4 Friend Making Skills

Friends are a good thing. This is going to come as a surprise to, oh, say NOBODY. I think we all pretty much recognize, accept, and are aware of the fact that having friends in our lives greatly enhances our quality of life. Name almost any hobby you enjoy and it will be better with friends (Obviously there are a FEW exceptions to this rule! ) Even though most of us are keenly aware of the fact that we could probably use some really good friends, not all of us are so great at MAKING friends! It can be really difficult to take things from, "Hi, my name is Josh" to, "Wanna hang out?". Or is it? I am no expert here, but I do enjoy making friends and experience has taught me there are a few ways that help push people toward having more friends.

1. Be Friendly
Now this might seem overly obvious, but we often need to focus on this first part. People are attracted to nice people. A smile can go a long way. Sometimes all that is standing int the way of having friends is, well, us! Try this: Strike up a conversation with a stranger every day for a week. You won't meet new people and have new friends if you don't start!

2. Be Hospitable

Hospitality goes a LONG way in the friendship game. Invite people to your place. Set up a dinner part. Ask people to go to dinner, a movie, the park, the golf course, on a run, or really to anything. You don't always have to wait for some perfect event to mix it up with people. See someone who looks like a cool person? Ask them if they want to watch some football, or grab coffee some time. As a general rule, people are willing to chat and make friends, but SOMEONE has to start the conversation. Why not let that be you?

3. Be Adventurous

I think most of us are held back just because we are worried about the unknown. Will people reject me? Will they be nice? What if they are serial killers? Will they think I am boring? You can ask yourself a million questions and the only way to know is to try! I have made friends simply by seeing some Indian fellows playing Cricket and I asked them to show me how to play. They LOVED teaching me how to do something they were passionate about. I learned a new sport and made 5 new friends. Try new things and you will find that you meet new people. Don't be boring. Get there and make some friends!

4. Be Observant

People like being noticed. Keep your eyes open and start SEEING people. Most of the time when we are going about our business, we often only pay attention to our own business. However, there are AWESOME people all around us and it's time we started noticing them. I remember once I noticed a guy in the gym doing a workout that seemed like mine so I asked him about it. We both were doing Crossfit and he was a trainer at the gym and is from Ireland! Cut to a few weeks later and I had the chance to go with him and compete in an adventure race. All because I noticed his workout looked like mine. BOOM. Friend made. 

So there ya go. 4 ways to start making some friends. Here is the bottom line. You'll start making friends when you make it a priority. Put yourself out there and be a friendly, hospitable, adventurous, and observant friend maker.

Now, it's your turn to give me some feedback. What is the most unusual way you have ever met one of your friends? 

Follow me on Twitter @Jericksond

6 Home Workouts That Burn Fat Fast

Even this baby likes to work out at home!

Are you ready to shed a few pounds? Tired of not having access to a gym? Well, good news jack, I have something that will work for you! I myself lost 28lbs doing these workouts and getting on a healthy diet. If you want your belly fat to get BURNT up, start working. I have 6 Workouts here that will destroy those love handles and get you on your way to getting healthy again. Now, here is my disclaimer. Workout will not get you ripped. Dieting will. You cannot eat garbage while working out and assume you will be fit and look great. You need a balanced diet as well. That being said, here are GREAT workouts you can do in under 30 mins at your house that will burn fat quickly. I am writing this because a few days ago I wrote about my experience losing about 30lbs this year (you can read about it HERE). After posting it I chatted with several people who mentioned how difficult it is to work out when they don't have equipment and are too broke to join a gym (I have been there!). I realized it might be helpful to give you some of the workouts that Tricia and I enjoy doing when we cannot make it to the gym! So, I'm just going to feed you baby birds the workouts so you can take them and use them for yourself! Here is how this works:

First, you need to figure out what you CAN do at your house. Here are 10 exercises that almost anyone can do at home:

1. Push Ups
2. Sit Ups
3. Burpees (Video of a guy doing 100 of them)
4. Air Squats (Video of a guy teaching you how to do them)
5. Tuck Jumps (Video of a guy teaching you how to do them)
6. Box Jumps (Video of a guy teaching you how to do them)
7. Jumping Jacks
8. Sprinting outside
9. Pull Ups (you may or may not have access to this one)
10. Jump Rope Double Unders (Video of a guy teaching you how to do them)

Now don't get all caught up on these 10 exercises. You are limited only by your equipment and you imagination! Do you have a park near your house? Do pull ups on the monkey bars! Have a heavy brick? Hold it over your head when you do your squats! Just be creative and it will all work out will.

Now that you know what exercises you can do now lets figure out how to put them together! Here are 6 workouts you can do very easily at home.


Workout 1:
Pick an exercise from your list and do the following sets: 21 -15 - 9. In between each of those, run as quickly as you can down the block and back. So if your exercise was Push Ups, you would do 21 and then run, then 15 and then run, then 9 and then run. Do the entire thing as fast as you can. Time yourself so you can do it again and try to beat your own time next time!

Workout 2:
Pick 2-4 exercises from you list. Then do 50-40-30-20-10  So if you picked Sit Ups and Jumping Jacks, you would do 50 situps and 50 jumping jacks, then 40 situps and 40 jumping jacks...and so on. Time yourself for the whole thing and try to beat your time next time!

Workout 3:
Pick 2 or 3 exercises from your list. Then do 10, 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,and then 1 of  the exercises you chose. So if you picked Push Ups, Sit Ups, and Air Squats, you would do 10 push ups,10 situps, 10 squats. Then you would do 9 push ups, 9 situps, 9 squats...and so on. Do all of this with a running timer and do it as fast as you can so you can try and do it faster next time!

Workout 4:
Pick 4 exercises. Do 100 of each of them. Do them in any order you want and as broken up as you want, just get all of the reps done. Do all of this with a running timer and do it as fast as you can so you can try and do it faster next time!

Workout 5:
Pick 3 exercises and try an AMRAP workout (As Many Rounds As Possible). So lets say you picked Pushups, situps and air squats. Do 5 Pushups, 10 Situps, and 15 Squats. Then, when you are done with those, start over. Finish as many of those rounds as you can in 20 mins. Go for the highest number of completed rounds as possible.

Workout 6:
Pick 4 exercises and try a Tabata workout!  It works like this: You do and exercises for 20 seconds and then rest for 10 second. After you do this 8 times, move on to your second exercise (But DO NOT take a break yet!)So say the first 8 intervals are pull-ups, the second 8 are push-ups, the third 8 intervals are sit-ups, and finally, the last 8 intervals are squats. You only rest 10 seconds between each exercise. When your pullups are done, you have 10 seconds to start Push Ups, and when those are done, you move to the next and so on.  So you workout for 20 seconds and then rest for 10 and you keep doing that until you have finished 8 sets for each of the workouts. Your score will be your total number of reps. You can try and beat your score next time you do it!

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Now, some of you are WAY better at this stuff that Tricia and I, so we would LOVE to hear from you about what workouts you can do at home! Paste your favorite home workout in the comments below so we can all share in the goodness!

5 Lessons I Learned While Getting Healthy

The last time I posted a blog was at the end of January. That is sad, but is pretty indicative of how much has been going on in my life since then. When I posted that blog, AudacityChurch.tv (the church that I love, am on staff at, and have been honored to help launch) was averaging about 50 people a week at our Worship Services. Last week we saw 113 people walk through the doors! Holy Crap. God is good.

Since that last post I have lost almost 30 pounds, renewed my focus on being a healthy person, and experienced tremendous joy in my marriage because of it. At the start of the year my wife (you can follow her on twitter @tricia_erickson) and I decided that we were getting fat, lazy, unhealthy, and stressed and we did NOT like it. We began a journey that has resulted in an overhaul of our eating habits, workout planning, and general outlook on life. Together we have lost nearly 50 pounds and are VERY pumped up about it. This is not a weight loss blog. This is not a post about why you should stop being fat. This is me telling you that your health is pretty much indicative or you priorities. If you value your health, you will make time to be healthy. If you put other things in front of being healthy, you will more often than not be unhealthy. The following is a list of things I have learned in the past 6 months:

1. Eating right is as simple as PLANNING to eat right! - If you have crappy food in your home, you will eat crappy food. Plan good meals that are balanced and then eat what you plan to eat. You can't stuff your face with cookies everyday if you never have access to cookies. When guest come over and bring desert, we will often have a very small portion and then INSIST that they take it home with them. DON"T LEAVE CRAPPY FOOD IN YO HOUSE!
2. Body composition is a measure of nutrition NOT a measure of fitness. - This one sounds complicated but is not. If you are fat, it is more often than not, because your diet sucks and not because you don't work out. We do not get fat because we don't go to the gym. We get fat because we eat poorly. Does going to the gym help? Yes (provided that you actually work out when you are there!) However, your love handles will be removed in the kitchen and not in the gym. Something to think about.
3. Couples that fight together, have fun together! - My wife and I have had SO MUCH FUN learning about fitness together. When we spend time encouraging one another in the gym and practicing a healthy eating habit together and cheer one another on when we hit weight loss goals, we grow together as friends! So, if your spouse is trying to get fit, JOIN THEM! Don't JUST cheer them on, support them by doing it with them. It is an amazing way to strengthen  (pun intended) your relationship.
4. Find something that can work for you! - If you want to get healthy and fit and loss weight, you had BETTER be doing it for the long haul. Short term diets are dumb. You need to be healthy ALL the time, not just for a few months at a time. Stop trying to use diets that are not sustainable. Pick a way of eating that is sustainable for life. Figure out how to make it work for you and then DO IT. My wife and I chose to use Crossfit.com for our workouts and we LOVE it! We use the ZonePerfect.com nutritional eating system which balances our diet nicely and is pretty easy to do on a busy schedule. Bottom line is this: Figure out what works for you, that you can enjoy doing, and get after it.
5. Make health a priority. - As a general rule, you will be as busy as you allow yourself to be. Never get so busy that you stop taking care of yourself. If you are not able to stay healthy and you get fat, get obesity related health issues, and lose the ability to do fun things with your kids, you have thrown away a gift that God gave you. Some of us have health issues TOTALLY unrelated to fitness or diet. I myself have blown out both of my knees and no amount of dieting could have prevented early onset arthritis. However, if you are unhealthy as a result of poor dieting and not taking care of your body, then shame on you. Get it right. Stop being a glutton, put down the fork, pick up some weights or something and GET AFTER IT. Make time for being healthy because it is important. At one point I would push my fitness time to the side to make room for meetings and such and I think that was wrong. If I do not stay fit physically, mentally, and spiritually, how can I ask others to do it?

Thanks so much for reading my blog. I am learning a lot these days and I would like to keep posting the things life is teaching me. However, I learn a lot from all of you as well. I would like to know:

1. What is your favorite way to stay active?
2. Do you agree or disagree that health should be a priority over most other things? Why or why not?

Please answer in the comments below! Follow me on Twitter at @JericksonD

Message of Hope (Guest Post by Cale David Magnuson) Part 2 of 2

Cale David Magnuson is one of the most awesome people I have ever met. Former collage mascot, walk on football player at the University of Central Missouri, juggler (not juggalo, it is a very important distinction)(on a side note, my computer just changed "Juggalo" to "Conjugal". Akward.), world traveler, and all around ruggedly handsome man beast. This year he produced a thought, so profound that we had to have it on here. Enjoy!
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(If you haven't read Part 1 of 2 yet, you can find it HERE.

Ladies, Cale is currently single...

Anyway, the central message from the conference was simply that God loves us so incredibly much, and as our Father he couldn’t possibly be more proud of us!  I really believe this.  And how in the world is that nothing but a positive message??  This world is a pretty messed up place.  Around every corner is some tragedy or heartbreak.  Of course the world doesn’t want to hear about Church and Christianity, because they’ve become a joke.  All people see in them (and unfortunately all many of them have become) is a place where you plaster on a smile, sing some songs, do some praying, listen to a message, and go back to the messed up world none the wiser.  I don’t want any of that just as much as the next guy because it’s so full of negativity.  But because of all that, man I could sure use a positive message; a message of hope, and that’s exactly what the message of Jesus is.  And it’s exactly what the message of true Christianity is.  When we were all at rock bottom, there was a message of hope.  When I was at rock bottom, there was a message of hope.  For whatever reason, which I still have zero way of comprehending, the Father loves me so dearly and is so incredibly proud of me.  In my head I absolutely cannot understand why in the world this would ever be the case, but to my heart it is such a message of hope and life!!  If there’s ever anything any of us (and especially I) needed, it is such a positive message, such a message of hope!

And that’s how I would describe this conference.  People can think I’m a weirdo or a goober, but really they can say nothing against the message because it is only positive!  Because the nature of God is only positive!  Don’t mix that message up with all the clutter and baggage of “church” and “Christianity” because frankly, God doesn’t care about that stuff, at least not in the way that we understand it in our minds, with it’s negativity.  When we hear this message we so frequently marry it with “oh I guess that means I should go to church more and read my Bible more and yada yada yada”.  Again, none of that stuff matters!  None of it’s the point!  The only point is Jesus.  And all Jesus was was Love.  It’s just as silly as trying to understand how a man and woman behave when they are in love with each other if you take the whole love thing out of it.  Man they would look ridiculous.  Same thing with Jesus, all this extra junk that we throw on top of it is just religious clutter, and makes absolutely zero sense when you don’t understand how much Jesus loves us and that that’s the core of who He is.  In fact, if there’s something in you that clicks with this good news that Jesus loves us and is beyond enthralled with us, but you are hesitant because of all this extra stuff, just throw all the extra stuff away.  Take this positive message and receive it and don’t even worry about what all “implications” you think that stuff may bring.  At this point, God doesn’t care about it—all He cares about is you—so you shouldn’t care about it either.  Maybe sometime later you’ll want to pray or to sing, but don’t ever, ever, do those because it’s just part of the package, because there’s some pressure to do that.  God is not a god of pressure; it’s not his nature.  His nature is love, and that’s exactly what we need in this broken world, not more pressure.

Don’t take my word for any of this.  I could just be smoking peyote for all you know.  Ask God himself, he’s dying to talk with you ya know.  Ask him if all of this is BS, or if maybe there is a hope-filled message, one that is only positive, one where He soooo loves us.  I’m just some guy rambling, so none of this has any power coming from me.  The only thing that has power is if God speaks it to you Himself.  And don’t let all the junk that has grown around the centerpiece keep you from seeing the real message.  After all, it’s hard to see any bad in a message that is so good.   

And that’s why I loved the conference.  Because I was able to see that the good news, the message of the gospel, is a positive message of hope, such a good and wonderful message, and one that is nothing more and nothing less than one of ultimate Love.  And that’s exactly what this jaded “Christian” needed.
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Find Cale on Facebook HERE! 

If you enjoyed having Cale on the Blog, let him know in the comments below so we can get him to guest post again in the future!

Message of Hope (Guest Post by Cale David Magnuson) Part 1 of 2

Cale David Magnuson is one of the most awesome people I have ever met. Former collage mascot, walk on football player at the University of Central Missouri, juggler (not juggalo, it is a very important distinction)(on a side note, my computer just changed "Juggalo" to "Conjugal". Akward.), world traveler, and all around ruggedly handsome man beast. This year he produced a thought, so profound that we had to have it on here. Enjoy!

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Ruggedly handsome man beast: Cale Magnuson

I went to a conference this weekend sponsored by the church I’ve been quasi-attending lately.  I say “quasi-attending” because ever since I was in college I have always felt more comfortable on the peripheries of church.  This has been fun to explain to countless mentors and pastors, as a common theme among them is the importance of fully investing in a church, or, more specifically, the “body of Christ”.  I can certainly see their argument, but for a variety of reasons I am pretty reluctant to make that leap.  I think the same things come to my mind as come to your mind when it comes to church and Christianity...there seem to be a lot of goobers out there and if there was some hobby/activity/environment that I would want to make a significant part of my life, well, I can think many other things that would simply be more, well, fun.

All that to say I was a little surprised that not only was I attending this conference, but also that I was somewhat looking forward to it.  After the first night, I remember wondering how in the world I would explain my Friday night to someone who didn’t see the world through the same perspective without being looked at funny.  I think this was a legitimate concern.  However, as I continued to think of the nature of the conference, I came up with what I think is a pretty effective answer.

Certainly we all have a plethora of images that come to mind when we think of church.  Perhaps the more significant ones involve singing, praying, smiling and shaking hands, and listening to a man (or woman) detail a passage of the Bible.  But even though these may come to mind, for many of us they are all tied together with an undercurrent of pain, anger, bitterness, and judgment.  I know I definitely fall in this category.  Maybe this is why people are so unsuccessful when inviting their friends to church, or when they tell them about Jesus, or when they share with them that there’s a better life out there waiting for them, in the form of Christianity.  Unfortunately, I think for the majority of folks out there, the aforementioned things are what come to mind when these conversations take place and they consider whether they could ever call themselves a “Christian”.  And frankly, I’m the same way, and couldn’t blame anyone for being extremely gun shy at the prospect.  The message of Jesus has been veiled in all kinds of negativity because of people who have done such a poor job of representing the true message of Him.  (And I am just as guilty as the next guy.)

But none of this was at the core of the conference.  Certainly, there was singing, praying, smiling and shaking hands, and listening to a speaker bring us the Word, but none of those were really what the conference was all about.  It certainly wasn’t what brought me there nor was it what stuck in my mind.  See, the entire point of the conference was found in what the speaker kept alluding to...the simple fact that Jesus loves us and thinks we’re awesome.  According to the speaker, Jesus even has a picture of me in his wallet.  Now this is extremely easy to skim over, especially for those of us who have spent significant amounts of time around the Church and in Christianity, but you really should have been there to hear him say it with such conviction and certainty.  Stop and take a moment to consider this...

Jesus loves us and thinks we are amazing!  How great the Father’s love for us.  As infinite as God is (He’s pretty big if he could create the entire oceans.  He’s pretty big if he could chisel out all the mountains.  He’s pretty big if he could suspend the planet in perfect orbit within the solar system.  He’s pretty big if he could think up an aardvark.  He’s pretty big if he could design a man and a woman.  He’s pretty big if he could give us a curiosity to learn and discover.  He’s pretty big if he could create one man and one woman in such a way that they desire and love each other.), so his nature cannot be tempered by anything.  All that...infiniteness...is the fuel for His love for us.  How could such an infinite God only love a little bit?   How could such an infinite God not know us as people or care about what’s going on in our lives??  If I am all too aware of every hope, dream, and desire within me, and know that it came from somewhere, then how could God be so small that He only has a mediocre love for me???  I remember in the darkest times of my life I told God that I needed him to be everything that my heart needed him to be.  I was all too aware of how big I needed God to be for me, and I’m beginning to think that He is not just that big, but infinitely more so!  How great the Father’s love for us!  It’s silly that I’m trying to convince you of this in an argument disseminated through words.  There is no way to know of the Father’s love without experiencing it ourselves, just between us and Him.  And since when did Love ever make any sense?  Love is probably the weirdest thing out there, of which I have zero understanding, probably because I try and understand it intellectually.  But Love wasn’t meant to be understood, it was meant to be experienced.
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Find Cale on Facebook HERE!
Part 2 of 2 will be posted later in the week!

3 Things I've Learn About Disagreements

I'm sitting here listening to some pretty well known people talk about throwing rocks at each other and I am realizing a few things. For starters, stop throwing punches at people like Benny Leonard in the 20's and have a conversation! Now here are the 3 things I have learned:

1: People fight over ambiguity

1920's Ghetto Wizzard - Benny Leonard

Have you ever noticed that you get angry and tense often because of discussions that you have never had? Is it possible that many relationships suffer simply because we have never talked about what is bothering us? Let me answer that for you. Yes. It is not just possible. It is true. Stop assuming that people are out to get you, or that they are wrong, and make a legit effort to talk to them about the issue. You will more than likely be surprised by what you find.

2: Don't be defined by what you are against.
When you are defined by what you are against, you are left living a very negative life.  Think of people that have helped change the world. Jesus was not known for being AGAINST sin, he was known for being FOR redemption. MLK was not known for being against segregation as much as he was known for being FOR togetherness and equality. You can keep going with this, but the point is that you need to focus on what you are FOR and put what you are against on the back burner.

3: Be civil
Whether you agree or disagree with another person, for the love of the flavor of bacon, BE CIVIL! If Christ taught us anything, it was that we are to love other people. Next to loving God, it was the second greatest commandment that he gave. So whether you agree or disagree, just love them. Lets stop throwing rocks and start giving hugs. Lets quit punching our friends and teammates and start making a change.


Bottom line is this: Don't be a pantywaisted pansy and sidestep your disagreements. Address the issue in love, grace, civility, and with the main goal to be greater understanding and not to make a point. Take the high road and love your enemies and do good to those that hurt you.

Year One (Guest Post:Tricia Erickson)

At this point in the history of this blog, we have had 3 guest posts. Today, we get our 4th and boy oh boy is the author a sexy beast! Tricia Erickson is my longtime friend, my wife, my best buddy, and the coolest person I have ever met. She studied journalism at Southwest Baptist University, is the Communication Coordinator for an amazing Non Profit called Clinic In A Can, and does lots of work with Audacity Church. I'm honored to have her on my blog finally! 

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One year. One year ago today, I started an amazing adventure with my best friend.  It’s so crazy. In some ways I feel like Josh and I have been married for ever, but then at the same time I can hardly believe it’s been a whole year.  

I’ve been reflecting a lot this week over our first year of marriage. This entire year has been a complete change and transition for me. We got married, moved to a new city, made a new home, made new friends, got new jobs, started a new church (Audacity Church in Wichita, KS), began new traditions…and that’s only a few things! 

More times than not, all these new things were quite overwhelming. But in spite of all the craziness of a new life, I always had one constant with me – my best friend, my husband. 

Just getting to be with my best friend has been the most amazing part of year one of marriage.  I know it seems like a pretty obvious part of a first year of marriage, getting to be together, but it’s something that I learned to never ever EVER take for granted.  You see, this year was incredibly special for us because we were finally together. The year before our marriage was the hardest year of my life because we spent it living in different parts of the world.  Josh was deployed with the army and I was finishing up my last year of college. That year is still sometimes hard to think about because of the emotional damaged I experienced.

But what I didn’t realize was that while I was going through the hardest year of my life, God was setting me up for the best year of my life.  For every tear that I cried in loneliness last year, I had a laugh with my best friend this year.  For every day I said “I miss you” last year, I got to say “good morning love” this year. For every date we didn’t get to go on last year, we got to go on an awesome adventure together this year. 

I’ve learned a lot this year…A LOT. But what I’ve learned the most is God is faithful and truly does have my best interest at heart. I think of it kind of like the story of Job. Now I’m not saying that I suffered nearly to the extent that he did – but I often found myself asking God “why?!” and unfortunately while I was going through it I didn’t have the faith like Job. But at the end of Job’s story, God gave him everything he lost and so much more. God overwhelmed Job with his blessing.  That’s what I feel like this year. For the year of terrible heart ache and separation, God blessed us over and over with an amazing first year of marriage together. I never thought I could ever get to the point where I thanked God for the seemingly awful year of deployment. Yet here I am on my 1 year anniversary realizing how gracious God is because without that year – I would be taking a simple thing like getting to be with my husband for granted. God has truly overwhelmed me with his blessing.  

I am so thankful for the amazing first year of marriage God gave us. It hasn’t been a perfect year – we’ve had our hard times, our selfish times, our hurt times – but despite all the imperfections God has begun weaving our lives together into an intricate tapestry of beauty.  I will always cherish this first year, but I am excited for what challenges God brings us this next year!