One of my longings for 2010 is to become FIT. I am sorry to say that I have not exercised as I should nor eaten as good as I should for several years. I am paying a high price now with different health problems.
Our pastor is preaching a series of sermons entitled FIT: DYING TO LIVE. He will be concentrating on these areas of fitness the next few weeks: spiritual, physical, emotional, relational, moral, and financial.
Today he focused on the physical aspect of being fit overall. His scripture was taken from 1 Corinthians 9. The following is just one of the many scriptures he used.
25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.
27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Although Paul in this scripture is preparing for spiritual battle, we know that our enemy comes at us from all directions, especially the ones listed above that we will be studying the next few weeks.
I wrote a post recently entitled, "Weapons of Mass Distraction." As our pastor said today, sometimes Satan doesn't have to destroy us to ruin our witness and our testimony--he just has to distract us. The more fit we are in all these areas, the more likely we are to lay hold of the prize that Paul speaks of.
As a follow-up to this sermon, our church (yes, it is large) divided into two teams--the pastor's team against the youth pastor's team) for a six-week weigh-in and exercise challenge. For many of us, it probably will take at least six months to reach our goal.
An example of my ineffectiveness was evident in 2003 while on a mission trip to Brazil. The weather was quite warm and humid and we were pretty high up in altitude and on foot to get to the hillside residences when I started feeling poorly. My blood pressure shot up pretty high and I had to go to the pastor's home and rest that afternoon while the rest of the group got to go about the business of winning souls to Christ.
This was the afternoon that I started feeling bad. Oh, what a great time I missed because of that abbreviated afternoon. May I also just interject that the Brazilian people are some of the most fun, loving, and beautiful people (inside and out) in the whole world. I fell totally in love with them.
I wish I had prepared as much physically for that trip as I did spiritually. Our pastor reminded us that our motive to become physically fit should mainly be that of being prepared to serve our Lord and Savior.
I won't belabor the topic but I will say that my motive here is to try to inspire you to become more physically fit than you are today.
I know that all of us are at very different levels of age, fitness, certain limitations that we may have been born with BUT most of us can at least do something today that we didn't do yesterday.
I remember, after back surgery many years ago, driving by a local park in our neighborhood that had a 3 mile running track around the outer edges. I would look with longing at those people running and think that was something I never would be able to do. Subsequently, I did walk and run that track and lift weights for several years.
So the challenge today is this:
1. Put on your tennis shoes and tie them.--that's all--well, you might walk to the end of your driveway and back. How's that for an easy opener? This may seem crazy to some but in those early days after back surgery, I thought I might never be able to tie my own shoes again. Thank God for the ability to do even that!
2. I would like to encourage you to eat better today also. I won't tell you what to eat. There are many healthy suggestions online from reputable sources or your doctor would be a good source for information. I am on a specific eating plan. I started two weeks ago and have lost almost seven pounds. It will be much slower after this--maybe 1 or 2 lbs. a week. I am going to stick to it. I will report my results each Monday.
About the photo above: This is a picture of a resurrection fern growing on a tree in our yard. I took the photo this morning.
Wikipedia has this to say about the Resurrection Fern:
This fern is an epiphyte, or air plant, which means it attaches itself to other plants and gets its nutrients from the air and from water and nutrients that collect on the outer surface of bark. The Resurrection fern lives on the branches of large trees such as cypresses and can often be seen carpeting the shady areas on limbs of large oak trees. However, it is known to grow on the surfaces of rocks and dead logs as well. It is often found in the company of other epiphytic plants such as Spanish moss.
The Resurrection fern gets its name because it can survive long periods of drought by curling up its fronds and appearing desiccated, grey-brown and dead. However, when just a little water is present, the fern will uncurl and reopen, appearing to "resurrect" and restoring itself to a vivid green color. It has been estimated that these plants could go 100 years without water and still revive after a single soaking.
We are much like the resurrection fern in that with just a little tender loving care, a little exercise, a little pushing back from the table, a few good decisions, our soul and our body will thrive once again.
We may have to die to some of our desires to be able to truly live and become FIT but it will be worth it.
