1. I got punched in the face really hard today while training. I have decided that I do not like getting punched in the face.
2. Tomorrow Pastor Kevin and I get to lead what should be a CRAZY Q&A session at Xtreme! We have received questions covering everything from Hell, to dinosaurs, to oral sex. You DO NOT want to miss tomorrow! 9am or 10:45am
3. This week has been very tough emotionally for me and my family. Thanks again for the continued prayers and love. We need it now more than ever.
I got to experience the madness of Israel Gomez tonight. Wow! I did not die in class tonight therefore I am stronger! Definitely one of the harder workouts I’ve had in my day. I knew there would be trouble when we opened up with about 300 jumping jacks (and other jumping exercises!) Thank God I pushed through and did the best that I could do. Whenever I’m getting beat-down in Muay Thai class I often think back to my Army beat-downs…or my football beat-downs. I didn’t quit then and it helps me push through now.
Life is like that. Things might suck for you now. You may be cramping up spiritually. I’m sorry about that. But surely you can remember a time when it was just as bad or worse. Didn’t God bring you through that beat-down? Stand on His promises, suck it up, and let your past victories remind you of what God can do in your present. Don’t quit. Fight through. It will make you stronger.
I finally did some sparring yesterday. Very cool experience. It is one thing to hit the pads and kick a bag…they don’t hit back! You can feel like a real tough guy punching a heavy bag, but that doesn’t mean squat in the ring. Heavy bags don’t throw high-kicks at your head! It felt really good to put together everything I’ve learned in the past 11 months and see how it applies against an opponent. I took some good shots and landed a few too (I think). I was told that I did good. That’s all that counts. Definitely going to make that a weekly occurrence.
The experience in the ring made me realize how much of our faith we keep on the pads. We train hard, read the right books, go to the right conferences, listen to the cool podcasts,and read the hip blogs. But we lack “real world” application. I may be biased but I believe Master’s Commission puts people in that environment. But other then environments like that, are we pushing ourselves spiritually to apply what we’ve learned in our everyday lives? Anyone can feel like a super Christian at church, or at camp, or when surrounded by like-minded believers….but how do they react in the ring? When someone is “punching back”? Where real spiritual battles take place? We have to get out there and live life. If we don’t mix it up with those who don’t share our faith then how will we ever reach them?If we don’t live out the Word in times of adversity then what are we training for? I pray that God would constantly press us to take what we know and apply in the ring.
Got my butt kicked at the gym yesterday. We normally start class at 5:30. At 5:30… there were no instructors in the striking room. One of the assistants/fighters came in and I thought she was going to teach the class. Cool. All of the sudden John Renken walks in and screams “Fighters get in the ring…boxers stay on the bags…Muay Thai students circle up”. That’s right “The Saint” was about to teach 3 classes at once! What followed was an old school smoke session. The rounds were hard. The pace was intense. Conditioning was painful. I have never left the gym that drained…never…not even the first time I did Muay Thai 9 months ago! Here are a few things I learned:
