What are your favorite physical activities or exercises?
My favourite exercise by far is weight training. I started doing weights when I was 18 and have trained either 3 or 4 days a week since then.
I love the feeling of the workout pump and how you feel the rest of the week. My gym sessions usually last about 30 minutes but I feel the results the other 160 plus hours of the week.
I started weights to strengthen my muscles to support my joints when I had Rheumatoid Arthritis. But before long I realised it helped me get stronger, be more flexible and kept my muscles toned.
Weight training has become such a big part of my life that I can see myself doing it for the rest of my days on earth.
There is a mob of kangaroos not far from where I live.
Do you ever see wild animals?
Today’s WordPress question is do I ever see wild animals? Living in the country region of Western Australia I would have to say yes. But in saying this I mean animals that live in the wild, not wild animals like lions and tigers.
I do not have to go far from my house to see a big mob of kangaroos like in the picture above. When I go for a motorbike ride I see up to 50 kangaroos in a paddock. Sometimes they are resting under a big tree and other times they are all bouncing along at speed. It is amazing to watch. I often slow down to travel next to them.
Often in the mornings when I am driving to work I see kangaroos or foxes just next to the road in the paddocks too. This happens more in winter when I leave before the sun is up properly. They are usually close to the road drinking from the puddles of water from the rain.
In summer when I go for a walk up our local rock it is normal to see some sort of big snake sunning itself on the rocks. As I live in an area where most snakes can kill you with one bite, I take a wide berth around them. So on my prayer walks I have to keep my eyes open!
The Mulga or King Brown Snake can grow up to 2.5 metres long and is one of my most deadly where I live.
We do also have lizards like the Blue Tongue Lizards, Bobtails and birds of prey like Eagles and Hawks too. I might also see the occasional Emu, but that is very rare. That is pretty much it for where I live.
So yes I do see wild animals where I live. Not lions, tigers or bears, but snakes, kangaroos, eagles and lizards.
Pain and suffering are some of the hardest things we face in life. They can be depressing, debilitating and unbearable at times. But I believe God can recycle our pain for the good of others.
In my own life I have lived with crippling Rheumatoid Arthritis, suffered periods of chronic depression, lost loved ones to suicide and cancer, struggled with self worth and self esteem issues, and my parents were divorced when I was very young.
Some of these were quite terrible and very difficult to move past, especially when I was young. Some are just normal things people go through in this life, but adding them together made life really tough for me mentally and physically.
In my teens when I was depressed and crippled with RA, I did not ever think I would be able to work, get married and have kids, buy a house and build a life. I thought I would be on a pension all of my life.
After coming to Jesus in my early twenties I started to see my life differently. I saw a purpose in my pain and suffering and how they had actually drawn me to Jesus. Without them I do not know where I would be now?
Looking back I can see how my experiences had taught me compassion. I learned what it was like to live with constant pain, suffering, grief, loss and depression. It gave me an understanding of people and the things we all go through.
Now I work as a School Chaplain I can use these experiences and understanding to be a blessing to others. I can walk along side our students and enter in to their pain. I can sit with them, talk with them, cry with them and offer support.
I can also offer hope, encouragement and positivity knowing that not only can they get through their painful times, that things can actually get better and life can turn around.
Today I want to say to you that no matter what you have been through, or are still going through, God can turn it around. He can help you find purpose in your pain and recycle it for the good of others.
I believe He can use you to be a great blessing to those around you. Just hang in there and look to Jesus. He can recycle your pain.
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