part 2: food and exercise

So I've decided to only put the first two days of this particular seminar up and devote the rest to the seminars by John Craft, who is probably the best speaker/most self aware human I've ever met.

It wouldn't let me indent for whatever reason so I had to use dashed as the indent.

Premise (straight from the sheet)-American women (for the most part) relate poorly to food and exercise, mostly as a means to an end. Living in the freedom of the gospel changes how we eat and work-out. We can see these everyday practices as opportunities to glorify God

FOOD

-God made food and cares about our consumption

---Genesis 9:3- after flood people are allowed to eat meat

---Exodus 16:31- Israel given manna

---1 Corinthians 10:31- "whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

-We often let food tell us who we are

---the Corinthians believed that you can receive whatever you're craving "food is for the stomach and the stomach for food"

---food is an enemy that gets in the way of what we want and need--we all want the perfect size and food is getting in the way of that.

--------her thoughts: food already has a lot of power because of biological need for it and making it the enemy gives it more power

---using it as an idol: controlling food comforts us when we feel lonely, rejected, or out of control

---------Eve->looking to food to give the power/knowledge instead of God

---------her thoughts: controlling it (ie. being vegan for no allergy or similar reason) or going to it for comfort is looking to it to be a savior

-The Bible frees us to be ourselves->should be aware of the source and content of food, and how it affects God's world, including our bodies . Also must be aware of our hearts' intention as we eat

---for instance bad farming practices, exploiting workers, etc

---are we eating because we're entitled or realizing God's pleasure in it

-Good TASTES GOOD-God went to great effort to give us tastebuds and make them correspond to many substances in nature.

---food itself isn't the problem

-use it to worship: food is one of many ways that God cares for us. Food and eating can't save or destroy us, only God can

---eat with a grateful heart

---we pray before we eat->it's so important/powerful to recognize where it came from (think about it:we don't pray before other everyday activities)

---what you eat is a way to love others->eat what a host offers you when they've gone to great lengths to make it

EXERCISE our bodies were made to move

-we let exercise tell us who we are

---slaves-exercise is a necessary evil, so I do what's most efficient

------thoughts: it becomes the savior of food

---snobs-people who exercise are vain and care too much about appearance

---saints-physical prowess and self-discipline make self feel better than others

-The Bible frees us to be who we are

---players- we are free to exercise in a way that we enjoy. We don't have to conform to a physical standard

------Thoughts: there's a form of exercise that everyone enjoys even if we haven't discovered what it is yet, and physical activity doesn't guarantee the body you want

---we need to take care of our bodies, and they work better when they exercise

-God gives us abilities, and we are grateful for them

-it's a lot harder to hate your body if you appreciate what it can do->probably one of my favorite points

I realize that writing it down doesn't have nearly the same effect as hearing it. But I promise it was a really good seminar. I'm very excited because I emailed the speaker and they're putting all four days on CD and she's gonna mail me a copy.

part 1: the problem of pretty

so I just came back from a week on the beach at the RUF summer conference. It was absolutely amazing and with a great group of people. There was a group of seminars that we could choose to go to and the girls in our group (this was a seminar for only girls) was called Beautiful Freedom: the gospel lived in the female body. I kinda thought it was gonna be one of those typical be modest/be a good girlfriend stuff; it was anything but. Easily my most favorite seminar/sermon I've ever been to. So since there was so much good information from a perspective that I've never thought of before I decided to hit the highlights of each talk one post at a time.

Topic of the first day was called The problem of pretty...hmm, should be interesting. The theme verse of the whole 4 days was 1 corinthinas 6:19-20 "or do you know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You're not your own for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." Yes I know it sounds like just another typical sermon but please read on.

The next part dealt with typical verses we think of when it comes to the bible talking about 'attractiveness.' Each of these platitudes has a grain of truth but can come out dissatisfying. First examples were 1 Samuel 16:7, Proverbs 31.

-the grain of truth: was that God doesn't accept or reject based on physical appearance.

- dissatisfying because: we know what's on the inside isn't all that counts and it makes physical appearance seem purposeless and arbitrary.

-her thoughts: we know that inside isn't all that matters or else we would all look exactly the same

part 2: you are beautiful to God-meaning God thinks you're "pretty"

-misused verses: psalm 139, Ece 3:11

-Grain of truth: God did make you very intentionally, and he is pleased with his work

-dissatisfying because: The desire to be pretty isn't what's addressed in the verses and God thinks everyone is beautiful

-her thoughts: God made you intentionally-->you look the way you're suppose to look

-that's probably one of my favorite points of this sermon (that's why it's bold) and it ties into another idea later which i will also bold

The bible doesn't say that everyone's physically attractive-->leah and Jesus

Reorientation of peace:

-Beauty has a purpose-->ie Ester and Jesus

-ester needed to be beautiful to save Israel Ester 2:7,9, 4:14 (her looks won the favor of the king)

-jesus needed to be unattractive to save israel Isaiah 53:2 (had no form of majesty that we should look at him/ no beauty that we should desire him)

The kingdom determines what's best for you:-->my favorite part of the talk

-there's always gonna be somebody better in some aspect (looks/athletics/school) but nobody's designed to do what you were meant to do

-some people weren't build to have that perfect stick body--> maybe He made you to look the way you do for your future spouse. (ie he might love the physical aspects of you even if you don't)

-your looks draw certain people towards and away from you (certain looks can make you easily approachable)

summary:

-the verses are trying to say that God may have a counterintuitive plan for appearance and God's sense of attractiveness is perfect

This talk has changed my outlook on my own future and the fact that everyone looks the way they do for a reason.

amazing

everything about this is amazing. Seeing what all these people have done shows what a generation of people that care can do for others halfway across the world.

We Did It - LRA Bill Passes Congress from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

pure awesome

possibly the coolest costume I've ever seen

asanta sana squash banana

Such a great video, the first 6 minutes are absolute gold. I remember one of the teachers at wca used this as a platform for a speech in chapel. I love the monkey and everything he represents and adds to the movie. Who knows if it's intentional, but there's several great religious metaphors.

For instance when Mufasa says :"You have forgotten me. You have forgotten who you are, and so forgotten me...You are more than what you've become...You are my son and the one true king" I think that says so much about us as people. We're created for something better and more beautiful then the sinful lives we live now. We often forget that lesson because life and culture tend to have a much louder voice than the religious one.

Then there's the amazing Rafiki with a lesson that most of us haven't learned or don't want to learn (me included).
Simba: "Going back means that I'll have to face my past. I've been running from it for so long"
Rafiki after he hits simba: "It doesn't matter it's in the past"
Simba: "Yeah, but it still hurts"
Rafiki: "Oh yes the past can hurt, but the way I see it you can either run from it or learn from it."

Such a great message that all of us should learn, but that most of us haven't. It's a shame Disney movies now a days rarely go deeper then: lets all be friends and love everybody. Rafiki is such an amazing and bizarre character, both old and wise and young and playful at the same time.

Plus the Lion King is my favorite disney movie with awesome characters.

warrior dash

Just found this and it looks AWESOME!!! it's basically a 3-4 mile obstacle course called the Warrior Dash but unfortunately the closest one is all the way up in illinois by michigan lake

who'da thunk it

It's amazing where decent advice/conversations come from. I went out with a few people on the floor this weekend (something I don't normally do but I had nothing better to do). We went to a social frat so the guys were actually not complete idiots. Either way I met a guy named Alex and we had quite a conversation the whole night. Our first point of agreement was that we were both in the science fields (fish and wildlife for me and forensics him) and weren't completely use to the whole dancing/party scene. Either way we had a conversation all the way from the sciences to relationships and social interactions.

The thing that surprised me the most was his thoughts on relationships. It came up when we were watching two people essentially dry hump each other and another pair make out in the middle of the room. Both of us were wondering how someone can go up to another person they don't know and just start doing that, and if that was how we are meant to be. Though we both agreed that it wasn't natural, I didn't get an answer from him when I asked/stated that it negatively effects our relationship with our spouse in the future.

But, the thing that truly astonished me was his opinion on choosing a bf/gf. He was telling me that there's more to a person then their looks, that their personality should matter more. While I've been a firm believer of this my whole life it astounded me to hear it coming out of the mouth of a frat boy, and from what I could tell a non-religious person. It was so nice hearing that, because lately about 75% of the people I'm around don't think that way. They dress up inappropriately, go to parties and hook up with random people. Over time it gets tiring and hard to try and convince them there's more to life then looks

It was a very interesting experience to meet someone at a party who's willing to engage into an intellectual conversation and doesn't want to grind on the closest person of the opposite sex they see. It goes to show you that advice comes from strange places. I don't know if I call it God's funny sense of humor for me to find a fellow science person who naturally and willingly thinks deeper then the surface. I still can't get over his opinion on personality and looks, God works in funny ways. Maybe I'm making it a bigger deal than it is, but you just don't expect it at a frat.