Fat Tuesday #1: Logical Weight Loss Podcast

Time to face the truth...again. In my continued struggle against my weight and overeating, I find myself in worse condition than I've been in...actually not sure if I've ever been worse. It's been so bad that I've been planning this post for weeks and kept putting it off. Why? Mostly shame. Shame is a powerful motivator, but only as far as it results in...results. Today I'm writing after a few weeks of fairly consistent running, which is my drug of choice for fighting obesity. Unfortunately, that hasn't resulted in a good eating plan yet. Usually that follows my workout efforts by a few weeks, so hopefully I'll be getting squared away soon.

All that to say, today's post is actually about a podcast I listened to yesterday. It's called Logical Weight Loss. I listened to my first podcast while on the elliptical machine at work. Helped me get through a 45 minute workout and 5 minute cool down. What I like most is that it is presented by a guy who is "just a regular guy like you" as he says in his video. In one episode, he admitted that he had been absent because he had let some of his weight creep back on and needed to take care of it. I was thoroughly impressed with his honesty. Get the podcast by clicking on this LINK.

The last thing I want to do is say that I'm posting a recent picture of me in uniform. I'm ashamed of it frankly, but it's important to establish a before view.

Fort2Base The Beginner's Dream Race

The Fort2Base run is a perfect run for beginners hoping one day to run a marathon. Here's why: The Fort2Base is just under a half marathon (11.5 miles-10 Nautical Miles), which makes it the perfect gauge for a newbie. If you can run the Fort2Base, then you're well on your way to running a half marathon and ultimately, a marathon.

It's not that other races won't prepare you for a marathon or half marathon. When I started out, my first race was a 10K (Temecula Turkey Trot in Southern California). This provided me with a lot of internal encouragement when I was preparing to run a half marathon about three months after that. Knowing I could run 6.2 miles helped me know I could run 13.2. That same encouragement will be very evident for the Fort2Base.

However, where the 10K supports and encourages, the Fort2Base does the same and gives an added perk. The Fort2Base gives you a far more accurate gauge for where you are at. Here's the bottom line: If you can run the Fort2Base, you can run a half marathon! Once you've run 11.5 miles, you're extremely close to running 13.1. Take it from me, someone who has run the Fort2Base both years it's been available and a veteran of two half marathons. It's a fact. If you want a gauge of your running ability as you prepare for a half marathon or full marathon, a race like Fort2Base is the one to use. It's far more accurate than a 10K. 

But what about training? What advice do I have for beginners? See below: 

Training Plan: I am loosely following the Marathon Rookie training guide. Honestly, I'm just a tad behind, but as I only have to make it to 11.5 miles, it's ok. I'm coming up on a 6 mile run this weekend, which puts me on target to hit the 11.5 on the day of the race. From that point, I'm in perfect condition to hit a half marathon this fall if I want to. 

Hydration: A lessoned learned, as we call it in the Navy, is that I don't hydrate very well. Many days, even days like today (a 5.4 mile training run), I rely too much on coffee to rehydrate after runs. This is honestly unsatisfactory and should be avoided. The recommended daily dose is 64 ounces, but obviously you should be drinking quality water, not just coffee, and you should increase that intake if you're running a lot. 

Don't take it to seriously: Finally, as one last piece of advice, take time to enjoy your runs. My running partners get a little frustrated at times, I think, because I stop every time I see wildlife and start taking pictures. I can't help it! They are just so fun! So as you enjoy the pictures below, please stop "to smell the roses" and enjoy your training!

As my goal is to lose weight and get healthy prior to my commissioning this December as a Chief Warrant Officer in the Navy, this training plan will suffice. Unless you're already a seasoned runner, then it should work for your goals as well. Enjoy the run and be safe!

Linux Review: gNewSense 2.3

I have always been a fan of Linux, trying my first distro (Red Hat) back in 2002 or 2003. That was before Red Hat went public and off of the standard desktop. Now they do that through their community-based distro called Fedora. Anyway, that's a different topic and a different review.

With Linux becoming so popular, especially with distributions like SUSE, Ubuntu, Fedora, and others, I've turned my focus somewhat to some of the lesser-known distros. Recently, I discovered Netrunner and gNewSense. Today I will be focusing on gNewSense and save Netrunner for another time.

As a disclaimer, please remember that I review primarily from the user experience viewpoint. I'm still a newbie in Linux programming and kernel operations. It is from this position that I immediately disagree with the concept for gNewSense. The mission of gNewSense is to gNewSense is "to remove all the non-free software from Ubuntu and Debian to make a 100% Free Software distribution. If you want to know why we consider 100% Freedom so important, see Why Free Software." The fundamental problem with the Free Software movement is that they want freedom for the software user, yet the fully free Operating Systems out there all restrict what users do. I was, for example, able to connect to the internet because Virtualbox allowed me to do so, acting as a sort of go-between for gNewSense and my Macbook. If I were to install it on its own, then it wouldn't work that way. It is, ironically, the free software movement that restricts, not the absence of free software. 

Installation as a live CD inside of VirtualBox was a piece of cake. That's more of a thumb's up for VirtualBox of course, but it's good to know everything was loading up fine. When you get booted up, here is what your main screen looks like:

I tinkered around for a few minutes and realized I was looking at a previous generation of GNU. What do you think? GNU 2.0? I think that's what I'm remembering. The website for GNewSense doesn't say what they are using. I've since learned, thanks to a different review, that it was based on Ubuntu Dapper Drake, which was released in 2006.

Anyway, as you can see from the below menu shots, they are not running the current version of GNOME (3.0). This is what Ubuntu was running several years ago before they switched to the Unity desktop.

Applications Menu:

Places Menu:

System Menu:

GNewSense comes with the standard Debian load-out as far as games are concerned. Once I get my internet settings up and running, I'll download Tuxkart or something and try it out. I expect it will work fine.

Mahjong Screenshot:

Moving on to applications, I pulled up OpenOffice, which I like more than LibreOffice (not for any particular reason). This is how you can know that GNewSense is running older stuff. As you can see below, the GNewSense is running OO 2.4, whereas the updated OO is at 3.4.1.

OO Screenshot:

Ok, so screenshots and basics aside, what do I think about GNewSense?

First of all, it's very basic. Think Ubuntu circa 2006 and you'll have the basic overview of GNewSense, as I mentioned earlier. Having said that, I was running a Virtualbox version of Ubuntu 12.4 and it was crawling. GNewSense flies!

Unfortunately, like older versions of Ubuntu and other Debian-based distros, you have to set up your own internet if you're on a wireless system. Thankfully, because of Virtualbox, I didn't have to do that. It assumed a wired internet profile via Virtualbox, which connected to my Macbook and used my Mac's wireless system. Fortunately, if you're interested in gNewSense, you can look at their documentation to see their steps to setting a wireless internet system up. Using Ubuntu as the standard (which it is IMO), bloated or not, Ubuntu is already on the internet the minute you turn it on. Makes it easy, and as I am writing from the user experience, having to turn on my own internet is so...2000? Not cool.

Overall, GNewSense is wonderful for tinkering around, particularly if you're on a slower or older system. If you spend a little time getting the internet set up, then it would be a fast, agile, and small OS. So in the end, I recommend it for older equipment and for tinkering, but not for your primary system. Again, it's the restrictions placed on it by demanding a completely free system. The real world doesn't work that way (yet) and it's too much to demand for an OS. I'll be tracking gNewSense though as I'm excited about future versions! gNewSense 3.0 is in development, according to the project website. 

That Great Cloud of Witnesses

My grandparents were very faithful followers of Christ. You can search this blog for my eulogies for them. They weren't perfect of course, but you would have enjoyed knowing them, particularly as I knew them. They were good people. Respected, loved, and effective. They figure heavily into my daily Bible reading for today, which comes from Hebrews chapter 12. 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverancethe race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

Are my grandparents part of this "cloud of witnesses?" That's honestly difficult to tell. The writer may have only been talking about those he listed in the previous chapter. If that's his standard, then of course they are not in the cloud of witnesses. Most likely, since the writer was focusing on Jewish believers (as the book's name suggests), he meant those who had gone before the Jewish ethnicity. That would mean that the writer's "cloud of witnesses" included only those in the previous chapter. 

However, I don't think that I'm stretching the word too far by saying this is really about legacy. Not mine or yours, I might add, but legacy of those who were before us. For the Jewish believer, or for the Jew who was attempting to decide between remaining orthodox or going the way of the new faith, remembering Abraham, Able, Sarah, and others and what they did in faith would be vital. It is those legacies that define faith for the Hebrew. 

Just like that, my grandparents define my faith. My grandfather taught me how to dive into scripture (particularly through dispensationalism and the gap theory) and pick it apart. I grant that he may have sometimes picked it too clean. My grandma, on the other hand, provided me a stable, consistent model of someone who just didn't give up on God and who showed what it meant to be in God's word. 

So for me, and again I don't think I'm stretching the word of God too much, my grandparents and others provide this cloud of witnesses for me to remember. This is particularly true for me as I try to live out my faith, flawed though that faith is.

Who comprises the cloud of witnesses in your life? Who's example are you attempting to emulate? Please comment and share!

Remaining Focused on the Prize

I see many Sailors in the Navy who lack focus. As a Chief Petty Officer, I'm amazed at how many of them simply don't understand that I (not just me of course, but many Chiefs) know more than they do how to have a successful career in the Navy. I see this as a problem of age mostly. When I was in my mid-20s, and a fairly young E5 in the Navy, I was scattered in my desires, thought I might be getting out of the Navy after my degree, or maybe staying in, or maybe getting out, or...well, you get the point. I wouldn't listen to really any advice from those who were senior to me. Now that I'm senior to many Sailors, I realize how off I had been back then.

The last thing I want to do is make someone feel bad for being a little scattered, but the fact is that men (in particular) and women are rather distracted. Paul understood this when writing to Timothy in his second letter to his "son."

II Timothy 2:4-7 (NIV)
⁴ No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. ⁵ Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. ⁶ The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. ⁷ Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.

In this passage, Paul tells Timothy to be as focused as a good soldier, to compete like a good athlete, and to be as diligent as a good farmer. I can see the point in each of these analogies. As a Navy sailor, I understand that I must do certain things to please those I report to (and that does still apply to Chief Petty Officers!). As a teenager, I ran track and played football, so I understand the competitive nature of athletics, and the need to do so fairly (competition is still alive and well at my current job also). Finally, as the oldest son of a Kansas farmer, I understand the need to be a hard-working farmer, and enjoying the first-fruits of those efforts.

In the end, the point is to remain focused on whatever it is that you're involved in. If you're a preacher, remain focused on being a preacher, a housewife, be a housewife...a sailor...be focused on being a sailor. Listen to those who were older than you and know more. In that way you will succeed and follow scripture! 

Waiting on the Day of the Lord

From my daily Bible reading:

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as remindersto stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

As you know by other posts on my blog, I am a student of the rapture. This is why today I am grateful for my daily reading of the Bible, which included all of II Peter and Jude. In the passage I copied and pasted above, which is the first 13 verses of II Peter 3, I read about the end of the end. Of course by that I mean that it doesn't talk directly about the rapture. Do not misunderstand me...I believe that the rapture is part of the end, I just mean that this passage isn't directly about that event. Peter is talking about the final end, when the earth is burned and we get a new place to dwell.

What struck me about it is the timing of the issue. I recently saw a fellow predict the rapture for a date last month. He wrote on Twitter vehemently, saying that it would happen by a certain time of a certain day. When that time passed, he revised his "message from the Lord" and said that it would be sometime during that day. When that passed, he said it was on Israeli time, so even passed midnight our time (and thus the beginning of the next day), it was still a possibility. Finally, he had to admit that it wasn't going to happen that day.

I made fun of him on Facebook. I got called out for it too by an atheist. That's embarrassing, let me tell you! My point is that it didn't happen, and I, like many millions of others, scoffed. How horrible! Yes, on a simplistic plane, I was making fun of him because I know that "no man knoweth the hour of his appearing." Yet the truth was also very simple...I was scoffing.

God is patient with us, something for which I am extremely grateful. He is faithful and patient with the unbelievers of this world (and too many die each day without him!) and he is patient with believers as they give up hope each day. It is one thing for scoffers to wonder about when God is sending his son back to the earth. It is quite another thing for us to assume it will never happen.

Believing in the rapture is supposed to make a person negative. Supposedly, it all becomes doom and gloom. There are many who seem to aspire to this thinking. The devil is indeed behind every bush. Yet not believing in the rapture has allowed people to avoid evangelism. If you can look out into a field and see two people working, and not believe that one will go and one will stay, then why witness? This too is pathetic.

Christ is coming. If you believe in a rapture (like I do), then you must understand that he could come tomorrow (or today)! Even if he delays another billion years, we are one day closer today to his coming than we were the day before. Get hot!

Research Update for the Rapture: My Personal Presuppositions

Now that I have a Master of Arts degree in Religion from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, I have decided to further some research and writing to develop my ministry in that direction. I have always believed that one of my strengths was writing, so this year (post degree) I focused on that effort. One of my articles has already been accepted for a January 2014 publication in the Evangelical Missions Quarterly. I'm also currently under assignment to write an article about military ministry and how to start it. I'm almost finished with that one.

With those two "notches" under my belt, so to speak, I wanted to focus my efforts on theology, as both of my other articles are more of a practical ministry slant. Without a PhD in theology, I may never get anywhere with my rapture article, but I have decided to really focus on the doctrine and discover what I really believe about it after my own careful research. In order to do that, I had to take into account my own presuppositions, as failing to deal with them could lead to fouling up the research.

To presuppose is to suppose beforehand, according to Miriam Webster. When it comes to the rapture and what it has always represented for me, I definitely had some beforehand supposing in my life. From the time I was a boy growing up on a farm in Kansas, I just assumed the rapture and dispensationalism was the only way to believe. I honestly didn’t even know there was any other way. I had never heard about reformed thought, Covenant theology, or ammelinialism. I didn’t know that people existed who thought that the rapture wouldn’t happen. I just assumed that everyone “knew” the truth.

No research can be conducted without understanding the researcher’s background, even though the researcher will uphold the strictest standards of academia. It is actually for this very reason that I chose to research the rapture. Finding a defensible position is paramount and if one does not exist, then the only real conclusion is to set the doctrine aside.

I don't want to get into too many specifics of my research at this time. I am finished with the third draft of the paper and just need to go back and format my sources before one last draft and then submission. As I said before, I may get nowhere with it publication-wise, but it has been an important journey for me as I seek to understand what I believe about the doctrine and whether my presuppositions can continue to direct my life.