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
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