The last few months …

I’m actually here. Just really focused on other things right now … but here is an update.

First, I LOVE my job. I couldn’t be happier. I have been at Amgen for 2 months now. Boy how time flies!! I work with a great bunch of guys like my cube mate, Scott, and my friend, Rich, who told me about the job to begin with. We have all become pretty good friends. We joke around a lot. Besides all of the amazing benefits I like being so close to home and Dean visits me for lunch at least 3 times a week!!

More going on …. our Thousand Oaks team has also been meeting weekly to refine and clarify our strategy for VOX culture pubs. It has a lot of us thinking about the Gospel and what it really means. Good (and hard) and important stuff to be processing as we move forward.

Another focus of mine (which has also kept me out of the blog world) is weight training. I have really become addicted. I train 3 times a week in the morning and then I go back to the gym in the evenings another 3 to 4 days a week to do cardio or Pilates or I run. Yeah, the gym is my second home!! Lately, my friends and Dean have encouraged me to become a personal trainer because I love it so much. So, I am going to do just that!! It will take about 3 to 6 months to prepare for the big exam. Once I pass I will be certified and can work in a gym!!

One thing that has kept me from committing the time it takes to become a trainer before now is that I didn’t want to expend all my energy on something that I didn’t feel would have some bigger purpose. I know I would be helping people get healthy, fit and strong and that I may even have opportunities to share deeper spiritual things with my clients but, for some reason, those ideas just weren’t compelling enough for me.

For several months now I have been looking for a more specific and important reason to spend 6 months preparing to become a trainer and then working a second job as one. I finally found my answer last weekend. God spoke so clearly that I could do something that I love and then give all of the money that I make doing it to help the Pokot people in Africa. See, it has never been about the money. Heck, I would train people for free. But, now I have a story to tell. My clients will know that the money they are investing is not only to get them fit but also bringing life to people that may not have life if we in the West didn’t do something. Anyway, it was been so freeing and exciting to discover this reason and purpose.

until next time here are some photos from the last few months …

 

The fam in Kauai for Christmas

 

Me in the Kauai surf (photo by Dean)

 

The gang at The Rainforest Cafe in Orlando, Florida.
Relaxing after the Humana 2.0 conference.

 

Me, Rachel and Staci - Humana 2.0