Stephen De La Vega

[This is Part 2 of Animal Instincts Trilogy.  Also read Part 1 and Part 3 .] I stepped out of my comfort zone one day and walked into a GRIT Cardio class at the gym.  Well, I wasn’t out of my comfort zone as much as I was out of my lazy zone, but that's another blog.  Either way, the cardio class was still pushing the envelope for me.  GRIT Cardio is a high intensity, teacher-based, half hour span of utter desperation.  After every 1- to 2-minute set of jumps, squats, planks, donkey kicks, and other humanly impossible actions, I wished I could claim my incessant panting as sufficient aerobic exercise for the day. I realize there are certain humans who can manage this insanity while hardly breaking a sweat, but I'm not one of them.  These other humans somehow reached a point where executing the unnatural movements of GRIT Cardio was not as heavy a burden for them as it was for me.  It still takes effort, they still get a workout, but they can perform each set wit

Call us tulips. I claim the dark one. Yeah, I know it's pink, but it's the one that's different, and I feel a little different than the rest of the team. Today I write about my privilege to be 1 of 5 writers for my church’s blog site. I imagine us as 5 tulips.      Have you seen the variegated tulips? Their petals are striped with a different color. A red tulip, for example, might be feathered with random, yellow streaks. These feathered enchantments are intentionally bred, at least the varieties we find in nurseries. But, in the wild, this artful display is really a façade. It is the etching of a viral infection that weakens the plant and diminishes its production. Variegated tulips found in the wild are called “broken” and they can never rid themselves of infection. We are 5 writers  – 5 variegated tulips:  broken, infected, and weak, but transformed to be strong and vibrant, bearing solid color through the blood of Christ and the regenerating work of the Hol