You can't have real un-noticed change

Looking at my pictures above, you'll notice I've changed a bit.  I changed with guidance from liveRIGHTnow (http://www.liverightnowonline.com/).  One thing you won't notice is the change has happened all over... not just my face and belly.  There are changes you don't notice, however, in the pictures:  I have more energy, I can actually run now, I can even wear out a four year old rather than the other way around.  Another thing I thought was odd is my shoes and caps now fit differently as well.  I have a pair of loafers that I have to wear two pair of socks to wear.  We were talking about this at work a while back and when I told a co-worker about this, he said "wow, you were fat from your head to toe, huh?".  I'd not thought of it that way, but it is true. 

Ginger and I were talking the other day and she commented that she also thought my feet had "shrunk" (this is different than her saying my feet stunk, but I digress).  These two comments made me think.  When I changed one thing that most folks wouldn't notice, it lead to changes that they do.  Think about it... when was the last time you were in a restaurant and REALLY noticed what someone was eating other than if it looked really good or something.  By changing what I eat and the amount of exercise I get, neither of which most people would give a second glance to, my whole body, from head to toe, was transformed. 

Think about that in a different context.  If we are really sold out to Jesus, we really don't have to announce it... people will know.   We don't need to miss an opportunity to lead someone to Christ, but we also should live a life that people can see a difference in us.  The Bible talks several times about our need to change.  Two places come to mind... Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:11 " When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I had the understanding of a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." and, more specifically, in 2 Corinthians 5:17 "¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."  Did you get that?  all things have become new.  We're not the same person we used to be, physically or spiritually.  As big of a change as you see above, there is an even bigger change inside me that happened years ago and was made possible just over 2000 years ago.  I am a new creature. 

How about you?  Have you changed?  Think so?  Do others see it?  If not, re-evaluate and be honest with yourself.  If you’re not different, there is no change.

Thoughts?  Comments?  Love to hear 'em.

May He increase and i decrease,

shane

God, Fast Food, Dad and Bob Dylan... what a combo!

Other than the story of Jesus birth, death and resurrection, one of my favorite stories, if not my favorite story in the Bible comes from 1 Kings 18.  The story starts to unfold in verse 19 when Elijah and Ahab were talking about who has caused trouble for Israel and ends with God showing Himself to the Israelites in a powerful way.  (Read the story here:  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20kings%2018:19-39&version=NIRV

  I love the confidence and humor displayed in Elijah.  He shows himself to be someone I’d like to hang out with and, I believe, my Dad would like to hang out with as well.  If we look at the history of the story, though, it reminds me of one of my favorite stories about my Dad’s Dad.  I’ll get to that shortly.

So what does that have to do with weight loss?  Healthy Eating?  Exercise?  The other half of what this blog is about?  Well, you see, people then had a problem.  They had competing loyalties.  They were trying as hard as they could to worship God and the other gods of the area/time referred to as Baals.  This reminds me of the way we are in America today.  We’re going to get healthy… we’re going to eat right… we’re going to lose weight.  Then, the next day, we’re pulling through McDonalds/Burger King/{insert your favorite fast food place here}.  We may try to continue walking with one foot on each side by ordering a grilled chicken sandwich and drinking a diet coke, but what we’re doing is eating something that may (or may not) have started off as chicken but is so processed and shot full of chemicals that it is damaging us.  We cannot have our proverbial cake and eat it, too.  We have to decide… do we want to eat processed junk food that is quick and cheap *OR* do we want to lose weight and increase our health?  If we want the former, we need to stop working toward/talking about the latter.  For the most part, barring a few freaks of nature, they are mutually exclusive.  Decide and fall in line and life is easier. 

Same thing in our Spiritual lives.  We show up to Church on Sunday morning, may sing a few songs, may even give money… maybe even tithe.  Then we cross back over the line and walk on that side the rest of the week.  Next Sunday, if we feel like it, we’ll go back to Church and start again.  We need to choose a side and follow that leader.  In the late 70s, Bob Dylan (not that I think he’s a theological person to follow) had a song that said it best:  “You’re gonna have to serve somebody; Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord; But you’re gonna have to serve somebody”.  Just like with our eating, the sooner we pick who we’re going to serve, the better we’ll be. 

So, how does this story remind me of my Dad and Grandfather?  Elijah’s confidence in God and sense of humor remind me of my Dad.  He’s someone to be proud of and set a great example for me growing up.  When we look at the background of the story is where I think of my Grandfather.  The people in Israel were going through a bad drought then.  They’d been praying to their gods as well as God for rain, but it hadn’t come in about 3 years.  The story I remember of my Grandfather (and I hope it is true) is the community where I grew up was going through a drought of their own way back when.  The men of the Church decided to have a special prayer meeting to pray for rain.  My Grandfather was one of two men that night that brought his umbrella!  That’s faith, confidence and my memories of my Grandfather.    

Thanks for reading… hope you got something out of it.

May He increase and I decrease,

shane

Life might be like a box of chocolates, but sin is like a pizza buffet

I've been slow in posting recently, we've been out of town, Sarah's not sleeping again, etc etc etc.  One thing that's been weighing on my mind (and stomach) since Tuesday is another correlation between our spiritual lives and physical.  After swim class, we went out to eat with a bunch of Ginger's friends at the local pizza buffet.  I knew I'd eat some pizza, so I had a pretty big salad before.

As I ate a couple slices, I thought, this isn't **that** bad... However, about 5 minutes after eating, it was.  My stomach hurt, I felt bad, actually felt guilty plus felt like I'd been ran over by a truck.  It was the stinkin pizza that I'd just had that didn't taste bad eating.

That's the way it is with our spiritual life as well.  We do this or that which doesn't seem that bad, but before you know it, we've done way too much of it.  Maybe it is something that in and of itself is not bad unless taken to extremes.  But... then comes the reckoning when that activity or word or whatever hits.  We feel bad, we wish we hadn't, but it is too late.  It's done.

The other thing that comes to mind is that before I started eating better, we'd go to these places occasionally and I'd leave not feeling bad.  That intake was normal.  When we continue doing things we shouldn't, our spiritual lives become such that our conscience dwindles and dwindles.

Let's join together by getting the pizza buffets out of our spiritual lives, then let's get them out of our physical lives.