A Break

On March 25, 2018March 25, 2018 By roberthansen1317In Christian life7 Comments

I am taking a week off from work this week. A much needed break.

It will give me some time to finish writing all the drafts I have started. It will give me some time to spend with the family. It will give me some time to relax. It will give me some time to evaluate some things.

Like, why am I so tired all the time? Many of you know I run and was actually kind of fast. Not win the race fast but usually finished in top 5% fast. In a few half marathons I was in the top 1%. In a race of ten thousand to be in the top one hundred finishers I thought was pretty cool.

But then I hurt my knee and it has been one endless injury list after that. I would take a few months off and could resume running and do a 5k with no problems at all. Then this last time I could not get my hamstring to heal. I finally decided to take several months off and just cross train. I was not sitting on my butt.

I have been back to running for a little over two months now and I can not do anything. I can’t run a mile without stopping. I can’t catch my breath. I’ve tried running slow, I’ve tried running fast. I’ve tried intervals, HIIT, inclines, declines, cardio, cardio/weights and NO improvements. I should have improved after two months.

My diet is good. My wife is a health nut so that has not changed. My weight is the same. My sleep schedule is the same at night. My heart rate is good. Resting heart rate 62-64 bpm. While running it is around 150-170 which is normal. So why am I not able to run?

I am tired all the time. I will do a five mile run/walk and then have to take a nap an hour later. I don’t get it. So I think it’s time to go to the doctor. Maybe something is wrong with my heart or lungs or something where I am not getting the oxygen through my body like I need.

This week while I catch up on drafts I am going to repost the birds of a different color series. Have you ever written anything you really liked and thought had a good message and they get no views? Then you throw something together in five minutes and it gets a lot of views. That’s how the birds are for me. No views compared to most of my other posts. I don’t know why they don’t get views.

My mom and wife say maybe it’s the title. Maybe people think they are about birds so they don’t click on them. They are not about birds. Birds are just characters to portray us humans. Maybe I posted them at an odd time and people were busy with their lives. Beats me. But just in case it is the title I am going to do an experiment and post them with a different title. Maybe it will make a difference, maybe it won’t.

If you have read them before maybe you can comment and let me know.

With Easter just a week away, maybe they can be a reminder to love and not hate.

If they get no views again then I will say God is telling me no one is viewing them because he doesn’t want many people to read them so I can turn them into books. Positive attitude doesn’t hurt anything right ?

I Was Thinking…

On April 5, 2016April 5, 2016 By roberthansen1317In Christian life, God, music3 Comments

I took last week off from posting because we were on vacation in Florida. We drove like we always do and that gave me time for thinking.

I was thinking I would try to do one new post last week and reblog some of my older ones but the wifi didn’t work that well. It was hit and miss for some reason and I didn’t want to spend hours waiting for it to work. Maybe that was God just telling me to relax and not worry about posting.

I was thinking I was going to run every day. I remember when I was younger I would wait until the middle of the day to run in the summer time. I liked running in the heat. I ran 3 the first day, 5 the second day then missed the next two days. Planned on running 10 miles but cut it short at 7. It was too hot and humid, 73 and 90% humidity average every day, at 7:30 in the morning. The old me would’ve toughed out the 10 but the wiser, older me said call it and live for another day. Being in the sun all day and that 7 mile run I think beat me so I missed one more day. Then I put mind over matter and did 5, 5, 3 three days in a row. Got used to the heat and humidity. Overall, I guess 6 out of 9 mornings wasn’t bad.

I was thinking on the drive back how much it costs taxpayers for states to put up mile marker signs every tenth of a mile. It used to be one every mile marker then they had to add one for every tenth, why? Sure, if you are broke down you can give a more exact location but I think they could find you if you said I am between mile marker 3 and 4.

I was thinking who would want to live in Atlanta? I’m sure it has a lot of positives but traffic is a nightmare. Yes, call me a fool for driving through instead of around. This is at 10 pm.

I was thinking I am getting too old to be driving straight through to Florida. 17-18 hours straight. My wife helps out some but by the time I get tired it’s one in the morning and I feel bad asking her to drive at that hour. I worry about drunk drivers and her falling asleep so I try to tough it out. Let me tell you what helps, Arbonne energy fizz. Two or three of them and I am awake. My wife is an Arbonne distributor if you want more info.

I was thinking at two in the morning I need to find a way to get all my thoughts and ideas down. I can’t talk into a recorder and wake every one else up. Anyone have ideas on something that can read your thoughts and put them down in writing?

I was thinking one of the best chorus I have heard is NF’s Mansion song.

Broken legs but I chase perfection
These walls are my blank expression
My mind is a home I’m trapped in
And it’s lonely inside this mansion

How many of us are chasing perfection, but have broken legs and will never get to perfection.

And then parts of two verses really speak to me :

Yo my mind is a house with walls covered in pain
See my problem is I don’t fix things
I just try to repaint, cover em up, like it never happen
Say I wish I could change. Are you confused?
Come upstairs and I’ll show you what I mean
This room’s full of regrets, just keeps getting fuller it seems
The moment I walk in to it is the same moment that I wanna leave
I get sick to my stomach every time I look at these things
But it’s hard to look past when this is the room where I sleep

So this part of my house, no one’s been in it for years
I built the safe room and I don’t let no one in there
Cause if I do, there’s a chance
That they might disappear and not come back
And I admit I am emotionally scared to let anyone inside
So I just leave my doors locked
You might get other doors to open up but this doors not
Cause I don’t want you to have the opportunity to hurt me
And I’ll be the only person that I can blame when you desert me
I’m barricaded inside
So stop watching
I’m not coming to the door
So stop knocking, stop knocking
I’m trapped here
God keep saying I’m not locked in
I chose this
I am lost in my own conscience
I know that shutting the world out ain’t solving the problem
But I didn’t build this house because I thought it would solve ’em
I built it because I thought that it would be safer in there
But it’s not, I’m not the only thing that’s living in here
Fear came to my house years ago I let ’em in
Maybe that’s the problem
Cause I’ve been dealing with this ever since
I thought that he would leave, but it’s obvious he never did
He must have picked the room and got comfortable and settled in
Now I’m in the position it’s either sit here and let him win
Or put him back outside where he came from, but I never can
Cause in order to do that I’d have to open the doors
Is that me or the fear talking?
I don’t know anymore

Yes I am partial to it because it reminds me of what’s in my head. Also looking forward to his new cd coming out, Therapy Session. Sounds like it will speak to me.

I was thinking how we are all like sand on the beach. Some of us get blown about by the wind and water, always trying to find where they belong and who they are. Find God, you will find who you are. Some of us are always getting in other people’s shorts, irritating and leaving some marks. Most of us are all in this together, there for everyone to enjoy and to spread the love of who God made us to be to everyone who we come in contact with.

I was thinking how great is God. The sunsets and sunrises. His forgiveness. His grace. The gifts He gives all of us to further His kingdom. How some of us are like Jonah and try to run away, others are like Peter and deny our savior to save ourselves. How some of us are like Judas and betray Jesus. How some of us are like Noah and just say yes God, whatever you want. The most amazing thing is how He loves us all the same and gives us all the same forgiveness.

I was thinking I could post a lot more if I didn’t put music to each one but then that’s part of why I started so…

Mansion by NF –

Did You Really Think by Wess Morgan –

Don’t Believe Everything You Think by Lee Brice –

Rest Stop by Matchbox Twenty –

Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It by Darius Rucker –

I’m Ready For Spring Break

On February 18, 2016February 18, 2016 By roberthansen1317In Christian life, music3 Comments

Even though we have had a mild winter, little snow, lots of rain, I am ready for some warmer weather. I am ready for skies of blue, ground of sand, waves crashing over the land. Mr. Groundhog did not see his shadow so an early end to winter is coming. Mother Nature said I don’t think so and followed Groundhog Day with the coldest and snowiest ten days in a row we had all winter. We even had enough snow for Kylie to go sledding for the first time this winter. Go figure.

On the positive side it is light when I drive home from work now. There are shorts on sale in stores. Baseball has started spring training. Nascar is starting. There is hope for warmer weather.

Spring break has meant a lot to me over the years. When I was younger and going with my friends at the end of senior year high school where it was all about partying and celebrating. For the last eleven years though it has all been about family. Getting away from the cold and spending a week with the family. Having life slow down and spending time with each other. I am sure it is like that for most of us as we get older though. I can’t help but think of the commercial where the kids say it’s a paid week off, spend it with us.

If you can’t take a Spring Break vacation I pray you will take some of that paid time off you have and spend it with your family before it’s too late. Before they are older and have their own lives where your schedules won’t always be able to match. Work to live, not live to work.

Image result for beach and sunset

Maybe you take days off just to go sledding or swimming. Memories that will last forever. I remember growing up a lot of our vacations were weekend getaways to Cedar Point or Kings Island. Catch a Reds game. I remember those things my parents did for me and my brother. (and for themselves)

Or maybe you take a family mission trip somewhere and help out a village in need. Or do like we did last summer, and will do again this summer, take a week vacation to someplace like Gull Lake Ministries for Christian fellowship in a fun environment. If you missed it here is the link:

https://mygodmymusicmylife.wordpress.com/2015/06/28/what-i-learned-last-week/

Maybe its a staycation. Stay at home. Spend time with the kids. Get things done around the house.

Whatever it is I urge you to take the time off, refresh your mind, body and soul and build relationships with those closest to you.

Rather than thinking of time away as vacation, perhaps we should reclaim the term holiday from “holy day”. The emphasis should fall on spiritual reorientation and refreshment in order to tackle our work “as unto the Lord” when we return.