Welcome back to the Marriage Workout Series.

This week, I decided that I was going to learn how to do pull-ups.

So I got a pull-up tracking app. I needed to learn some technique for beginners, so I let the app direct me to youtube for "how to do pull-ups."
And then, it was as if the clouds parted, and through the glare... I saw that I had found...

Scooby.

This 3,485-pound mass of muscle is a gem, with a fantastic voice-appearance mismatch to boost. I suspect his super-attractive hat is to disguise the fact that his scalp muscles may be past their prime... either way he could probably kick Captain Hammer's butt.

Anyway, I picked Scooby out of the long list of Pull-up technique videos, not only because of his sweet fisherman's cap, but because of his MUSCLES of MASSIVENESS. I thought, "Ok, HERE'S the guy to teach me about seriously gaining muscle mass, because he's obviously good at it."

So I followed his technique, and did my reps. When I woke up the next morning, I could not believe the  soreness that had resulted from those 6 simple reps. I had worked muscle groups I probably hadn't seriously worked in years... maybe ever. OUCH!

Hans: I am Hans!
Franz: And I am Franz!
H&F: And we are here to PUMP... YOU UP!

Welcome back Marriagelings!
This week's muscle group: Grace and mercy.

Contrary to popular opinion, these two muscles, although similar, are not exactly the same. They are exercised in the same spirit, but from different attitudes.

39 days and counting. Til our cruise, that is! The first vacation my wife and I have taken BY OURSELVES since our honeymoon, and since we had our daughter (now 3 years old).  Finally, we're off to a location that's not our hometown and that's also not occupied with parents (or their kids).

Needless to say, we're pretty stoked.

But I can't go on a week-long cruise to the Caribbean looking like a girly-stick boy who just came home from Junior-year English class...

So I found some resources in the App Store to help me track and improve my performance and away I went. 6 weeks later, I'm progressively tracking push-ups, sit-ups, and just recently, squats.

(For context, read "Healing from Abuse: When Jesus Holds You."

I still go back to that lie I believed, unaware of how deeply it impacted me.