2262 kcal/daily, about 100 calories less than the last Expedition. Obviously they don't matter as 42,000+ calories less for The 9th Expedition only netted me 1.75 lbs.

I found my two-a-week fat focus days made my protein consumption difficult to manage. I don't know if it contributed to my success, but I did find my removal of bacon for its entirety made it a less enjoyable Expedition. I'm guessing the increased walking workload contributes to the additional 1% loss?

At any rate, you can see how my input lines up with NYR24 here. Basically, I dropped another pant size to fall into 38. My Golden Ratio increased and my arms remained the same despite me pulling the cord on my lifting from this damning sickness—that MUST change. I find the combination of compromised lungs and general numbness is a chief demotivator. But, I'll rise; I always do.


Salt

Friday, March 1, 2024

While I had a stretch of good performance days leading me to believe I was out in the clear, I remain hamstrung by sickness. I feel a tightness in my lungs, icy hands, numbness overall, and I suspect I slept on my left arm wrong for that has had an ache since midnight. As far as energy? Nada. I unwittingly broke my steps goal streak yesterday at 39, something I found out this morning as I weighed whether or not I wanted to walk in the rain to continue it.

And thus, I feel lousy. I eat because I know I need the fat and protein, but I don't want it. I can't even make it through my daily iced butter coffee.

Even my beard has faded!

It reminds me how quickly we can lose our vitality. Youthful prowess is deep in the pages of a dusty tome. Far gone are those beloved 90s. There was a day when running was the same as walking; these days knees snap, crackle and pop. Life is fleeting.

I consider my New Year's resolutions and its proficiency in athletics. Should I invest that much effort in something that fades to silver?

What of my spiritual strength? What of my power as a member of the elect? Am I merely coasting? I think so. My identity in Christ will make up the rest of 2024...2025...the next decade...the rest of my life...and the next 10,000+ years. How could I focus on anything else?

I don't want to absorb any more of Memphis's culture...or Tennessee's...or America's...or the world's. Again, it is all "the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life" (1 John 2:16, ESV). Everyone is bent on rage. Perversions and mental illness are lauded and paraded around as they seek to consume their next victim. I don't want any part of that! "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8, ESV).

Yesterday morning with my brief walking stint, I listened to John MacArthur in a Q&A session on February 18. What a refreshing breath of fresh air! At 84 years old, John MacAuthur's 55-year ministry at the same church has been a multi-generational investment. He speaks how he now pours into the lives of the great-grandchildren of his congregation. How beneficial it is to sit at the feet of a wise man!

A God-centered life of a discerning and insightful elder contrasts sharply with the leaders of the United States. Instead of bowing down to that drenched-in-sin culture, MacArthur wrote a 2022 open letter to Governor Newsome.

I really like that. And I LOVE that he stood up against Los Angeles with that zombie virus phobia that writhered so many Christian leaders:

YouTube Link