Training

Training has enormous dividend value.  I enjoy and benefit greatly from training. Spiritual, professional, and physical training all require time, money, and effort.  Most of the time it will require time and treasure from your discretionary accounts. Some employers may see the value of training high enough to provide some for their employees, but most of the time people have to choose to invest in training on their own dime and time. It will be money and time well spent.  It will greatly increase your productivity and quality of life. You will need to be selective in what training you choose if it is not provided or required by your employer. Here are some that recommendations and and thoughts:

Spiritual Training:

• The daily morning time with God (as little as 7 minutes but more would be best). Include talking to God, reading a passage from the Bible, simple journal entries, and reflection/listening.
• Personal and corporate worship experiences. Singing, listening and reflecting on solid and practical teaching 
• Volunteering. Helping other people each week in a way that you receive no pay and sometimes no thanks. Just help.
• Occasional retreats. A few hours. A day. A weekend. Rest. Talk little and listen to wise teachers. Escape to nature. It can be a simple as eating lunch outside or as complex as a hiking and backpacking excursion.

Professional Training:

• Challenging training that stretches your mind and skills.
• Training should stimulate your creativity and tap into skills and abilities that have been lying dormant.
• Practical in application in order to make us sharper, wiser, and more efficient in work life.

Physical Training:

• Constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. Workouts need to be based on functional movements, and these movements reflect the best aspects of gymnastics, weightlifting, running, rowing and more. These are the core movements of life. They move the largest loads the longest distances, so they are ideal for maximizing the amount of work done in the shortest time. Intensity is essential for results and is measurable as work divided by time—or power. The more work you do in less time, or the higher the power output, the more intense the effort. By employing a constantly varied approach to training, functional movements and intensity lead to dramatic gains in fitness. OK this definition is taken from the CrossFit website. I completely agree, however.  

• Physical training should be a challenge every single time.  Include goals and track progress.

All training in various aspects of life will include the following elements.  Consider yourself warned and challenged.

1. Pain and discomfort.  By design training requires stretching and new loads of work.  It will make your sore. Always.
2. Coaches and mentors who are interested in your ongoing development and growth. 
3. There may often be team elements, but in the end it will be personal.  You will choose every step of the way to keep moving forward or quit.
4. The cost will be more than you anticipate whether in effort, time, or money.  No easy buttons or shortcuts.

Here are places I currently train and receive coaching/teaching.

• The Bible
• First Baptist Church Oakwood
• Good Samaritan Food Bank
• Cooking and serving plates on Wednesday nights at my church
• StableLife garage CrossFit facility in Gainesville
• Trail runs at Chicopee trails and the University of North Georgia Oakwood Campus
• Teaching from Hope Church Ft. Worth, TX
• Deer hunting on a land lease.
• Training and coaching from the 17:6 network
• Value Shaping Ministries Conference at Hope Church in Ft. Worth, TX
• Wisdom Conference at Hope Church in Ft. Worth, TX.
• Spiritual and Devotional classics: selected readings from the Renovare group
• Ted Talks: usually stuff way outside of our field of work life.