What’s the “weekly mettle maker?”
Training ideas and info supporting Heritage Arts’ programs — Heritage Self-Defense, Wildwood outdoor skills, Heritage Fitness, and Heritage Spirit.
Mettle Maker #322
Self-defense — BB guns for firearm training? If you’re like me and you simply don’t have the time and/or the money to make regular firearm training practical (we can’t all live on a 40-acre farm!), you can always train with BB guns, or even airsoft guns, right in your backyard. Is it the same? Heck no! But you can still practice firearm safety, aiming, posture, and all of that. And you can shoot as often as you like for far less expense. If you want to, you can even get BB or airsoft guns that look, feel, and even operate, very much like like their very real cousins. Here’s a fascinating article on this topic with more info. Want more self-defense training tips? Come out the club here in Richmond VA or sign up for our free distance learning program here.
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Fitness — Can you do a Handstand Push-up? I got my first one back in 2017. at age 56 Getting there took about 18 months. If I had observed Old School Training directions I’m convinced I would’ve gotten there in half that time.
Why am I talking about them now? Well, I started taking them for granted, and somewhere along the line I stopped being able to do a full one. So I started doing 6” partials, and I’m working my way back.
Handstand Push-up Progression
Start by reading the Old School Training directions here. Of particular importance are (a) stopping on the first rep where your form begins to degrade, or the rep before failure, whichever comes first, and (b) training 5 days/week.
Perform 3 sets of traditional Push-ups. Stick with these until you can do 3 x 8 with ease — do not ignore the Old School Training directions!
When you can easily get 3 x 8 of regular Push-ups, begin doing Decline Push-ups.
Put a 2” block under your feet. When you easily do 3 x 8 of Decline Push-ups with the 2” block, add 2”. Use weight benches, ply boxes, etc. to achieve incremental heights, being careful to insure that boxes are stable.
Continue this progression until the angle is unworkable for your lower back (likely to be about 36”).
Do a simple Handstand against a wall. Don’t push at all. Just hold it until close to failure.
When you can 3 x 15 secs with ease, begin doing partial Handstand Push-ups.
Place a foam Yoga block or blocks on the floor such that you can do partial Handstand Push-ups to the block and back up. Start with about an 8” block, depending on your size.
When you can get 3 x 5 with ease, reduce the height of the block by an inch or two.
Continue this progression until getting your first Handstand Push-up.
Wildwood — What makes peculiar conical pits in sandy soil? Take a look at the picture on the right, a shot of the ground next to my tool shed. These are antlion traps. Antlions dig these ingenious pits, burrow and hide in the sandy soil at the bottom. and wait for ants and other insects to get stuck. Then they leap out and attack, injecting their prey with digestive enzymes. Once the internal organs dissolve, the antlion sucks out the juice and then flicks the empty carcass out of the pit. There have been so many ants on my property this year that, joking with my wife, I said we are in the real life version of the film Them! or maybe Empire of the Ants. Well, when you have that many ants, predators are going to show up and capitalize. I wasn’t patient enough to sit and wait for video, but I was able to find one on YouTube courtesy of the Smithsonian Channel (pay no attention to the hyperbolic title, it’s a pretty cool video). To read more about these fascinating insects, read this article on Wikipedia. And to learn more about nature appreciation and survival, sign up for our free Wildwood distance learning program.
Homily for the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Sept. 25th, 2022 – Archdeacon Mitch
Readings: Am 6:1a, 4-7, Ps 146:7, 8-9, 9-10, 1 Tm 6:11-16, Lk 16:19-31
Luke 16: 19-31 World English Bible
19 “Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day. 20 A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was taken to his gate, full of sores, 21 and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades,§ he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom. 24 He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’
25 “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted and you are in anguish. 26 Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that no one may cross over from there to us.’
27 “He said, ‘I ask you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—that he may testify to them, so they won’t also come into this place of torment.’
29 “But Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’
30 “He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.’ ”
In today’s gospel reading, a rich man walks right past the poor, sick man Lazarus and offers no help. Both die. In the afterlife, Lazarus is raised into the life to come, while the rich man goes to the place of torment. Between them lies an inseparable gulf. What is this gulf? Certainly, it represents the gulf between those who do and do not trust in Jesus Christ! But this is a parable, and parables have infinite interpretations. And I’d like to suggest that the inseparable gulf in this parable represents the gulf of materialism, and that we can apply its lesson to the modern world.
The rich man’s happy life is shattered by death. And there is a metaphorical death, that sometimes leads actual death, striking down wealthy, well-fed, and otherwise healthy people today – meaninglessness. Despite the fact that there are fewer people living in poverty today than there have ever been in human history, there is an ongoing epidemic of meaninglessness. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2018 that suicide is up in the United states by 25% since 1999. A recent study in the UK found that 80% of those surveyed said their lives were meaningless. To quote behavioral scientist Clay Routledge, “We are a species that strives not just for survival, but also for significance. We want lives that matter. It is when people are not able to maintain meaning that they are most psychologically vulnerable. Empirical studies bear this out. A felt lack of meaning in one’s life has been linked to alcohol and drug abuse, depression, anxiety and — yes —suicide. And when people experience loss, stress or trauma, it is those who believe that their lives have a purpose who are best able to cope with and recover from distress.”
In the parable, the rich man begs for relief from his torment. But what does he request? Does he ask for understanding? Does he repent and beg for a do-over? Does he ask what the difference is between him and Lazarus? No, he asks for Lazarus to bring a sip of water down to him. But Lazarus cannot come. There is no material thing, like a sip of water, that Lazarus can give to him that’s going to work, because materialism isn’t the answer. Modern culture is looking for meaning in a million sips of entertainment, fashion, money, sex, and science. But there is no meaning in these things.
Starting to understand, the rich man begs that Lazarus go to his family so that they’ll change their ways. But he’s still holding on to his materialist worldview. He still believes in evidence, and he thinks that if his family sees Lazarus, they’ll change direction. But Abraham says no, they won’t. If they see a man risen from the dead, they still won’t believe. They won’t trust their eyes.
This is true today. Dyed-in-the-wool materialists do not believe there is any meaning in miracles. Miracles are happening all around us every day, right now, and still people experiencing the affects of meaninglessness are searching for it in drugs, alcohol, medication, money, sex, and possessions. What they don’t realize is that, just like Lazarus in the parable, the meaning they seek can be found even when they have no possessions and no money. Even when they are at their absolute lowest, purpose and meaning are always available through faith in Jesus Christ, through whom they may be given to experience and share the true wealth of love, compassion, empathy, charity, humility, and devotion.