Last May I completed Insanity. After watching an infomerical in my hotel room, I was sold! The program, led by Shaun T, is sixty days of intense interval training. I played baseball through college and have been working out since I was a freshman in high school. I also worked for two years in a gym and experimented with numerous workout routines and programs that came down the pike. Trust me, nothing is like Insanity! I cannot count the number of times my face was buried in the carpet, writhing in pain, wishing Jesus would return! But by the grace of God (and lots of protein), I survived Insantiy. Here is how I did it and some things I learned along the way.

Let me use two categories: The Physical and The Spiritual

The Physical

Don’t skip any of the stretches! They will keep you from injury. I know they hurt, but the few times I skimped, I could tell a difference the next day.

Keep your core as tight as possible. Shaun T says this over and over. Do it! Also, when you are using your arms, try and keep them flexed as well. So when you do POWER JACKS (one of my favs) really tighten your arms when you go down.

Do some of all the exercises. I made the mistake at first of trying to do all of some exercises per circuit while skipping others. So if there are four moves per circuit, try and get some of each of them. They are designed to work against the previous move and thus completely demoralize you. Perhaps you can get through each one without stopping, which in that case: I hate you!

You may never complete an entire workout. I thought I would eventually never have to rest during the workouts apart from the prescribed times (which feel like 10 secs rather than 30!). But I found that the more I did it and the more stamina I built, I could just workout harder and thus exhaust myself more. This could be different with you though. The point being, don’t feel bad about resting in your own time.

I hit a wall around the end of week 3 and then 7. I’m not sure why. I almost quit. I didn’t feel like I was improving. If it happens, and it likely will, just pray through it and keep going!

Nothing can prepare you for weeks 6-9!! After the Recovery Week (week 5), the next set of videos (if we are using the same version) are indescribable. I wasn’t ready for them. They are longer, more intense, and the moves are harder. Brace yourself! After week 6, day 1, my brain couldn’t tell my finger to eject the DVD. Weird!! Be prepared!

Don’t skip a day if possible. My schedule was pretty consistent during Insanity. I had to tweak some things here and there, but for the most part I stuck to the routine. If you travel, take it with you. Its too hard to catch up and doubling up one day is crazy!

I skipped the fitness tests. I admit it! I didn’t have time to do the workout and the fit test, except for the first one since, if I remember correctly, is only a fit test. The rest of the time they are combined with a workout. Plus I really don’t care how many power knees I can do. But again, this is me.

Envision a post-Insanity lifestyle. I can’t maintain an Insanity-like routine for a whole year, its an extreme 9 weeks. I was eating 3000 cals per day, drinking 150-200 ozs of water, and consuming 150 grams of protein. I can’t maintain that for very long. I wasn’t prepared for what to do after Insanity and balance things back out. Right now I try and do a few DVD’s a week and hit the gym from time to time.

As for diet…Drink 1 oz of water per body pound. You’ll likely spend a lot of time in the bathroom, so you might want to learn how Edwards planned his day around bathroom breaks! Also, sugar is the enemy. Avoid those late night bowls of ice cream at all costs. Protein is your ally. Drink protein 30 min before workout and 30 min after for maximum results. Drink 8 oz of ice water before workout to boost metabolism. And don’t forget to have fun! It’s just your body (1 Tim. 4:1-16).

The Spiritual

Motives. I am not sure I did Insanity for the right reasons. I definitely wanted to get in shape. But I mainly did it to prove I could do it and then tell others. The old man in me wants to boast that I completed this gut-wrenching program. These things need to die!

Eyes. You may notice that the women on the DVD do not have T-shirts that say MODEST IS HOTTEST. It doesn’t get any better and the camera angles are a little too up close and personal at times. Guard against letting your guard down. Being exhausted will only work against you.

Wish I could pray 45 minutes a day for 9 weeks straight. Im working on that. Maybe I should write Insanity for the Christian Life: 60 days of Insane Prayer and Study. Either way, we need to guard against making our bodies the main focus of our time and energy.

Hope this is somewhat helpful. If not, forget all you just read.

GB

This year I’ve rarely posted any new articles. Things at church, school, and a few other writing projects have kept me busy. While I can read fairly quickly, writing is a different story. Providing meaningful and thoughtful posts is somewhat time consuming for me. In addition, I do not feel the same calling to write (and I’m not very good at it!) as I do to preach and lead at Metro East Baptist Church.

Any writing I do in the future will be specific to my congregation and will be posted at http://www.treasuregod.org/metro-east-blog/.  I will however post things here from time to time as I see necessary. In the future I may return to regularly blogging at YEARN, but for this season, I am taking a break.

Thanks for reading and following YEARN!

GB

The Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint. As a pastor I don’t want my congregation living in a constant pursuit of emotional and spiritual highs. I want them consistently walking with God and deeply abiding in Jesus. I want the Gospel to motivate them to worship, resist sin, and make Christ known among. I hold out this hope for them and myself.

But I also want to avoid spiritual cruise control. I want to bypass mere emotion and keep the fires of my affections (inner motives, cravings, glories) stoked for Christ and the Gospel. I am currently preaching through 1Peter. In chapter 2 Peter says, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Pet. 2:2-3). Many interpret Peter as saying something like “Long for the Word of God the way an infant longs for milk.” Sermons on this text exhort Christians to increase their efforts in morning devotions and their study of the Bible.

But I think Peter is saying different. He is saying to long for Jesus, not simply the Word (of course I would never disconnect those two). He is not saying “Get in the Word.” He is saying “Crave Jesus the way an infant craves and needs milk!” The very next verse, says “if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” They have tasted Jesus and Peter is exhorting them to keep on tasting Him (See: Ps. 34).

So how do you discern if you are craving Jesus or just coasting through the Christian life? Here are a few symptoms:

Limiting dialogue with God to a devotional time

You give Him the first part of your day, but rarely seek Him or run to Him for refuge during the day. Just ask yourself: If I related to any other person the way I relate to God, would that relationship be worthwhile?

Boasting in avoiding sins of the flesh

Many measure their spiritual life by how frequent they engage in visible or fleshly sins like lust, drunkenness, sensuality, cursing, fits of anger and rage, splurge spending, overeating, pornography, etc. If they avoid these sins, they assume they are being holy. But they neglect the relational and often hidden sins of unforgiveness, avoidance, bitterness, jealousy, exclusion, and self-promotion.

Passive prayers and reactive prayers

You pray on an as needed basis. There is no preemptive assault on temptation or future needs. I am guilty of this with my children. I tend to pray brief short-range prayers about their safety, health, and growth. But I must also pray long-range and offensive prayers for them.

Performance Spirituality

You’ve been able to mostly dodge visible sins, but the motivation for doing so is to maintain a steady flow of God’s blessings. You are afraid to sin because God might allow a little discomfort in your life, a little pain to creep in. You feel pressured to perform well in order to remain on God’s good side. Many Christians use their morning “quiet time,” or lack of, to determine where they stand with God that day. This is a miserable place to be!

See Others Sins To The Neglect of Your Own

Part of celebrating the Gospel is being aware of your own sinfulness. We should not of course live in a perpetual state of naval gazing and inwardness, but we should be aware of how dark our hearts can be. Unfortunately we too often see the sins of others without examining our own hearts before God.

Evangelistically stagnant

While you cannot control what opportunities arise to share the Gospel, you can guard your heart against being indifferent to a lost world. Christians who never wrestle with how to get the Gospel to a non-believer likely do not have the Gospel coursing through their veins.

The Remedy?

Now that we’ve diagnosed what it might look like to coast through the Christian life, where do we go from here? What might be put in place to help us long for Jesus and crave Him more? To be sure, recognizing these things is half the battle. Being aware of how quickly passivity and apathy sets in is at least a step in the right direction. From here you can ask God to do a work of grace in your heart to want Him, and need Him, more. You can beg the Spirit to awaken you to the beauty and power of the Gospel. You can ask Jesus to stir your affections for who He is and what He is doing in the world. You might consider reading through a particularly weighty book or perhaps spend some extended time in prayer and meditation. Maybe you’ve emotionally checked out during public worship gatherings and you want to make being “there” a priority.

This will certainly look different for anyone depending on schedule, personality, and stage of life. But we must recognize that we always need more of Jesus in our lives. May we taste and see that He is good.

GB

“May all my expectations be frustrated, may all my plans be thwarted, may all my desires be withered into nothingness, that I may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child and sing and dance in the love God who is Father, Son, and Spirit. (Adapted from Abba’s Child, 13)

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GB

To an assembly of clergy at Augsburg in 1530, Martin Luther explained why he continued to preach despite a nagging desire to quit.

Not that we are so greatly delighted to preach. For, to speak for myself, no message would be more pleasing to my ears than the one deposing me from the office of preaching. I suppose I am so tired of it because of the great ingratitude among the people, but much more because of the intolerable hardships which the devil and world mete out to me. But the poor souls will not let me rest; then too, there is a man whose name is Jesus Christ. He says no. Him I justly follow as One who has deserved more of me.” (What Luther Says, 1132)

What was the first Christmas really like? Many of us have been told something like this:

Since Mary was set to give birth any moment, her and Joseph had to travel quickly to Bethlehem. The only shelter they could find was a inn. However, the inn was booked and the innkeeper would not make provisions for the lonely couple. Fortunately they were able to find a stable behind the inn, where the animals were kept. This is where Mary gave birth to Jesus, wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger. The picture above illustrates this nicely. Lots of animals in a stable with Mary, Joseph and Jesus (who is glowing!). But is this all true? Sorta. Here is what Paul Copan says:

“Over the centuries, the Christmas story has been re-cast and romanticized into a kind of Christian “mythology.” But what do the Scriptures really tell us about Jesus’ birth?

1. There would have been no inns in a backwater town like Bethlehem. They would be found along main roads or in cities.

2. The word for inn (katalyma) is the same one as the “guest room (of a private home)” mentioned in Mk. 14:14 and Lk. 22:11—the room where the last supper was eaten.

Mark 14:13-15: “Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him; and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is My *guest room* (katalyma) in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ And he himself will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; prepare for us there.”

Also, this word in Lk. 2:7 (“guest room”) is different from Lk. 10:34 (pandocheion = inn), where the beaten man was taken by the compassionate Samaritan. This inn had an innkeeper (pandocheus), and such inns would unquestionably located on a main thoroughfare between Jerusalem and Jericho. One commentary puts it this way, “The traditional picture of a surly innkeeper refusing admission to the needy couple is somewhat dubious.” (I. Howard Marshall, “Luke,” in *The New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition*, eds. R.T. France, D.A. Carson, et al. [Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994], 984).

3. Joseph, no doubt being a considerate husband (cp. Mt. 1:19), would have taken ample time to find Mary a place to give birth, which is what Luke 2:6 indicates: While they were there [in Bethlehem], the days were completed for her to give birth. Mary gave birth after she had “fulfilled her days”—a duration of time. Although people seem to miss this, the passage clearly indicates ample passage of time in Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus.

4. In a culture that so valued hospitality, Joseph would have insulted his relatives by going to an inn. Rather, he would stay with his relations, who would readily have made room for his expectant wife—even if the guest room was crowded and the birth had to take place in the main living area. It would seem ludicrous, given the importance of hospitality in the Middle East, that Joseph would have no place to stay among his relatives—especially if he was “of the house and line of David” and if his wife was expecting. And if Joseph could not find a place for Mary after a few weeks or so, they could have gone back to Mary’s relative Elizabeth, who lived in the same region.

5. In Jesus’ day, animal sheds were typically attached to houses. In Palestine a manger was not normally found in a separate stable; rather, it was “in the main living room of a peasant house, where animals are brought in at night” (R.T. France, *The Evidence for Jesus* [Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986], 159). New Testament scholar Kenneth Bailey (from whom I borrow heavily in this blog) notes that the manger Christ was laid in was “built into the floor of the raised terrace of the peasant home” (Kenneth Bailey, “The Manger and the Inn: The Cultural Background of Luke 2:7,” *Evangelical Review of Theology* 4 [1980]: 201-17). This stall-next-to-the-house arrangement is what Luke 13:15 presupposes: “. . . does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him?”

6. When the wise men show up in Bethlehem, they come to a house. Matthew 2:11 states: “After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” (Paul Copan, The First Christmas: Myths and Realities)

Conclusion
So were Mary and Joseph in a hurry to get to Bethlehem? No (see Luke 2:6). Did they go to an inn? No, they went to a house which is where the Magi visited Jesus (Matthew 2:11). Was there an inn keeper present? No. Neither Luke nor Matthew mention one. So where was Jesus born? In Bethlehem, to be sure. In a house, but not in the main living quarters because they were full, but on the floor below or adjacent to the main living area where the animals were kept, hence the manger. Were animals present? The text never says, and they certainly would not have to be since they were often brought in at night.

GB