MayChallenge

The Goal:
To break away from certain food/beverages that are not promoting a healthy lifestlye. A bonus would be to lose weight.

The food:
Each participant will submit 2 things that do not promote a healthy diet. (Names will not be attached to the item so you won’t know who you want to kill.)

DO NOT submit things just because you think it will be hard for others. This is not to make it hard for other people, it is to help you develop self-discipline and break bad food habits.

The workouts:
Each person will be required to workout at least 3 days a week for a minimum of 40 minutes.

A “workout” can be with weights, cardio, wii fit… it must be an intentional workout. This doesn’t include housework, or physical work that you already do. It must be a time set aside to workout.

Please don’t make this more difficult than it has to be. You know what a workout is, don’t look for loopholes or try to find a lazy way to get credit – do the workouts!!!

The penalties:
I will compile a list of the top 10-15 things mentioned. You have to pick one other item that YOU will go without. Once the list is compiled, NO ONE will be allowed to eat anything from the list.

For example: cheese may not be on the list that everyone has to go without but it may be something you want / need to give up. So you would do the list + cheese.

If you eat anything from the list, or your other item specific to you, then you owe a $5.00 penalty. I think the penalty has to hurt. If it were only a quarter or dollar – you may think it is ok to cheat. The penalty has to be painful.

There is a $25 “I am a loser without any self control, so I quit” fee.

In other words, if you quit, you still owe all the penalty money AND a $25 fee. This is all “honor system” so if you think you may have cheated, YOU DID!!!

The Honor system:
You are responsible, under the “honor system” to report to me g3fowler@gmail.com if/when you cheat.

I will keep a running list and blog the results at the end of each week (more if necessary) www.garyfowler.blogspot.com.

You need to email me as you cheat and I can keep a running total of what you owe and will keep everyone updated on the total in the “penalty pot”.

The Deadlines:
If you know anyone who would like to participate, please tell them to email me their 2 items by Friday May 1st so I can have the list posted to my blog by Sun the 3rd, to begin on Monday May 4th. Please let me know what questions you have before we begin. I will post the list and your personal item on my blog by Sun May 3rd.

The Rewards: I am sure it will benefit you physically and mentally. Your emotions are up to you… again, if you think you can’t do it, that is one of the very reasons you should try it.

The winner: The person who wins (cheats the least amount of times) wins all the penalty money. If there is more than one person that “wins” – they will split the money.

The guilt statement: I swear, with God as my witness, that I have read and understand every word of this agreement.By “e-signing this”, I agree to all the stated terms.

__________________________/________________________________
Name (type your name & email back) Date

LifeChange

check out this video about LifeChange... there is some idiot trying to be funny

praying tiger

We have had some incredibly stupid things happen in our local schools lately. There have been bomb threats, vehicles set on fire, a gun found in the H.S. & "hit lists" found. The Jr high and high school went on lockdown a few times last week.

This is absolutely crazy. I am definitely one of those people who thought "pickerington - really", this stuff doesn't happen around here... but it did.

With incredibly stupid things comes the opportunity for incredibly awesome things. My daughter Shayna is in Jr high. She texted me to pray because the school went on lockdown Friday. Of course I prayed & asked others to do so as well.

Here is the awesome part: Shayna didn't just ask others to pray, she prayed too. I was so proud of her when she said other people were freaking out but she remained calm. At least outwardly she was. She said she was nervous on the inside but what good would it do to show it. It would've just added to the chaos and feelings of fear in others.

Instead of panicking, she chose to be a voice of calm to her friends. During one of her classes, a group was talking about the "what if" scenarios. She stopped them and led them in a prayer. I almost cried when she told me this (I am almost crying now...).

When I was in 7th grade, I would've been one making jokes outwardly and silently praying and freaking out on the inside. I would NEVER be caught praying with my friends. I was too cool (or so I thought).

My little girl is a proud member of the Pickerington Tigers, and that day she became a "praying tiger"...

My point: you find out who you are when things get stressful. What is on the inside comes out. Who you are is made clear under pressure.

I am so proud that Shayna was able to call upon help from the One who has all the answers. I am so excited that she wasn't embarrassed to pray in front of her friends.

I am glad that she didn't get in trouble for praying in school...

I am back

I have been gone from the blogosphere for awhile. I am sure both of you missed me...

I put blogging on hold while we took part in the C3 ManUp challenge. It was based on the movie "Fireproof". We grabbed about 50 guys and participated in the "love dare" from the movie.

Part of the challenge was to journal. Since I was journaling, I chose to pause my blog. Call it lazy or focused but I didn't want to do both.

C3 decided that we wanted to put an emphasis on the marriage relationship and that started with the men. We divided them into 2 teams, Konan had a team and I had one. We had to track the challenges daily.

Each day we could get up to 3 points. 1 if we read the devo. 1 if we accomplished the dare and 1 if we journaled. We could get anywhere from 0 - 3 points per day.

I was responsible for making sure my team was not only doing it but tracking the results. After 40 days, we have heard some AMAZING stories of LifeChange.

I will share some of the stories in the coming days. I will say this was an awesome journey that I will never forget.

My point: it is amazing what happens when you make Godly principles a priority in your life and marriage.

Oh, and before you even have to ask - of course my team won!!!

spiritual decay

I was reading "the tale of 3 kings" by Gene Edwards (GREAT BOOK) and it motivated me to start reading 1 & 2 Samuel.

As I was reading this morning something in the study notes really hit me hard - in a very good way. Here is what it said:

Poor leadership is not the result of personality traits but of decaying spiritual character. What we do is often a direct result of our spiritual condition. We cannot ignore the importance of spiritual character in effective leadership.

When I think about the times that I get frustrated, easily offended, overly critical, sarcastic or just in a bad mood, I can honestly say those times happen more often when I am not spending time in prayer & reading my Bible. 

Every relationship I have, whether it is my spouse, kids, co-workers or friends, is directly effected by my spiritual health. If I am not growing, I am decaying. How I respond or react is a direct result of my spiritual health.

I would challenge you to see if this is true for you as well. If you are constantly in a bad mood or easily frustrated, look at how much time you spend with your creator.

My point: it seems so simple & obvious but we often neglect THE single most important thing in our lives - our personal relationship with Christ. If we are filling ourselves with the wisdom and knowledge from God’s word, we will look & sound a lot more like Him.

What is your spiritual condition? I am sure you can ask those closest to you if you want the brutal truth…

Your spiritual condition is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

feel free to comment

default

When you mess with most techy devices they usually have a "restore default settings" button. That is so you can get it back to the way it was if you mess it up to bad or don't like it once you've changed it.

I was talking to some people about how we communicate and it seems like we have a "default" reaction to news that we don't necessarily like. When you watch some comedy shows, the typical reaction is biting sarcasm, anger or getting defensive. That is funny to watch but not real fun to experience.

My usual default response used to be sarcasm or humor. I have since tried to respond calmly as opposed to reacting negatively. It is usually better to respond instead of react. The difference is a planned approach. When you respond, you think before you speak. When you react, your default actions kick in and it's usually negative.

Don't you hate trying to talk to people that you know they are just going to take what you are saying the wrong way. It is so stinkin' hard to have a conversation when you are so worried about how your words are going to be taken. Walking on eggshells is really difficult.

My wife and I have agreed to give each other the benefit of the doubt. I confess that we aren't always successful but we try. When you give people the benefit of the doubt, you don't have to get all defensive, sarcastic and attack. You simply hear what they are saying, make sure you understand it the way they intended and then respond calmly.

My point: if people fear telling you things, your default reaction stinks. It's something that you can totally control and you need to have enough self-discipline to think before you speak. If not, people are going to hate you and not want to be around you. If that is what you are going for, well then, keep reacting instead of responding.

No one likes to be yelled at. What if people talked to you the way you talk to them. Stop making excuses, grow up and change your default settings... respond instead of react.

You can thank me later...

random

The holiday challenge is on. So far the total weight gain for 11 participants is only 4 lbs... I will keep you posted. 

I just read "A tale of three kings" by Gene Edwards again. It is an amazing book. If you have not read it you really should. It seems to hit you right where you need it. No matter how often you read it, different parts speak to you at whatever phase of life you are in. 

I hate surprises so if you are getting me anything for Christmas, please tell me. 

I am falling in love with my wife more and more as each day passes. I am not in trouble or anything. We have just learned to communicate better and that has been amazing. 

I am learning to not let the little things bother me. My new motto is "it is what it is". I don't try to read to much into it and I choose to take it as it comes.

I have started journaling again and it is helping my walk with God. I find that putting my thoughts on paper helps me focus. If anyone ever reads my journal, they will think I am psycho and I will probably be locked up. Yes, I have probably written something about you!

One thing that is so heavy on my heart right now is that there really is a God and He really has a plan for my life. If that is true then each day is part of that plan and is intended to make me more like Christ. I can't just think the good things are from God and not the bad things. I need to keep this in mind each day and in every circumstance.

Thank you to those of you who participated in "1 thank you"... Special thanks to those who are thankful for me (big points for that). 

My daughters are absolutely amazing. I am humbled to be part of their lives. I can't wait to see what God does in and through each one of them.

I am still counting my blessings from Thanksgiving. 

Heroes is a great show. I can't wait for 24 to start. 

My wife and I played "I am thankful for..." we took turns naming things we were thankful for and it made a 2 hour drive seem like nothing. 

I am typing really fast.

My point: these are random thoughts that could all be blog posts of their own. I am to full of energy drinks to focus on only one topic...

I love energy drinks

I am done typing