My Sunday

"And God said, 'Let there be light', and there was" and when the light had hit him, brighter than he'd anticipated, he uttered the word Monday, and ever since, it has been the bane of all existence. Sundays are the greatest, you get to take a step back from the world, and in my case, discuss and reflect your beliefs (I accomplish that by attending church), and because of my religion, I don't go shopping, or do work on Sunday, so it is a day of "rest".

And a day of rest it wasn't...

9:30 A.M. conditioning. I missed on Friday because I had a little episode with my depression. It wasn't that I wanted to miss, but, it wasn't really up to me. Of course that had to be made up, therefore, Sunday was the appointed day. I showed up at 9:15, Coach showed up about 10 minutes later. He was dressed in a sweatsuit, and he had a bounce in his step. How I envied his morning coffee (another religion thing). I was already dragging at this point.

The smell of icy hot was pungent. I had lathered up so as to be functional when I walked onto the floor. I've discovered that icy hot and stretching increases the duration of the punishment one's legs can take. Coach was ready to "knock it out" as he says, and I was just wishing that boxing great Mike Tyson would come through the door and knock me out. I was tired, I was sore, I was being a pansy.

Coach Terry loves the "ladder" as a conditioning drill. You run an odd number of times up and back on the floor to a certain number of times dictated by coach, and should you miss, as one might guess, you have to run that one again.

Missing sucks. I learned a long time ago, under the tyrannic rule of Conditioning Quincy (he's kind of like Ben from Stuart little- as there are many moods of Ben, so are there of Coach Lewis, this model we discuss is Conditioning Quincy) that missing is the wrong decision. No matter how bad it hurts, you speed up, because running again hurts more.

Today, the magic number was 11. I thought that it wouldn't be as bad as I had imagined. And it wasn't until I hit 9. While running the 7 "rung" on 9, I discovered that my right leg had turned to liquid magma- meaning that it was liquidous, but burned like hell. I was sure that I was going miss, I was pushing as hard as I could, but it seemed like I wasn't going to make it. I did. I made it, and panting like an idiot, I walked back down the floor to the side coach was on. We talked about recruits, the program, not missing lines, etc. It was nice until he said, "Ok, now 11."

I'm not the type to get scared. I put on my determined face, and I started to run. I hit the first endline, and felt ok. I hit the second endline, and I felt ok. I hit the third, fourth, fifth, and even the sixth, and I felt ok. I hit seven... My lower body was now entirely made of that liquid magma previously discussed. Burning with every step, and wishing Mike Tyson was in town, I kept running as hard as I could make myself. I could feel myself shaking, and I remembered that I thought this was going to be somewhat easy. Coach was now yelling "You gotta pick it up, Brack. You can't miss this one, Brack, this is a killer." I picked up speed as good as I could, and I made it with about 2 seconds to spare. But man, I was on fire.

That was my morning.

Church. Church is always interesting. I feel like for most of my life I have been spoiled. Church has been an avid part of my life. I have usually enjoyed going to church because I feel a peace that I can't find anywhere else, and also, I am able to learn a lot when I attend. That said, Heritage Ward works differently than any ward I've ever been in before. Sacrament meeting is usually ok (today it was great), but it is an instantaneous downhill climb after that. I don't know if it's just my attitude, or if it is something going on in the ward, but once Sacrament meeting is over, based on past experience, I'm ready to go. I stay. I do what I'm supposed to, but it isn't the greatest thing in the world in my opinion (I have a lot of those). Today was one of those days. Sacrament meeting was GREAT! A lot of good thoughts were shared by some very prepared speakers. Athena Nibley, and Bishop Godfrey gave excellent talks. Elder White is always entertaining- and paid a lovely tribute to his mother.

Church ended. As exciting as it was. I arrived at my apartment, built the blog, and wrote my mother's day tribute, and got some of my stats homework done. I started working on my project for BA 18 (business science), and then worked on a paper for Sociology. I got some done, but, Bria had invited me to spend the day with her family, and it was time to go. I packed all my homework, knowing full well there wasn't a snowball's chance in a furnace that I was actually going to do any of it anyway.

I love the Todd family. They are really great! Nothing that requires a story except that Bria's brother, Sean (pronounced see-awn, just the way it is spelled :P) claimed that he would beat me in skip-bo today, and I destroyed him. Add to that that I also pommeled him and Bria in Egyptian Rat Screw (thanks to Shad for that game! I appreciate it!) 3 straight games. That's skill, not mere luck. Just sayin'.

Anyway, now I'm home. I've got a little bit of my project done for the Business Science class, I've attached the video here:

Now I have a little bit more math to do. I think I'll wake up at 8 and do it. I think that will be the best option. I'm homeworked out anyway. But that was my Sunday. It was great. I'm grateful for the opportunities that were presented, and the things that I got done. I also am really grateful to the Todds for letting me chill with them! They are great.

One other thing I'd like to add to these posts are tender mercies that I notice throughout the day. I think it's important to notice what God does for us each and every day- helps us to remember that He loves us very much, and wants us to be the best we can.

TENDER MERCIES TODAY
First, I've got to say Bria Todd. She's amazing. She is so good to me, and does things for me that just make my entire day consistently. It's great to have a best friend like that. I wish the whole world could have their own Bria Todds. But they can't. So, I'll keep her safe for you :)

Secondly, just reminiscing about my mother reminds me how amazing she is. I sometimes take her for granted, but, I think that she is incredible, and love her so very much. I was grateful for the opportunity to look back at every thing she's done for me, and remember that she didn't have to do it, but that she did it out of love.

Third, I was reading a verse in the New Testament in which Jesus is accused of being a glory-seeker, and replies to that by saying something to the effect of try doing what I've asked you to do, and if it be of God, he's going to bless you, and you will know that I speak of Him, and not myself. I forget sometimes that God blesses us for obedience. Sometimes doing everything right just doesn't seem that entertaining- but remembering that he will bless us in amounts we can't even fathom just reminded me that there are a few things I ought to work on, so that, in all seriousness this is selfish, I can receive those blessings, and move forward. It was a gentle reminder- but a tender mercy for sure.

God Speed

Bracken