I can't help myself...

Hopefully you can see Greg Kinnear deliver that line in your mind after being asked by Meg Ryan's character if his newly found love was a Republican. It is one of numerous comical moments from the movie, You've Got Mail, and I'd wager that more lines are quoted during our family gatherings from that movie than any other. Benjamin, I'm volunteering you to do the leg work on this, and get us an actual statistic to work with. Thanks. :)

Now, all joking aside, there is a reason for my use of this humorous line. Though my blogging days are most certainly in their infancy, I have made a conserted effort to not post anything political in nature. As you're aware, the purpose of this blog is to help motivate us all to be better and do more, not necessarily discuss matters happening back in Washington. However, when I saw this clip, I just couldn't help myself.

What you're about to see (all 16 seconds of it) is Nancy Pelosi in an interview she gave last week. This is a prime example of the doublespeak that is going on in Washington, and just how stupid our elected officials must think we, the American people, are. Unless I'm mistaken, allowing a tax cut to expire would in fact be a tax increase. Wow! Thanks for allowing me my small rant, and I promise to refrain from political talk in the future. (Unless you're interested in more? Let me know.)

Jenny's Pearls...

Heard an awesome story yesterday, and thought it fit the feel of the blog. So, here's my quick thought and motivation for today.

Jenny was with her mother walking down the street, when a necklace of pearls caught her eye in the window of a dime store. She was mesmerized by the sight of such a thing, and begged her mother to buy them for her. Her mother flipped the packaging over to find a $1.99 price tag, and told her that if she were to work and save for a couple weeks that she would probably be able to buy them on her own. Jenny's birthday was coming up, and maybe her grandmother would give her another crisp dollar bill which would also help in her pursuit for the pearls.

Jenny was immediately excited by the idea, and went straight home to do more than her fair share of the chores that evening around the house. The next day she went next door to her neighbor's house offering to pick the dandelions in their yard for $.10. Her birthday came a few days later, and her grandmother in fact gave her a crisp dollar bill which gave her enough money to buy the prized necklace at last.

Jenny was so proud of the pearls she wore them everywhere, and only took them off to shower after her mother told her that her neck would turn green if she did not. Her father was a busy man, but he always took the time to come in when Jenny was ready for bed, and read her a story. After about a week of Jenny and her pearls, her dad came in one night and asked, "Jenny, do you love me?" She replied, "Of course I do daddy." Her father continued, "Then give me your pearls." "Oh no daddy, not my pearls. You can take my pony, the white one with the pink tail, she's my favorite one. Please take her daddy, and not my pearls." He read Jenny her story, and kissed her goodnight.

Another week passed, and Jenny's father repeated the same scene from the week prior asking, "If you love me, then give me your pearls." This time Jenny offered up her new baby doll she had just received for her birthday. She even wanted her father to take the crib and blankets that came along with it, but he kissed her goodnight once again letting her know that it was okay.

A few days later Jenny's father came into her room to read her a story before bed to find her sitting on the bed with her legs crossed Indian style. Tears were rolling down her cheeks, and in her hands she held her prized necklace of pearls. Though crying, she managed to get out, "Here daddy. Here are my pearls. I love you so much, and I want you to have them." Jenny's father, through tears of his own at this point, took the pearls from his little girl's hands, and reached into his own pocket pulling out a blue velvet box. He offered it to her, and upon opening the box she found a real pearl necklace inside! Jenny's father had the real pearls for her the entire time, but waited until Jenny was ready and willing to give up her dime store necklace before giving her the real thing.

The author of this story is unknown, but I love the context it provides. How easy is it to hold on to things in our lives, and because of that, we miss out on the "real" joys in life? Whether it be anger towards another, or accepting mediocrity rather than pushing to improve, or even holding fast to a favorite vice, etc; small items such as these often prove to be the stumbling blocks that impede the true happiness and joy one can find by giving up the "fake" pearls to finally receive the "real" ones.

Dustin's Sermon on the Stage

To take the words right out of Dustin’s mouth, “…love is a loyalty sworn, not a burning for a moment.” My love (and therefore my “loyalty”) to Mr. Kensrue was questioned yesterday evening, so I felt it necessary to throw together a quick post on his brilliance. In order to do so I will go back into the archives, and pull out a Thrice classic; in fact, I consider it pretty much Thrice’s (and therefore Dustin’s) anthem. Musically the song is powerful, but what of the lyrics? Let’s take a quick look inside…

When deadbolts awake you from déjà vu dreams,
At four in the morning you know where I’ll be.
Out running red lights asleep at the wheel,
The sirens feed my nightmares.

I just close my eyes, and I’m already there;
It’s already too late.
I know it’s nothing but lies,
But they sound so sincere;
I find them too hard to hate.

And she calls from the doorway “Stolen Water is so sweet,
So let’s drink in the darkness if you know what I mean.”

And I’m almost sure that I’ve been here before,
That this is not the first time I’ve stood in front of this door;
With an overwhelming feeling that I shouldn’t go in,
But it seems this is a battle that I never could win.

And you! My true Love!
You call from the hilltop. You call from the streets,
“Darling don’t you know, the water is poison?”
And I say! “Come on and give me my poison.”

What have I done?
Is it too late to save me from this place?
From the depths of the grave?
We all are those, who thought we were brave.
What have I done?

It is clear that Dustin is telling a tale using the proverb found in Proverbs Chapter 9. “Stolen waters are sweet,” with references to his true love calling from the hilltops, etc. contribute to my hypothesis. Proverbs Nine talks of a lady named Wisdom building her house on a hill, and how she preaches of what true wisdom, knowledge and learning is. (Dustin loves learning, seeking, pondering for truth almost above all else; or in other words “his true love”.) Meanwhile, another lady sits by her house telling those passing by how wonderful her stolen water and food are; however, her guests are truly in the depths of hell. So what exactly is Dustin trying to tell us? What is he trying to say?

Deadbolt is all of our journeys in life. For the most part we have our sights set on the good and true things; however, there always seems to be those same pesky vices that bring us down, right? We know that they’re wrong and that they will cause us harm, but we give in anyway. Our guilt is almost immediate, and we ask ourselves, “What have I done?” “Is it too late to save me from this place?” However, the true genius of the song lies in this message: we may think we are brave, but we are not. “I just close my eyes, and I’m already there; but it’s already too late.” How easy is it for us to fall into those same vices when we constantly expose ourselves to them? His message is that once confronted by them it’s already too late, we are done for, and even as wisdom calls out from the hilltops and streets that it’s poison, our reply will remain, “Come on and give me my poison.”

So what does this have to do with this blog, and our message of being a lion? My simple reply is everything. The call (if you choose to heed it) is to be more than a sheep merely wondering about, and taken by the whims and whirls of everyday life. A sheep hears the glorious message that “water and food are sweet” and ignorantly walks in to its utter demise; however, a lion not only stands at the familiar door and denies the offered temptation, but further still avoids it altogether! My charge, as is Dustin’s, is to stand up and be a Lion; to not allow the lies to become sincere, and “too hard to hate.” To seek out the truth, and allow nothing else to compromise the strength that comes from it!

To bring this post to a close, I’ll leave you with a quote that I love…

The mind must not only possess a knowledge of truth, but the soul must revere it, cherish it, and love it as a priceless gem.

May we all seek the truth and hold it dear as a priceless gem, and may we have the strength and courage to stand up for it, “at all times, in all places and in all things,” to be in fact Lions.

"Little Light"

Jesse Lacey sings, “Little light, lead us through the night…carry us, those distances we cannot walk.” I listened to that one minute of song a few times on my way to work this morning, and can’t help but be moved by its power. Two things come to mind when I think of the “little light”.

First, is the powerful testimony and discourse that Elder Holland delivered last Sunday afternoon during General Conference. It is true that he brought the thunder, and made it perfectly clear as to how he feels about the Book of Mormon, and the authenticity of its origins; however, the real strength of his talk comes in the truth he preaches. Elder Holland declares clinging, grasping, holding onto the rod (or in this case the word of God, the Book of Mormon, or even “little light”) and never losing focus is what will help each and every one of us from having our “hearts fail us”. These truly are times of much pestilence and mass destruction, but there are surely times of personal difficulty as well, and what better instruction on how to overcome those struggles (and be Lions) then this.

Second, and possibly even more powerful than the first thought, is the notion that we ourselves are to be that “little light” helping others navigate their way through the mist of darkness that is the Latter Days. As stated above, we all face personal struggles and turmoil, that is the purpose of being on the earth; however, the best remedy that I’m aware is to follow the command and charge to, “…bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light…to mourn with those that mourn…and comfort those that stand in need of comfort and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death...”

Elder Holland certainly qualified himself as a Lion by standing and bearing witness, but we can all do the same in our own “little” ways. Again the call rings out; who I ask will answer the call? May it be us; may we be the “little light” that shines down on those in the darkness of the night, and may we have the strength to carry those who cannot walk on their own.

We are Oysters all...

Brand New's latest album is quite a tasty treat, and on my way to work this morning a particular line jumped out at me that I hadn't heard prior, "We are oysters all, with our grain of sand." I found it quite profound, and figured I'd share it with everyone. Reminded me of something I read not too long ago:

Success begins with recognition. We must acknowledge that change must be made. Easy enough to say. After all, when our current circumstances are familiar to us they are also very comfortable. Change requires discomfort.

It’s a lot like the story of the farmer and his old hound dog. Every day a young boy walked past the farmer’s house on his way to school. While the farmer and the dog sat on the porch, the dog howled every few minutes. Finally, one day the boy stopped and asked the farmer, "Why does your dog howl?” The farmer said very matter-of-factly, "He’s sitting on a nail sticking up through the floor board." Puzzled, the boy asked, "Then why doesn't he move?" The farmer replied, "I guess it must not hurt enough yet!"

Too many times that is how we live our lives. It doesn't hurt enough for us to change, so we sit and howl. Change starts with doing the little things day in and day out. The more uncomfortable these changes are, the more effective they will be in making us successful. Every day we make a choice. Will you choose to be a hound dog or an oyster?

Let it Begin...

Unfortunately, yesterday was a Wednesday, so that means I had scouts, etc. This of course means there was no time to begin any workouts, or get things moving in preparation of the January 23 showdown...or was there?

No, I did not log in any "true" exercise hours, but I did begin some preparations. First up, I wanted to see just how bad the weight situation was. Expectations were low, and I was really just hoping for something respectable. Fortunately, for me, it turned out alright. Back on December 14, 2008 (a day similar to yesterday in the fact that I had just gotten completely fed up with being lethargic and fat) I weighed in at 255.4 pounds. Yesterday evening, September 30, 2009 (a solid nine months plus since) I weighed in at 253.8 pounds.

Certainly not something I'm going to be proud about, but must admit was a bit of a boost to morale. It has been quite a year, with plenty of ups and downs (not only phsyically, but also emootionally, family, etc.) and to think that at this point in time I'm still coming out ahead, even though it is admittedly only just slightly, was nice to see. With this new found information I have set a goal to step to the starting line on January 23, 2010 weighing in at 230 or less.

The other thing I did was look up the Snow Canyon Half Marathon which I knew was sometime in November. It in fact is Nov. 7th, and is a mere 5 weeks away. Is that enough time to prepare? Not entirely sure, but will publicly state here that I hope to be able to run the event come the first Sat. in November. Just for everyone's reference as well, I ran that race back in 2006 or 2007 with a goal of finishing in 2 hours. I believe my finish time was 2:00:38 (it was definitely 2 hours and just under a minute), so that is another gauge I will use to try and measure where I currently stack up.

Now that I think about it, the circumstances were some what similar for that race which will be good. It was 2006, and was after I completed my first triathlon previously that June. I had raced in that tri after training for only 5 weeks, and so I wasn't in the best of shape. Even later in November for the half-marathon I still wasn't exactly trim, so it should be a decent comparison for beginning my training here and now.

Hope to be able to post some actual progress and workout information soon. Until then....lets be Lions!