Over the past 75 days, a lot of things have changed in my life. My youngest daughter turned 1, my oldest daughter turned 5, Janel has passed me in the weight loss challenge (she has lost nearly 80 pounds), and I have lost 40 pounds (which puts me under 200 pounds for the first time since I moved to the land where everything is fried and/or covered in a cream sauce known to the rest of the world as New Orleans).
There are lots of benefits to having lost this much weight. I am sleeping better (imagine Janel sarcastically saying "You had trouble sleeping ever in life?"), I do not snore as bad - as indicated by the healing of the bruises on my ribs from my wife trying to get me to stop in the middle of the night, clothes are fitting better, and I can play on the floor with my children without needing a forklift to get up after. One of the benefits that has me giddy (yeah, you read that correctly) happened over the weekend. I was getting dressed to get to my friends wedding on Saturday, and I noticed that I had to redo my tie several times. I had to keep adjusting the tie SHORTER. Before I started losing weight, the only reason I would wear a tie was to hide the fact that my belly was stretching the buttons on my shirt, and therefore would have to make the tie very long to reach over my stomach and touch my belt buckle (which is the proper length for ties). But on Saturday, I noticed that I had to shorten the ties because they were hanging too low. This was one of the great accomplishments of the journey so far.
I know that is kind of a silly thing to be happy or excited about, but it was important to a guy who wears ties as part of his occupation (which, ironically, I promised my mother I would never do because I use to hate when she would make me wear a tie on the holidays). It got me thinking about how things fit. My clothes are fitting better - no long ties, stretching buttons, bulging pockets, or using the last hole on a belt because I am eating and exercising correctly and taking care of my body. As people created in the image of God, we fit better when we are living harmony with his will.
I see people everyday both in ministry settings and at Starbucks (which is also a ministry setting) that do a lot of "covering up" to make themselves appear to be happy and put on the facade that they think everyone wants to see. When in reality, their lives are in shambles, their marriages stink, they are unhappy in their jobs,etc because the manner in which they are living is in complete discord with what God has for their lives. Whenever I see someone that is giving in to some kind of addiction - drinking, shopping, drugs, whatever vice you can think of - I always wonder what they are trying to hide from everyone seeing.
This world is full of so much hurt, pain, and "long ties" because WE are trying to live OUR lives, not the life that reflects that image of God in us. If we could start living in accordance to what the Bible show us as right, we could have a lot of shorter ties in the world
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
You have to live with choices
Today I made the conscience decision to wear blue underwear. Why? Well, because I liked the powder blue color and because they were clean. I also made the choice to eat some Cookie Crisp Cereal - a correctly measured portion of cereal for those that are wondering if I fell off the weight lose wagon. I have lost 40 pounds over the past 2 1/2 months all based on the choices to eat better and to actually workout.
Choices surround us on a daily basis and most are of no more significance than ensuring that I have a underwear on for the day - Mom's always want you to have on clean underwear if you were to ever get into an accident; I do not know why but that is important to Moms - or to make sure that the belly stops growling in the morning. But there are some choices that leave a lasting mark on our lives and on the lives of others. Who you marry or date, what you do for a living or where you studied in college are all choices that can have a major impact on the rest of you life.
I recently was struck by the fact that choices can often have painful consequences on not just one persons life but have a far reaching effect on many people. I will not tell you about the person or the situation that I am referring to because I wish to respect their privacy, and they are the ones that have to live with those decisions. I will tell you that in this one situation, two people were faced with the same problem but responded in vastly different ways.
For one person, they chose to meet the challenge and conquer the statistics that faced them. In one of the ultimate turn lemons into lemonade stories I have see in my life, the choices that were made in the midst of a very confusing, life-altering situation have led to this young lady being an inspiration and example of what good choices can lead to. As she continues to defy the odds by shear will and determination, I know that she will go on to be successful.
On the other hand, the other person has made choices that have alienated them from every person that was important to them. I have watched as they have tried to fill the void left from the choices to walk away from everyone and everything, but it is painfully obvious that they are just hiding from life. They have put on a face that everything is peachy, but holistically they are in a tail spin based on the choices they have made.
The point here is that our choices are not always as insignificant as blue or green underpants, Cheerios or Cookie Crisp. Often, life altering choices need to be made in the heat of the moment. I can't tell you what choices to make, but just know that if you only base those choices on what you want like a selfish child, you will most likely end up pushing (or running) away from those that love and care for you and want to help you.
Make good choices, based not on the impact on you, but based on the impact on others.
Choices surround us on a daily basis and most are of no more significance than ensuring that I have a underwear on for the day - Mom's always want you to have on clean underwear if you were to ever get into an accident; I do not know why but that is important to Moms - or to make sure that the belly stops growling in the morning. But there are some choices that leave a lasting mark on our lives and on the lives of others. Who you marry or date, what you do for a living or where you studied in college are all choices that can have a major impact on the rest of you life.
I recently was struck by the fact that choices can often have painful consequences on not just one persons life but have a far reaching effect on many people. I will not tell you about the person or the situation that I am referring to because I wish to respect their privacy, and they are the ones that have to live with those decisions. I will tell you that in this one situation, two people were faced with the same problem but responded in vastly different ways.
For one person, they chose to meet the challenge and conquer the statistics that faced them. In one of the ultimate turn lemons into lemonade stories I have see in my life, the choices that were made in the midst of a very confusing, life-altering situation have led to this young lady being an inspiration and example of what good choices can lead to. As she continues to defy the odds by shear will and determination, I know that she will go on to be successful.
On the other hand, the other person has made choices that have alienated them from every person that was important to them. I have watched as they have tried to fill the void left from the choices to walk away from everyone and everything, but it is painfully obvious that they are just hiding from life. They have put on a face that everything is peachy, but holistically they are in a tail spin based on the choices they have made.
The point here is that our choices are not always as insignificant as blue or green underpants, Cheerios or Cookie Crisp. Often, life altering choices need to be made in the heat of the moment. I can't tell you what choices to make, but just know that if you only base those choices on what you want like a selfish child, you will most likely end up pushing (or running) away from those that love and care for you and want to help you.
Make good choices, based not on the impact on you, but based on the impact on others.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Absolutely!
One thing that we can count on these days, is that we really cannot count on anything. I mean, one constant in life is that for at least 17 weeks a year the world would be revolving around the gridiron and pigskin. I have employees that would literally throw money at me not to schedule them during game time of their favorite teams, and are nearly in tears if they are scheduled any time close to the Superbowl. We may not even have a season if the owners and players cannot learn to play nice with each other.
Unfortunately, in life there are only a few things that can be counted on for everyone (even the death and taxes thing is somewhat questionable - ask Enoch and Elijah, and for the taxes you just need to find a really smart tax accountant). I was reminded today that the one thing that every one can count on is the unconditional love of God. No matter how badly we screw of this life, and no matter if we ever come to the point of recognizing that we need a savior, God will always love and care for us beyond what we ever deserve. As I was (and still am) processing this thought, I can remember several times in life where I either didn't want to, or where not ready to forgive someone for what they had done to me; God on the other hand has never withheld forgiveness from me. In fact, before I get to the point of asking for forgiveness for the things that I have done, He has released me from it through Christ Jesus. For most the idea of an unconditional love is a completely foreign idea. To think that some one could love us in spite of anything that we do, baffles the mind because we are looking at it from a human point of view. As humans, even the people we love the most have the ability to disappoint us to the point of hatred, but with God this can never happen. God loves us unconditionally because he created us, he formed us, he knew us even before Mommy and Daddy had feelings for each other. We are created in His image, formed by his hands, and for those that have given their lives to Him, we are the benefactors of the sacrifice of Jesus to give us eternal life. How could he not love unconditionally love something that He is so intimately involved with?
It is good to know that as least one thing in life is constant and unconditional. When people, government, friends, family, and even professional sports leagues fail all around us; we can turn to God for a consistent source of unconditional love.
I hope that you have come to a point in our life where you know and have experience the unconditional love of God, which only comes through a personal relationship with Christ. If you have not, I encourage you to contact me and we can talk about this life changing decision.
Unfortunately, in life there are only a few things that can be counted on for everyone (even the death and taxes thing is somewhat questionable - ask Enoch and Elijah, and for the taxes you just need to find a really smart tax accountant). I was reminded today that the one thing that every one can count on is the unconditional love of God. No matter how badly we screw of this life, and no matter if we ever come to the point of recognizing that we need a savior, God will always love and care for us beyond what we ever deserve. As I was (and still am) processing this thought, I can remember several times in life where I either didn't want to, or where not ready to forgive someone for what they had done to me; God on the other hand has never withheld forgiveness from me. In fact, before I get to the point of asking for forgiveness for the things that I have done, He has released me from it through Christ Jesus. For most the idea of an unconditional love is a completely foreign idea. To think that some one could love us in spite of anything that we do, baffles the mind because we are looking at it from a human point of view. As humans, even the people we love the most have the ability to disappoint us to the point of hatred, but with God this can never happen. God loves us unconditionally because he created us, he formed us, he knew us even before Mommy and Daddy had feelings for each other. We are created in His image, formed by his hands, and for those that have given their lives to Him, we are the benefactors of the sacrifice of Jesus to give us eternal life. How could he not love unconditionally love something that He is so intimately involved with?
It is good to know that as least one thing in life is constant and unconditional. When people, government, friends, family, and even professional sports leagues fail all around us; we can turn to God for a consistent source of unconditional love.
I hope that you have come to a point in our life where you know and have experience the unconditional love of God, which only comes through a personal relationship with Christ. If you have not, I encourage you to contact me and we can talk about this life changing decision.
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