Your time is not your time

It's the weekend....aaaanndddd today I've been procrastinating majorly. I woke up just before 6. (Holla at my early work schedule!) :)

So you'd think I would be this productive person. But no. All I could manage was a cup of coffee, a Friend's marathon, and Facebook.

It was as I looked over my "to-do" list that I hastily scribbled down last night on a post-it, that I realized something: how do I include God in my day?

I don't mean this in some kind of ethereal, mumbo-jumbo, over-spiritualize- everything sort of way.

I mean. How often am I in prayer for the hurting or lost. Yes, I easily offer up a quick prayer that the light will turn green on time...but how often do I really take the time to pour out my heart to my Father?

I'm much quicker to turn to social media than I am to His word. Much quicker to complain to a coworker than I am to cry out to Jehovah. The excuse being, I only have the time to do "blah blah blah."

Time is really just a weird concept if you break it down. Isn't it? Time is something we can't retrieve. We can't make more of. Time is just beyond us.

Yet God gives us time as a gift.

Those of us who are still young, by God's grace and provision, have been given lots of time.

It may not feel like it. Life can be so busy sometimes. But trust me, God has given us all we need for life and godliness...He has given you all the time you need.

I've been mulling over this concept the whole week because, well, Monday was rough. And when you start off your week on a rough note, it just seems like everything spirals...  Not only did I work a long shift, I was feeling tired. I was feeling worn out. I found myself wishing I was the goddess of time. I wished I could add a few more hours of sleep and a few less hours of work (How about no hours of work, TBH).

But the truth is, this sort of thinking is idolatry at the core. We are absolutely NOT the masters of our time. God is in it and through it and everywhere in time.

In fact, we don't have control over a minute, over a second, over a milli, milli, milli, micro second.

This year I've seen a lot of death and dying. As I get older, I'll only see more. And you know what? I'm thankful. Death is God's reminder to us that planet earth is just one tiny, tiny stop along eternity's journey.

I'm resolved to stop having a case of the "Mondays." Our weary-nesses in this world are so petty when compared to the broad scope of eternity.

I'm resolved to stop thinking of time as my enemy or as mine at all. God gives us time as a blessing and a gift. He gives it to us just as He gives us every good thing.

I'm resolved to use the time I have been given in a wise way. Using it to honor my Creator.

God loves to give His children good gifts. He gives us time to enjoy all these blessings. So basically, it's like a blessing-wrapped blessing.

sexy mayonnaise and learning to live on your own

Well, I am officially breaking this drought on the blog with a new post. Coming straight to you from my new apartment!

It's actually so surreal to call something mine that seems so significant and huge. A place of my own. Those of you who are home owners or renters may remember the stew pot of emotions that come with getting your own place.

Most of them are happy. Some of them are sad.

Happy because - FREEDOM!!! I have probably burped after every meal in my new place just because no one is here to get grossed out.

Sad because spending your paycheck on dish washing soap and measuring tapes and mayonnaise instead of reclaimed barnwood coffee tables and cute knick knacks is so not sexy.

One thing that's been a constant little thought in my head is just how differently I pictured this season of life.

The first morning in my apartment was also my 26th birthday. 26. Wow. How did I get to 26? It sounds so old.

I know. I know. It's not actually old.

But I feel like I'm still just a teenager trying to figure out eyeshadow and now I'm here in my own apartment trying to figure out what shade of teal looks good on bath towels (It's the warmer, darker one btw).

By 26 I pictured myself married with at least 1, maybe 2, kids.

Although part of me craved the freedom of being independent, I also wanted the domestic life.

It's a strange thing to say in this day and age. But I seriously wanted a family by 25, the same age my mom was when she got married. And yet here I am.

And would you believe me if I told you...I'm actually still breathing. No breaths have been held by this ginger. Life isn't something you passively allow to happen to you. No! You take every moment captive.

At this moment, I'm trying to decide on colors and home decor and how to paint a hideous dresser I found for free on the side of the road.

These moments are beautiful.

I'm learning how to live with myself, strange as that may sound. Do you ever just sit and let your mind breathe? It's like unraveling a ball of yarn one little pull at a time. It's learning about yourself.

Some people are really good at being alone. I'm not.

I'm always planning the next social event or the next human interaction when all I really need is a little space.

Being alone is good for an extrovert, believe it or not. It takes away the false securities found in human relationships and places them squarely at the feet of our beautiful heavenly Father.

The conversations we have now are so much deeper. In the absence of running down the hall to tell someone the next dramatic thing that happened in Kate's life, I pray.

Isn't that how life should be lived? I can think of nothing sweeter than constant, sweet communion with the Lord of all creation.

He blessed me with this precious home. Amidst all the financial concerns and busy projects, I find a solace in His arms.

AWKWARD TRANSITION FROM SORT OF LONG RANT

Here are a few things I've learned that can really help when you move out on your own...

1. Don't stress about buying everything all at once. You need literally over a hundred million items (I did the math.) when you get your first place. Don't be like me and get freaked out over the amount of money you'll need to spend. You really don't NEED much. Ask someone who's not homeless what they would suggest.
2. Do the dollar store. Okay, I felt totally weird going into Dollar Tree and buying actual home stuff but DUDE. They have some seriously cute stuff. Like the plate here. Plus, a four pack of TP is a buck. Just sayin'.
3.  Unpacking slowwwwlllyyy is okay too. I don't know if you're like
   me but I like to get unpacking done and over with. I'm starting to see
   that when you just don't know yet where things go, it's okay to leave it
   out. Just figure out what works for you. This is YOUR home. No one will
   ever know that you're keeping the laundry in the bathtub for now. 
4. Have people over when you're feeling uninspired. Sometimes when it's just you looking at
   your place and you've looked at so many times that you're eyes are
   crossed, you need a fresh pair of eyes. Have someone over who shares
   your style. Ask them what they think. You don't have to go with every suggestion. It's just nice to get it. And to show off your new shower curtain too.
5. Take breaks to enjoy your new space. The other day I grabbed all the blankets and pillows I own, placed them in the center of my living room and watched a movie on my laptop. I was surrounded by boxes and to do lists but since I spent the better part of the day at work and then running errands, a nice little break before bed was perfect. I felt less overwhelmed and a ton better about getting more unpacking done. In the words of Tom Haverford, "Treat yo self."
6. Cheap food. Okay, by cheap I don't mean unhealthy. There are so so so many cheap foods out there guys. Cheap proteins like tuna, canned chicken, peanut butter, and beans will get you through many a tight wallet. Add these to pasta, rice, bread and frozen veggies and DUDE you're golden.

Mundane parts of life are important too

I was talking with my best friend yesterday about motherhood. She's been married almost three years and has a young child. I love her dearly and have appreciated being part of her growing family.

You would think at some point the conversations would reach an awkward halt as the "stage of life" conversations come up, the ones where we discuss our dreams for the future and what our personal struggles are. Instead, I find myself fascinated with her ponderings, her concerns, her struggles, her battles.

Yes, motherhood is an entirely different station in life than the one I'm currently living. I currently get 8 hours of sleep a night. I don't share my time with a tiny human who needs constant food and attention and diaper changes. I realize our lives are very different in a lot of ways.

Chicken Soup for the Chicken Soup hater

Ok, so I have to admit. Yes. I am a girl. And yes, I do enjoy the colder months and the yummy comfort food during the fall and winter. But I'm actually not much of a homemade chicken soup fan. And actually I'm not much of a soup-y type person in general.

5 myths I used to believe about Gluten

Ok, so a brief history about why I'm writing about gluten.

For many years I struggled with stomach pains, lethargy, gas, bloating, and diarrhea. It wasn't all the time so
I didn't really do much other than pop a pill or lay down or whatever. I actually didn't  start to notice it until last year.

How to make bangs

Ok so I haven't paid for an actual haircut yet this year. (I know, Jessicaaa [fictional character], ew so gross...think of all the dead ends)

Ergo, my bangs were basically well - hahah- what bangs?

I decided it was time for a wee little trim. This is by no means an exhaustive study on the art of making bangs and in fact I would suggest you check out youtube for more awesome tutorials.

DIY: Walnut Sugar Scrub

My face was seriously breaking out today and I felt like it needed some exfoliation. After a quick search online I found a site called Wellness Mama and was impressed by the variety of recipes for all-natural sugar scrubs.

The key to a good scrub, according to this post, was to blend oil in along with the scrub so that your skin is moisturized. For my next scrub I want to try olive oil. It just sounds so soothing.

Just a little bit of a pro-tip though...it gets really greasy so washing it off takes like five minutes. Don't try this if you only have 2 minutes.

For this scrub, using the tips from "Mama,"  I made my own version with WALNUT oil!!!

peanut butter chocolate granola bars

In less than 24 hours I'm going to board a plane. Since I'm not a huge fan of airport food or just airports in general, I usually bring some snacks. Somehow, granola bars are an airplane-riding-snack staple. Wouldn't you say?

Instead of going out and buying granola bars with who knows what inside, I decided to make my own.

Inspired by this recipe on allrecipes.com

• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup of peanut butter
• 1/2 cup of chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl (oats, sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, and salt).
Make a little well in the dry ingredients where you can pour in the rest of the ingredients. Now, and this is the fun part, get in there with your hands. Mix it all together.

In a super-greased up 9 x 13 pan put the granola mix in, giving about an inch between the side of the pan and the granola bars. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the sides start turning brown.

Let the bars cool for about 5 minutes, then cut into bar shapes. After the bars have completely cooled, individually wrap the bars with plastic wrap. Serves about 12-20 depending on the size of the bars.

Enjoy!

5 ways to get stuff online without money

Wow. Pardon the moment of overwhelming conceitfullness, but I cannot believe I faithfully blogged now for almost a week. Of course, I only blog when I feel like it. I guess I've just felt like it...my feelings are becoming so organized...

Ok, moment over.

What I really wanted to take about was money..........Since deciding to go to a four-year college full-time my brain has been expanding while my bank account is shrinking faster than the GDP of Europe. I blame my financial situation on two dry summers where the economy has offered this lowly student nothing more than a few babysitting jobs.

After this past semester, I am officially broke. Actually. Rephrase that. I am mongo broke. I have student loans and interest that's starting to pile up and less than a hundred dollars in my bank account at any given time.

Besides a job, what I really need are ways to save what precious cents I do have. Over the course of my internet addiction I've found a few sites that are super helpful when it comes to saving money.

[DISCLAIMER: I'm not working for any of these sites (dur- obviously) and I also don't have like a million hours of experience with each and every one of these sites. I have however used each and every one these and found them mildy to very helpful]

1.) Reward sites (Example: Swagbucks) - I've used Swagbucks for about a month now. I heard about from a good friend of mine so I knew it was valid and I wanted to give it a try once I got back to the states. You get "swagbucks" for searching the internet and filling out daily polls or surveys. You can redeem said "bucks" at the "swag shop" and get free stuff.



THE GOODS: Investing even an hour on the site can earn you upwards of 40 or more Swagbucks. If you're into wasting time on sites like youtube, you can watch videos, instead, on the Swagbucks website and earn bucks. Even if you're not a faithful user you can be given swagbucks. It's highly intuitive-Right off the bat I was earning bucks. If you're a coupon person you can get mad amounts of swagbucks just printing coupons off! It's so easy, a neanderthal could do it.

THE BADS: If you've ever heard of these sites (reward sites), you'll probably know that most, if not all, of their income is from advertising. Lots and lots of advertising. So much, in fact, it starts to drive me crazy. Not only do I get pop ups, I often have to skim through my internet searches to find a legitimate website. Besides this, the prizes aren't actually that great. Sure, they advertise a new flat screen TV, but in reality the amount of time required to earn that many "swagbucks" so that you can purchase the television set would be equivalent to a full-time job. Also, the few surveys that I have "been selected" to participate in have turned out to be profitless.

I won swagbucks when I searched for the link for this post! hah!

2.) Craigslist Bartering - Craigslist is a really popular site. I got my first full-time job through a post I found on Craigslist and I know several friends who sell off their children's old clothes or other knick knacks. It's honestly the best garage sale EVER. But did you know there is a section devoted to bartering? Some of the stuff on there is pretty cool and won't cost you a dime. Simply put, a seller offers a product (or service) or asks for a product (or service) in exchange for another product (or service).

THE GOODS: Fast and convenient, the site is literally bare-bones so the pages load fast. You can pretty quickly assess if the item of interest is on the bartering page. Like I said, you just need to have the item required of the seller to complete the exchange. Since most of Craigslist is local, these exchanges cut out the middle man, shipping.

THE BADS: I have never completed such a transaction over Craigslist for one simple reason, I don't have the item the seller wants. It's a hit-or-miss sort of page. Either you have what you both want or you don't. Another aspect to online selling and trading is security; not knowing who you're dealing with can be very dangerous. Also, you can wind up getting a bad deal.

3.) eBay bucks - It's the automatic reward program for eBay users. If you haven't heard about and are a member of eBay you are clearly not checking your messages or email. Shame. I would say it's a fairly simple concept. Use the site to buy and sell, earn eBay bucks. Redeem the bucks for other stuff on the site or as a coupon to take a certain amount off the total of an item.

THE GOODS: Like the rewards sites I mentioned above, you really don't have to be trying too hard (if you already use eBay on a regular basis) to get eBay bucks. It pays off fairly quickly, especially if you buy big ticket items. For example, I bought a $200 laptop on eBay and then got a free movie with the eBay bucks. It's easy to use since not a lot of effort is required by the user. I simply got emails that told me when I had eBay bucks. You are automatically signed up for this rewards program when you join the site.

THE BADS: The biggest part of eBay bucks that's a pain in the neck is remembering to use them. If you don't they'll expire 30 days after being issued. This means that, unlike swagbucks or similar sites, you can't store up bucks which means that unless you are buying bigger items, you aren't going to be getting much profit from the program. Additionally, you must wait "3-15 days after the end of the quarterly earn period" before you can get your hands on the eBay bucks.

4.) Swap your gift cards online for cash - I've seen these sites online and always wanted to try this. Especially if I had a gift card I would never use. This site simply has you enter the name of the merchant and the amount on your card. You can also buy reduced-price gift cards but since this post is about ways to SAVE money and not SPEND money I will refrain from saying anything more on the topic.

THE GOODS: Convenient. Free. Reliable. It's an easy enough concept that I think most, if not all people, should be able to do it. It's a good way to clean your wallet out.

THE BADS: You won't be refunded the whole amount. Nope. In fact, one time, years ago, I tried swapping a gift card online and found that if I had decided to go through with it I would have only received $15 back on a $20 gift card. That's a 25% cut for the company!!!

5.) Free movies (legally) - Beside the usual sites like Amazon Prime and Netflix which charge you an annual fee to watch movies online, places like Hulu, Vimeo, and YouTube are worth checking out for a free Friday night movie.

THE GOODS: Instant streaming movies means no trips to the local Red Box. Some of these sites offer variety in genre. Lots of documentaries. As long as you have an internet connection you always have free movies.

THE BADS: If you take even two and a half seconds looking at the sites you'll notice one thing in common with all the movies. They're either really old or really goofy or both. As much as I would love to watch every "Poison Ivy" ever made or re-watch a snarky Morgan Spurlock documentary or any of the countless zombie movies- most of the time I just want something that's actually entertaining.

So there it is...I'm sorry if the last one was a bit of a reach. I felt like 5 was just a good number for a list. 6 was too long, 4, too short. Just so you guys don't think I'm over-thinking this blog post I will add a random thought here:

I wonder if every silverware item in my house has been in my mouth at one point or another....

S'more cookies

After cooking and baking like a mad woman for the past few days, you'd think I'd be totally tired of it. Especially since dinner tonight was three frozen pizzas bought at Stop and Shop for five dollars a piece.

However, I felt a keen desire to bake some cookies. Plus an even keener desire to blog about 'em.

always marinade. always.

So last summer I started a cooking blog called "Le Summer Chef." I included a best friend and my sister in on it.

Let's just say. It was lame. Not only was the design some concoction of strawberries and poop, (I was going for my favorite color combo bright pink and dark brown), the number of recipes on the site were a whopping...5.

I asked for all the contributors to add pictures and sort of describe why they liked their dish along with a full recipe.

It was a nice idea but lamer than Seabiscuit.

So this Summer I decided: "That's it. No more blogging about food. Too much pressure. Not enough time."

And you know, there's a certain amount of freedom when you're making something and know it won't be seen by anyone except for your stomach.

However, my blogging inner conscience has been a-ring-a-ding-dinging off the hook.

I just ache to share some of my most recent food conquests. So. In true Katie style. I will break my own rules.

(I already broke my green tea binge but that's for another post.)


I actually wanted to post about something that is near and dear to my heart. Something that has brought my through thick and thin. Something that has seen me on my worst days. Something that is a shoulder to cry on, a constant companion, and always there when I need it most.

Something that walks with me through every predictable cliche'.

AND that is- dun dun dun- THE MARINADE!

My secret ingredient for success- whenever you have meat, marinade it. (I'm sorry that's not more catchy. I wasn't really going for the crowd-pleaser here. I'll try to come up with a better slogan in, again, another post.)

Yes folks, I have indeed showed my hand, and it's full of olive oil and vinegar and sometimes a brine (salt water marinade).

Even if I inherited my mama's gift of overcooking, the marinade, the best innovation in meat since Noah decided to name his son "Ham," has been saving my rump roast.

Why? Well, I decided to draw a diagram to illustrate. This comes with much research and science and technology and science.

Do you want your meat to be "nerdy?" No. Do you want your meat to be forever alone? Of course not!

So let it party with the girls and get all tenderized and junk.

Click on the links at the bottom of this post to get some awesome recipes for marinades or simply follow what I do...

For every one pound of meat I do about a 1/3 cup of marinade, give or take.
So this is the ratio within that 1/3 of a cup:

half- 2/3rds of EVOO
Half to less than half vinegar
Seasonings of choice (best choices: garlic, marinade packets, rubs, Italian seasonings, spices, herbs...etc.etc.)

Put your meat of choice in gallon-sized bag with marinade of choice. Let them party together for at least a couple of hours. If you're in a time crunch because you forgot to set up hours before dinner due to the fact that you actually have a life, you can marinade for as little as 30 minutes.

TADA! If you join me tonight for dinner, you will be trying some chicken that has been thoroughly partied with.

If you were thoroughly unimpressed with my recipe here are some other sites you should give a try...I like the first one, mostly because of the name.

 http://mantestedrecipes.com

http://allrecipes.com

http://www.cooks.com

http://bbq.about.com/od/marinaderecipes/tp/10Marinades.htm

http://bbq.about.com/lr/marinade_recipes/35583/1/

Happy Cooking!

be green. and choose tea :)

So within the past couple of days I've decided to try overhauling my drink choice - going from coffee to tea.

It's not like some sort of hipster transformation or anything. I still LOVE coffee and miss it dearly. However I started noticing some symptoms that were less than friendly to my body:

-restlessness
-stress (and then depression when I got off the caffeine high)
-unexplained ache-y-ness
-stomachaches
-shakiness

While I felt like I wasn't myself for the last few weeks due to the extra stress of job searching and getting used to EST (after coming home from Israel), I think my body was getting overwhelmed with the two or more cups of coffee a day.

I think my body was telling me to lay off the high amounts of caffeine and just kick it with the green/black teas for a bit. AND I found out that green tea is awesome:

Image from http://www.chiceast.com

Does any else opt for tea over coffee? Join me in my G.T. Binge!!!
email me: thetaleofkate@gmail.com

blood, sweat, tears (no pain, no gain)

A few months ago I decided to make some major life changes. Well, it may not have been major to anyone else but it was BIG for me. I decided to start eating better and exercising. I guess the straw that broke my camel-ly back was when I decided to transfer out to California. Seeing all those athletic work-outaholics, I didn't want to stick out like a sore thumb or thigh or tummy. But I had always hated (strong word- maybe more like "passionately disliked" ;-)) those people that were all about exercise. That was only half the battle. I am also deeply in love with food.

I don't eat a ton of junky food under normal circumstances and my portions aren't huge, so I thought. I still wanted to try dieting since I was going to be torturing myself anyway. What I needed was a method that worked, I could stick to, and was cheap. I had failed at dieting before for many reasons: 1.) I didn't have enough variety in my diet to keep it interesting, 2.) My body felt yucky, 3.) I always felt deprived and hungry...the list goes on and on.

Since I had never been much of a health nut I turned to the source of eternal truth and wisdom: the internet.

I learned alot.

I learned that what I really needed was to eat more carbs. NO, NO, NO wait! I need to add more protein. Nay, fine woman, what I needed was to drink more water. Uh uh the veggies and fruits will lead you to weight nirvana.

It was so difficult trying to find a diet that would work for me and my schedule. So I decided to NOT diet and instead listen to what the doctor had been telling me from day one. I would just eat less calories. I knew it would be difficult to keep myself accountable so for about a week I wrote down everything that I ate- down to a stick of gum.

The doctor had also mentioned the dreaded e- word, exercise.

I had failed at so many things in the past and I'm not a very athletic person. I couldn't do the baseball thing (bad eye-hand coordination) and I couldn't swim, which was the only sporty thing I enjoyed in highschool. I had heard that running is an excellent form of exercise as it both builds muscle and improves your cardiovascular system.

I had tried running before. We were old enemies. I passionately disliked running. It was my only option though. A friend introduced me to the "Couch to 5k" running method. I thought, "Well, I have the couch part down pat. I guess the second part doesn't sound so bad."

In a nutshell, this program progressively teaches you to train your body to run 3 miles. My goal was a little more than 2 months away. It was great. In my first workout, I ran an impressive 1 minute without stopping. I did this about 10 more times within 30 minutes.

Two months later, I ran in a local 5k. I was not exactly a speed demon, but I ran. I rewarded myself with a new pair of running sneakers. Since then, I've taken little breaks from pavement pounding here and there but have plans to keep it up.

During this season of change, I learned that there are more than a few correlations between our physical life and our spiritual one. I learned 3 ways to be fit both physically and spiritually:

1.) Be Proactive

• It was not enough for me to simply will myself to be fit. I had to work at it, a little bit at a time. Just as the man in Psalm 1 purposes to meditate day and night on God's word, so are we to make sure we are constantly living with the desire to please the Lord and obey His word. It is not something that happens overnight. Only diligent application and study of the Bible will make us like "tree[s] firmly planted by streams of water."

2.) Don't Allow Junk in Your Body

• 1 John 2:15 &16 (NASB) says "Do not love the world nor the things in the world If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world." It is not simply enough to know which foods are good or bad for you. You must intake healthy, nutritious food (I say this after eating a pop tart) and restrict your intake of junk food. In place of the garbage the world would like us to savor, let us devour the word of God and it's blessed truths. Junk food, in and of itself is not the enemy. It is our insatiable hunger for these rotten things that cause them to be dangerous. So too, TV, movies, clothes, celebrities, sex, alcohol, books, and any other form of entertainment is not intrinsically evil (Well, maybe celebrities). Rather it is the spirit of discontent and lust which cause our eyes to be taken off of Christ and placed on ourselves, that are at fault.

3.) Enjoy the Reward to Come

• If 10 pounds could be dropped by taking 100 steps, 20 by 200, 30 by 300, and so forth, we would probably all look like supermodels. But life is not like that. We have to work at 9 to 5 jobs to save for the future. College degrees take years, not days, to complete. Many of the successful business people in America were poor long before they were rich. Our spiritual walk is certainly a blessed walk, but it is not a bed of roses. Our heavenly reward comes later, after death. Those who seek a reward in the present will get everything in this life- and nothing more. Consider our man Moses. Hebrews 11:24-26 says that

"By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward."

There was the constant pressure to act like another one of the Egyptian dudes and just live in the moment. After all, what better place to have a self-centered, party everyday lifestyle than at the palace. Instead, he followed God's leading and went through some of the hardest trials a man can endure: rejection from his own people and family, God's righteous judgement, and various other hardships. Hardly the lifestyle of the rich and the famous.

But we know with certainty that Moses is enjoying the presence of God and His son right this minute. What better reward could there be? So, fellow Christian, take courage, "fight the good fight" as Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:18. Exercise your flabby soul and whip it into shape. Someday, you will reach that eternal reward and when you do, it will taste sweet.