Be Strong and Courageous

Today, Tim began what is going to be an awesome sermon series entitled "Stand and Shout." It's going to be based on the book of Joshua. Today he talked about the charge that God gives to Joshua. He reminds him to be strong and courageous. He says it 3 times. He constantly reminds him. Not only does God call him to be strong and courageous, but he reminds him that He will always be with him. God calls us all to the same life. God wants his followers to be strong and courageous.
Making this relevant to my weight loss is rather simple. God calls me to trust him and be strong. He wants me to remember that he is with me in every step I take in this journey. This, just like many other challenges is a battle. I can do one of 2 things. I can either give in to my temptations and allow Satan to have a grasp on certain parts on my life, or I can trust that God will never leave me and fight back. My body is a temple of God and He wants me to be healthy. He doesn't want me to give Satan a stronghold on any part of my life. But just because God is with me does not make it easy. Usually it makes it more difficult. But I do know that God knows what is best for me. And he knows that any testing of my faith produces perseverance.
I can do this. I know I can because I have a God that is always with me. He will never leave me nor forsake me. God calls me to be strong and courageous. I should not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord my God will be with me wherever I go.

No More Excuses

It's been a little over a month since my last blog post. Now, I can make excuses like my moving into a new house, not having internet, going on vacation, and being busy at work, and yeah, some of that did play a role in some of what has happened over the past month. It's been hard. Moving is one of the most stressfull things you can do. I spent 2 weeks without internet. I had all my kitchen stuff boxed up for a week and a half. But the time has now come where there are no more excuses to make. Has this past month been crazy? Yeah, but I could have had better self control. I have started doing my Biggest Loser Videos again. I decided that there will be no more excuses. That is my motto from now on. NO MORE EXCUSES. Instead of focusing on why I didn't do anything, I'm going to focus on ways to do it more successfully. For example, when I wanted to go on a hike yesterday, I sent out a Facebook status update asking if anyone wants to join me. It's a lot easier to walk together than to walk alone.
My dad said something interesting to me today. He was listening to something and this stuck with him, and so he told me and now I have it stuck in my head. He said "If you keep saying 'I'll be happy when...'then you will never get there." I have to be happy with myself before I lose the weight. I can't just say I will be happy when I lose the weight, because I will never get there. My weight loss has to come from me loving myself enough to realize that I want to change not to make me happier, but healthier. Only when I truly love myself can I really do something great.

Snickers Doesn't Satisfy...God Does.

"Help Yourself to Happiness. "
It's a slogan for a buffet restaurant called Golden Corral. They serve a smorgasbord of different types of food. (I know what you're thinking, and no I have not gone there recently. Haha) I saw their commercial on TV, and to be honest, when I saw their slogan, it really hit me. "Help Yourself to Happiness." What they are saying is what so many people believe. People believe that food will make you happy. Think about it...There are "comfort" foods, "soul" foods, and when you've had a rough day, you just want to go ask for a pint...of Ben and Jerry's.
I realize that I have lived this way for most of my life. I have believed that food, above almost anything else will make me happy. What they don't show in that commercial is the overweight kid who feels horrible afterward. Or the person who eats emotionally and attempts to drown their sorrows in a pound of fried shrimp and macaroni and cheese. What they don't show is what else you are helping yourself to...such as bad cholesterol, clogged arteries, and diabetes.
I have used food for emotional reasons way too much. Lately, food has been more of a stress reliever than any other type of emotion. When I've had a rough day at work, I want to go "help myself to happiness." But it doesn't help. Usually, I feel worse after eating it than I did before. This has to stop. I know that food can't make me happy. It can't satisfy my craving for love and affection. It can't make me feel better about myself. Only God can.
If God were to have a slogan like that, I think it would be "Don't help yourself to happiness, allow me to satisfy your hunger." See, in Jesus Christ, God has given us bread that will never make us hunger. He has given us water that will never make us thirst. I have to grasp that fact. I have to remember that I have a God who loves and cares for me. I have to allow him to satisfy my hunger. There is not a Snickers bar big enough to satisfy the hunger that I long for. But God can fill it. I don't need "Patrick Chewing" or "Sir Snacksalot" to satisfy my hunger. I must allow God to do that. He is the only one who can satisfy my need.
Snickers doesn't satisfy...Only God does.

Pruning the Branches

As I was doing my daily reading I happened across these verses in John 15. It was verses 1-2.

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."

The more I thought about that verse the more it hit me. Pruning is not a pleasant experience. It involves removing the parts of the plant that are dead or dying. Just the other day at work I looked at the plant on top of my desk and I realized that there were quite a few dead leaves and stems on it. I gently went through and plucked off the bad leaves and cut of the dying stems in order to make my plant look better. Sucks to be the plant though. Think about it. Like when Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz picks the apple off the tree and the tree gets mad at her. I'm sure that if a plant could talk it would probably not like the fact that I was pruning off some of its parts. But then I looked at my plant later and after some water and pruning it sprung back to life and began to really blossom.

I mentioned all that to ask this question...What are some areas of your life that need pruning? When I look at my life I notice that I have a serious issue with food. That is a branch that I am going to need to prune and remove. There are other things in my life as well that prevent me from truly blossoming. The problem is (and I'm guessing that most of us have this issue from time to time) that pruning involves pain. It involves removing something from your life, and usually there is some pain involved. But the good news is when I look at my plant now, I can tell that the plant is far better off than it was before. Which means the same for me. If I allow God to walk through my life, my garden if you will, and remove the parts of my life that are preventing me to grow, there might be some pain, but in the long run it's better than the whole garden dying. I have to be willing to allow God in and allow him to prune the dying and diseased branches. If I don't then I will continue to struggle with my weight as well as spiritually in my walk with God. God is the Gardener, and he does not want me to have bad branches, especially when I am attaching myself to Christ, the Vine.

Lord, I ask you to walk through my garden. Prune away the parts of my life that are unhealthy. Help me to deal with whatever pain I might feel in the process, and help me to remember that in the long run the pruning process is necessary for me to grow closer to you.

In Christ name,

Amen

Down but not out

I've really been struggling the past few weeks. I haven't been working out and I have not been eating properly. I seem to be in a rut. But today I found out what a rut is...It is a coffin with both sides kicked out. I don't want to be in a rut anymore. But my biggest problem right now is the fact that I haven't done anything to fix the situation. I just ask myself why. Why did I eat that? Why didn't I go work out today? Why haven't I posted a video? My new question is when am I going to stop asking why and just change something? It does no good for me to sit and dwell in the past. It does no good to wonder why and sit and do nothing.
I realized today that one thing I do is when I get in a situation like this is that I don't tell anyone. I don't open up and talk about it. I pretend like everything is fine when it really is not. I ignore the problem and hope it will go away by itself...but you know what? It never does. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger until I can't control it anymore. I thought this video blog would help, but I found out that I can just "forget" to put a video up.
I am going to begin to get more personable about what is going on. I'm not going to hide from my problems anymore. I am not going to pretend they don't exist. I need to just face them head on and deal with them.
Therefore, tomorrow I will step on the scale for the first time in 2 weeks. I will look at that number and face the facts. I will take responsibility for it and then ask myself the question...Now what? What am I going to do now? I might be down, but I am not out. The measure of a man is not how he acts when everything is going great, but when adversity comes. I want to be the man that God calls me to be.

David and Goliath

The story of David and Goliath is known as one of the most popular stories in The Bible. It has even penetrated into society. When one person takes on a large company in a lawsuit it's called a David vs. Goliath case. Even some sporting events will play on the David vs. Goliath role. But there is so much more to this story than just a young man taking on a 9 foot freak of nature. We see something interesting in how David takes on Goliath. You see, David does not say "I'm going to take care of this." He says "The Lord...will deliver deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." While every one else is focusing on the size of Goliath, his armor, and his spear, David focuses on God.
What is your Goliath? What are you battling? And are you focusing on the problem rather than God? David reminds us that when we focus on our giants, we fall, but when we focus on God, our giants fall.

Do you want to get well?

Today, Tim gave a great sermon from John 5 where Jesus heals the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda. The story is interesting because of the way Jesus engages the man. He seems to be lacking that pity and compassion that he normally has, and he simply asks the man, “Do you want to get well?” The man’s response is not “yes,” or “no,” but he blames others:
“Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
His response is to blame others…to make excuses. No one will help him…He’s not fast enough…It’s hopeless. Jesus responds with “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” Jesus engages the man in a unique and incredible way that only Jesus could have done.

The question for some of us can truly be do we want to get well? Some of us can become too comfortable being the victim. We can become comfortable with the pain and sorrow that we are dealing with and we can make it to where we would rather just stay in that situation, rather than get better. And Tim’s not talking about someone with a real need who just lost a loved one or someone who is truly grieving, but what he was talking about are those people who never seem to deal with that they are going through. They seem to relish in the sadness and when given the opportunity to heal they never take it. They make excuses for why they shouldn’t.

I began to think about my own life. How many times do I delay the healing process? How many times do I blame others for my current situation? How many times have I allowed myself to stay in a bad situation because it was comfortable?

The answer is too many times. I kept the weight on for a number of reasons but I’m pretty sure that one of them is because I wanted to feel like I was cared for. See, my dad has always cared about my weight, and I think that at some personal level I felt like I needed to keep the weight on too keep him caring about me. I’m beginning to realize that he cares for me no matter what I weigh, and no matter what I do with my life. Well, I am tired of making excuses and I’m tired of waiting by the pool of Bethesda to just wine and complain. I want to do something about my problems, and I want to get well. I am going to allow Christ to heal me and release my from my past that haunts me, and then I am going to pick up my mat and walk

Pain is sometimes necessary and there are people who are in real pain. My job in life is not to diagnose who is sick and who is “sick.” That’s God’s job, and those people will be held accountable for that. But I am supposed to be there to mourn with the mourners, and to help them in the healing process. But I pray that we will begin to understand when we are truly hurting, and when we are just making excuses so that we don’t have to deal with our problems. Let us allow Jesus Christ to heal our hearts and give us the ability to pick ourselves up and walk.