Energy Out

As many of my friends and confidants know I love to blog. I do not always take the time to sit down and write out blogs even when I have great ideas for them. Throughout the past couple years I have found that the art of blogging has been a great way to refresh my mind and in an effort to blog more I am going to try to write a weekly blog post on topics that you, my friends, suggest to me via social media. My goal is to write one blog post a week. I will be sharing my opinion on the topic suggested so if there was ever something you wanted to know about me then this would be a time to find out. 

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Being Physically Active without Running
As a nutrition educator I often teach people about the importance of physical activity. Following the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans I teach that children should partake in at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day and the average adult should participate in at least 30 minutes. These numbers are the bare minimum and one can always do more. In fact to maintain a healthy weight you want to make sure that you balance your energy in--eating and drinking-- with your energy out--physical activity.

Often times in my adult classes when I ask about physical activity I hear groans and excuses that typically add up to the phrases: I don't like to do it, I am lazy and unmotivated, I can't afford a gym membership, I don't like to run. All of these are barriers that we allow to control our lives, but if we are to live healthy lives then we need to break down the walls that prevent us from physical activity. One of those barriers is the idea that running is a great way to stay physically healthy and many people, myself included, do not like to run. A good friend of mine suggested I share some ways to get physical activity without having to run. Without further ado here's my top 5 suggestions:

1. Find physical activities you actually enjoy doing. Let's face it some exercises are more enjoyable than others. We don't need to torture ourselves to make sure we are being healthy and fit. Consider bike riding, kayaking, going on "fast walks", yoga, etc. 
2. Utilize exercise machines. If you don't want to get into running you could always use exercise equipment whether that's at a friends house, ones that you buy yourself, or at a local gym. You could use a stationary bike, take a spinning class, walk on an incline, go at a slower pace on a treadmill so you can push yourself, but control your speed, try using the rowing machine or stair climbing machine.
3. Go Swimming.Yup, it's true! Swimming is a great workout and one great way to stay fit. Not everyone has access to a year-round pool or body of water, but this is a great way to exercise at least in the summer. If you have access year round that's even better! This allows you to work on your cardio, but you don't have to support your own body weight since the water is keeping you up!
4. Find ways to turn your everyday activities into more active ones. Find ways to incorporate exercising while doing chores you already have to do. Do squats while putting the laundry in the washer/dryer, do arm lifts with canned foods before you put them away in the pantry, jog with your shopping cart as you go through the grocery store, do arm circles while watching your favorite TV show (it's also a great way to get the kids and others away from you!), and my personal favorite: do exercises during the commercial breaks of your TV shows.
5. Have a good motivator. I know this isn't an alternative to running, but it's a very important tip for exercising. We all need motivators. What motivates you is going to be different than what motivates me, but we all need to have a goal/motivation to help us when the workout gets tough! One great motivator to have is the knowledge that living a healthy lifestyle will help you to live a longer more satisfying life because of the energy you will receive from being active. As someone who used to hardly ever be active and is now on a daily basis, I can attest to the improved energy that I have acquired from getting my energy out more often. 

Hope you enjoyed these 5 suggestions and that you have gained something beneficial from them! If you have a topic you'd like me to post on next week please comment either below or on my Facebook.

Grace & Peace my friends

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Sources:
 http://straighthealth.com/pages/five/alternatives-to-running.html
https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/ 

From Conflict to Communion: The 500th Year

As many of my friends and confidants know I love to blog. I do not always take the time to sit down and write out blogs even when I have great ideas for them. Throughout the past couple years I have found that the art of blogging has been a great way to refresh my mind and in an effort to blog more I am going to try to write a weekly blog post on topics that you, my friends, suggest to me via social media. My goal is to write one blog post a week. I will be sharing my opinion on the topic suggested so if there was ever something you wanted to know about me then this would be a time to find out. 

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My first blog in this "You Suggest It" series was suggested by one of my best friends. He is currently attending seminary to become an Ordained Lutheran Minister and suggested that I write a non-Lutheran perspective on the "500th year." As it turns out this year, 2017, is the 500th year since the famous Reformation that began with Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses or the "Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences." Along with many other reformations led by John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, and other early Protestant Reformers in 16th-century Europe this was what led to a schism from the Roman Catholic Church. Luther's theses was meant to be a list of propositions up for debate which argued against the selling of indulgences to absolve sin and that faith alone, not deeds, leads to Salvation. (Christian Heritage II class at MVNU & http://www.history.com/topics/martin-luther-and-the-95-theses). Luther's theses was meant to be a announcement for an academic discussion which should be led with humility.Regardless of intent this move along with many others led to the rise of Protestantism and naturally much bloodshed from both sides of Christendom for years to come. 

One can argue whether or not we should have focused solely on Faith alone or if Works have something to do with it too. There are many passages of Scripture that could back up both. The first that comes to mind is in James 2 which tells us that both "Faith without Deeds is dead" and compare that with Romans 3, "

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 

and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Today though, I am not here to discuss which one is more accurate. Today I want to focus on this celebration. 500 years of celebration.

I do not think it is wrong to celebrate the beginning of your group, your denomination, your tribe. Humans tend to want to compartmentalize ourselves and put ourselves in groups. It helps us feel organized. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but how we respond within those tribes...now that can be an issue. As soon as it becomes an "Us vs. Them" then we have an issue. In the words of the band Gungor, it's not us or them it's "Us For Them." We, as a people, as followers of Christ, whether that be Jew, Gentile, Slave, Free, Male, Female, Catholic, Lutheran, Nazarene, Nondenominational, Methodist, United Church of Christ, Christian Church, Assemblies of God, and on and on we list; we are ALL one. We are told in Scripture that those labels do not matter and we are all one in Christ Jesus. 

So if you want to celebrate the beginning of your group that's fantastic! But, first let's make sure we are not rejecting, oppressing, or marginalizing those who are "other" to our group. Once we understand our intentions I think it is perfectly fine to celebrate the 500 years since the Reformation. I am not someone who thinks that this should be boycotted and not celebrated because some people have used this schism to create war, violence, and oppression. Yes, that was wrong. Yes, that was injustice. But no, that was not all that came out of this Reformation. Some of my dearest friends and family members belong to the Lutheran tradition and when I visit with my best friend I jokingly tell him that I am Lutheran for that week. It's not about rejecting everything from it, it's about learning and truly knowing our history, understanding the good, bad, and ugly, and celebrating the good. 

This, in fact, happened this year amidst the 500th year celebrations. There was a joint prayer service of reconciliation among Lutherans and Catholics in Chicago. When asked about the event the Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the ELCA, remarked that "For 500 years Lutherans and Catholics have been divided into two camps, each believing that the other was not only wrong but alien, yet we know that people are yearning for reconciliation. The Lutheran-Roman Catholic joint prayer service, one of the fruits of 50 years of dialogue between our two churches, was a beautiful celebration of what we hold in common. We could see each other again as brothers and sisters in Christ. I pray that our increasing unity is a witness to our culture."

So let's celebrate that we've made it this far in this dysfunctional world and that we can work together each bringing something good to the Table to help bring Renewal to THIS earth, THIS solar system, THIS galaxy, THIS universe, and beyond. 

Grace & Peace my friends.

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For informative resources to celebrate the 500th year: 

https://www.elca.org/Resources/500-Years 

Beautiful tale of reconciliation amidst the 500th year celebrations: https://www.elca.org/News-and-Events/7876 

Other Resources: 

https://www.elca500.org/