fitness accountability: Wednesday 3/9/11

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

I’ve made a commitment to the Lord to strive to be a good steward of this body he’s blessed me with and by the grace of God, I’m stronger today than I was yesterday!

Here’s what I did so far today:
1. An hour of strength training.
2. Walked 4.3 miles (updated)
3. 30 BOSU pushups. (trying to catch up after doubling my goal 3 days into the month)
4. 1 two minute forearm plank.
5. 1 one minute superman.

And here’s how I’m doing on my goals for March:

1. Yoga/Strength Training Days: 3
2. 22 miles walked. Should be at 18.4 by today, but I’m trying to get ahead because I can’t walk Thursday or Friday of this week. I’ll be chaperoning an out of town field trip with a bunch of 4th graders.
3. 160 BOSU pushups. Trying to average 20 per day for a total of 620.
4. 9 two minute forearm planks. Trying to average one a day for a total of 31.
5. 9 one minute supermans. Trying to average one a day for a total of 31.

I’m blogging my daily fitness updates in my exercise log, and posting my daily progress on my Facebook page and my Twitter account, so follow along any way you like:
1. Subscribe to the blog via email or RSS (there are widgets in the sidebar to subscribe)
2. “Like” my Facebook page to see the updates in your news feed or
3. Follow me on Twitter!

I would LOVE it if you would join me in fitness accountability by commenting either here or on the facebook page and letting me know your progress too!

I don’t want to sing a solo.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

Something’s been on my mind. While rehearsing a song for praise team, someone referred to it as a “solo.”

solo.

Oxford defines “solo” as:

noun – a piece of music, song, or dance for one performer
adjective – for or done by one person

solo.

It’s been nagging at me.

From the depth of everything I am, that’s the last thing I want to do on Sunday morning when I sing with the praise team.

team.

I always call it that. Not praise band or worship band, but praise team. Sometimes worship team.

Oxford defines “team” as:

noun – two or more people working together.
verb – come together as a team to achieve a common goal.

That’s the way I think about it. We’re a team. We have a team leader, and it ain’t me. I follow the direction of our worship leader and when it comes to serving with him on the team, I trust his judgment, respect his decisions and sing harmony when he’s singing melody. Even so, sometimes I sing the lead on a song. Doesn’t make me the team leader, just means I’m singing the melody on a particular song.

When that happens, I refer to it as leading a song.

I’ve never referred to it as singing a solo.

Oxford defines “lead” this way:

verb – cause (a person or animal) to go with one, especially by drawing them along or by preceding them to a destination.
noun – the initiative in an action: others followed our lead.

Some might say I’m splitting hairs; that it’s just a subtle difference in terminology, a tomato/tomahto kind of thing.

I view it as a HUGE difference, especially as it relates to my attitude and motivation. When I’m leading a song, my primary goal is to lead the congregation in worship. I want to facilitate a shift from the distractions and overwhelming challenges of every day life to a focus on the hope and peace and joy of worshiping God. My primary goal every Sunday morning is to bring each individual person in the congregation with me as I focus my heart and mind on worship. My consistent prayer is that the Lord would bless my service and help me to reach that goal for Him.

solo.

The word is still nagging at me.

I don’t want to sing a solo.