by Olivia Agee

From the March/April 2013 issue of Christian Woman magazine…reprinted by permission.

Imagine two young men are at your door, tracts in hand, attempting to share their faith. When you ask why you should believe as they do, they respond, “Because the book of Mormon says so.”

Would this statement alone convince you to abandon your current beliefs and join the Mormon faith? Of course not, and neither would the words “the Quran tells me so” or “the writings of Buddha tell me so.” Yet many times we expect the mere words “because the Bible says so” to convert our non-Christian friends. Now, “the Bible tells me so” is extremely important in matters of doctrine and Christian living, but to non-Christians, those words are not convincing as a reason to accept the Bible as truth.

First Peter 3:15 commands us to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (NIV84). Is this something we know how to do? The evidence is on our side; there are a lot of good reasons to believe that what the Bible says is true. But could we explain them to someone else? With these questions in mind, the following is a short summary of evidence that I personally find most convincing.

Problems With Darwinian Evolution

First, I do not find the evidence for life apart from a Creator to be compelling. Darwinian evolution is full of holes, the most notable being the lack of evidence for life originating from non-life (i.e., abiogenesis); for species evolving into other species; and for the human body developing its systems gradually by natural selection (i.e., irreducible complexity), which was Darwin’s own criteria for the failure of his theory.

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This is awesome…Love how they just play it straight-forward, the way it was written. Enjoy:

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Warning….venting ahead.

Well, after expressing my concerns about the “nondescript, dull, aching sensation in my inner-thigh” last night, I woke up this morning with aching and throbbing all the way up and down my upper leg and hip. This tells me there is no doubt that I’m back on the bench, and that I started running again too soon.

I’ve decided to go to the doctor, though I’m not sure if i’ll go back to my normal orthopaedist or seek a second opinion. Either way I’m incredibly frustrated to be back on the bench so soon. I’m also frustrated that New York is now in jeopardy.

I actually knew things were amiss last Friday when I had my bone density scan. It had nothing to do with the scan itself, but as I sat down for the study the back of my left leg hit the edge of the table and there was significant discomfort. I tried to brush it aside as “phantom pain” that many experience after a stress fracture, but deep inside I knew it was not good.

So, it looks like I’ll be spending a LOT more time in the pool, which is AWESOME! Can’t wait! *sarcasm*

Beast Mode….Off

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Today’s Run

Today marked the second day from week 3 of my “Return to Running” program, which includes:

• 3 to 5-minute walking warmup
• 3 x 10-minute run / 1-minute walk
• 3 to 5+ minute walking cooldown

I decided to run this afternoon on the Vaughn’s Gap cross-country field at Percy Warner park in order to have a slightly softer surface for my legs. Just like yesterday, my legs felt a little heavy at the beginning, but felt better with each running interval. When I started there was full sun, and it was quite warm. However, the clouds and wind quickly rolled in as a storm front is moving into Middle Tennessee:

In total I finished 30 minutes of running and just over 10 minutes of walking for a total of 4.18 miles completed.

• Miles: 4.18
• Time: 40:25 minutes
• Pace: 9:41
• Shoes: Saucony Kinvara 3 (#7)
• Route: Vaughn’t Gap Cross-Country Course

Even though I felt pretty good during this run, I have been experiencing a nondescript, dull, aching sensation in my inner-thigh for the past several days. This has caused two reactions from me so far:

1. One part of me is prone to panic – My mind starts racing with questions like…Have I injured my femur again? What if I really did have a stress fracture, but it just didn’t show up on the x-ray, even after 4-weeks? Did I start running again too soon? Will I ever be able to run/train again like I used to?
2. Another part of me thinks I’m just being paranoid – I can hop on my leg without pain. It doesn’t really hurt when I’m running, just feels “funny.”

All of this has left me very frustrated and uncertain about what to do. I would hate to keep running on it if there really is an injury. On the other hand, since there is no real pain, I hate to go back to the orthopaedist and have him look at me like I’ve lost my mind. At this point I’m leaning toward laying off from running, and then making a decision next week about what to do next. So confusing.

Cross-Training

• None

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Today’s Run

After a rest day yesterday (Day 14), today marked the beginning of week 3 of my “Return to Running” program, which includes:

• 3 to 5-minute walking warmup
• 3 x 10-minute run / 1-minute walk
• 3 to 5+ minute walking cooldown

This marks a 10-minute increase in running time with less overall walking, so I was interested to see how my legs would respond. It was an absolutely beautiful afternoon in Nashville, and I completed this run on the Harpeth River Greenway. My legs felt tired and heavy at the start, but loosened up quite a bit with each of the 3 running segments. I ended up feeling quite good by the end. In total I finished 30 minutes of running and just over 10 minutes of walking for a total of 4.36 miles completed.

• Miles: 4.36
• Time: 40:27 minutes
• Pace: 9:17
• Shoes: adidas Energy Boost (#1)
• Route: HR Greenway from Nature Center

Cross-Training

• Elliptical >> 30 Minutes
• Balance Squats x 25 reps (each leg)
• Calf Raise Squats x 25 reps (2 x 20lb dumbbells)
• Wall Squats – 90 Seconds
• Step-Back Lunges x 15 reps (each leg with 2 x 20lb dumbbells)
• 3-way lunge x 15 reps (each leg)
• Chair Salutation x 2 (30 sec each)
• Toe Roll Iso Lunges x 20 reps (each leg)
• Groucho Walk – 45 seconds
• Hip Hike 2 x 15 reps (each leg)
• Monster Walk with Band 2 x 12 reps (each leg)
• Clamshells with Band 2 x 15 reps (each leg)
• Toe Flexor x 60 reps (each leg)
• Dorsiflex Raises x 75 reps

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Today’s Run

Today was my rest day from running before beginning Week 3 of my “Return to Running” program tomorrow. Two weeks down, 8 to go!

Cross-Training

• 100 Pushup Routine >> Week 4 / Level 3 / Day 1 – 113 total reps completed
  – I repeated this day since I was not able to complete all the reps on Monday. I crashed again in the final set today, and fell short of the 120 reps. Plan to repeat it again on Friday.
• Pullups >> 18 total reps completed
• In and Outs x 25 reps
• Seated Bicycle Forward x 25 reps
• Seated Bicycle Backward x 25 reps
• Crunchy Frog x 25 reps
• Wide Leg Sit Ups x 25 reps
• Hip Rock n’ Raise x 25 reps
• Pulse Ups x 20 reps
• Roll-Up / V-Up Combo x 20 reps
• Oblique V-Up Right x 25 reps
• Oblique V-Up Left x 25 reps
• Leg Climb x 24 reps (1 grab)
• Mason Twist x 50 reps

Beast Mode…ON!

Today’s Run (Posted A Day Later)

This was the 5th and final day from week 2 of my “Return to Running” program, which includes:

• 3 to 5-minute walking warmup
• 4 x 5-minute run / 2-minute walk
• 3 to 5+ minute walking cooldown

This was one of those runs where I felt like I could run as far and fast as I wanted. Even though it came after an hour of aqua jogging, my legs felt ridiculously good. Unfortunately this caused me to push it a little harder than I should have through the streets of Bellevue on a muggy night. Even so, it was a big confidence boost to feel this good again.  In total I did 20 minutes of running and just over 15 minutes of walking for a total of 3.74 miles completed.

• Miles: 3.74
• Time: 35:25 minutes
• Pace: 9:29
• Shoes: adidas Energy Boost (#1)
• Route: Hwy 70, Sawyer Brown, George Patton, Todd Pries

Cross-Training

• Aqua Jogging >> 1 hour 5 minutes with Olivia
• This was supposed to be my night for core/abs work, but I simply ran out of time. Hope to get it done on Wednesday.

For students in my Wednesday night class on Romans: Handouts and Notes for Romans Chapter 16 are now available online. Lord willing we will cover this final chapter during class on Wednesday night at 7pm at Bellevue Church of Christ!

I’ve got a lot of great pictures of Kate running, but this one from Sunday’s ING Kids Rock Marathon is by far my favorite! Look at her Go!!

I love the form! I love the intensity! I’m so proud of my Kater Bug!!!

The backlash from our culture against Christianity and Biblical teaching is disturbing to Christians, but should not be surprising. Our message is “foolishness” to the world:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (I Corinthians 1:18, NKJV)

Today’s Run

After a rest day yesterday (Day 11), this was the 4th day from week 2 of my “Return to Running” program, which includes:

*3 to 5-minute walking warmup
*4 x 5-minute run / 2-minute walk
*3 to 5+ minute walking cooldown

For today’s run, I pushed Sara in the running stroller down the Harpeth River Greenway on a beautiful afternoon. We started out at the Nature Center in Edwin Warner Park, and she seemed to have a really good time. It was awesome to have another member of Team Agee along as company! Her favorite part was the “Bumpy Road,” which was the old connector road by Ensworth High school. Even with the stroller, my legs felt pretty good throughout. In total we did 20 minutes of running and just under 18 minutes of walking for a total of 3.54 miles completed.

• Miles: 3.54
• Time: 37:52 minutes
• Pace: 10:42
• Shoes: adidas Energy Boost (#1)
• Route: HR Greenway from Nature Center

Local Flooding

We had a LOT of rain over the weekend, with areas of flooding. My original intention today was to park at a different area along the greenway, but this is what I saw on the road leading to the parking lot:

Bone Density Scan

Last Friday morning I had a Bone Density Scan at Premier Radiology to see if a lack of bone density might be contributing to my recurring stress injuries. Well, today I found out the scan shows I have mild Osteopenia, which simply means that my bone density is slightly less than the norm for my age and gender. The prescription was to take calcium and vitamin D supplements, and eat more calcium rich foods. So, it looks like I now have one more thing to add to my training program.

Cross-Training

• 100 Pushup Routine >> Week 4 / Level 3 / Day 1 – 109 total reps (supposed to be 120, but I crashed in the last set)
• Pullups – 15 total reps
• Balance Squats x 25 reps (each leg)
• Calf Raise Squats x 25 reps (2 x 15lb dumbbells)
• Wall Squats – 90 Seconds
• Step-Back Lunges x 15 reps (each leg with 2 x 15lb dumbbells)
• 3-way lunge x 15 reps (each leg)
• Chair Salutation x 2 (30 sec each)
• Toe Roll Iso Lunges x 20 reps (each leg)
• Groucho Walk – 45 seconds
• Hip Hike 2 x 15 reps (each leg)
• Monster Walk with Band 2 x 12 reps (each leg)
• Clamshells with Band 2 x 15 reps (each leg)
• Toe Flexor x 60 reps (each leg)
• Dorsiflex Raises x 75 reps

While I was putting Sara (She’s 3) to bed, I laid my head on top of hers for a snuggle….

Me:

Do you want me to sleep here like this all night?

Sara:

No, you need to go downstairs and sleep in your bed. But….you can call for me if you need me, and I’ll come down and sleep with you.