Searching for Meaning and Purpose...

So here I am nine more days into this journey.  It's rough to be hardcore dieting at this season, but so far I have persevered (I even ran around the annual youth Christmas party with celery and a salad so I wouldn't eat the plethora of goodies my students brought).  But, as I see limited results recently (I'm down 14 pounds and seem stuck there right now), my resolve seems to weaken.  I start thinking things like, "This diet is unrealistic, you can eat just one," or "No need to workout tonight (or wake up extra early to do so in the am), you're doing great."  That voice seems awful appealing! But, the truth is throwing out the old god(s) in exchange for more closely following the true God has never been easy.  I look at the ups & downs of Israel, even after seeing God's mighty hand at work in Egypt and beyond, "forcing" Aaron to create a god out of gold (gotta love Aaron's answer to Moses, "I put in the gold and out came

So I've been recently convicted about my over-eating.  I'd given an iota of thought to it and tried a diet once or twice (who am I kidding, MANY times), but have never stuck with it.  The kicker now is that there are 84 other peeps (all youth workers) on this journey with  me, because, for whatever reason, a lot of us who work with students are fat (to which Josh Griffin defines the why as: " The scientific answer is that you eat too many Doritos Tacos at Taco Bell and wash it down with gargantuan handfuls of Cinnamon Twists and Mt. Dew. Actually this is just a guess, but probably not that far off.  " ). As I started, this was solely about winning some cash, a free trip to SYMC, and other cool stuff.  But, that morphed with some help from the team at The Resurgence and a post from a while back.  They were discussing the fact that many of us (meaning Americans) have made food our God while paying lip service to Jesus Christ.  Instead of looking to Him for our comfort

http://www.youversion.com/bible/nlt/matt/1/1 If nothing else, Matthew 1 shows us that God could care less what someone has done!  In the genealogy of Jesus there are several names worth noting: Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba/Solomon/David.  Yeah, we know that David was "a man after God's own heart" and can forgive his adulterous murder to conceive Solomon, but Rahab?  She was a hooker from the city of Jericho who hitched up with the Israelites when they came in and killed/destroyed everyone else.  She wasn't even part of the family of Abraham, how come she makes the cut here? Ruth was a widow who wasn't even an Israelite, but a Moaabite!  Again, not even part of Abrahma's family and outside of who an Israelite should marry or even associate with!  yet she is part of Jesus' family tree? If nothing else, notice that God could care less who your momma or pappa was (or if they were a band!) but more about who YOU are.  Ruth gave up everything to be loyal to he

Well, it's that time of year again: 2011 is over and on to 2012!  But, each year we commence thinking back and evaluating what we have done well, badly, and otherwise.  In fact, many industries capitalize greatly on this with our resolutions: gyms, health food stores, etc. see their greatest volume between January 1 and March on average.  But, why do we want to change yet not change?  I mean, if I know I'm overweight (which yes, I am!) why won't I do what it takes (healthy diet + exercise regularly) to make that change?  Is there something greater holding me back?  I mean, if I want to change and I'll "try" to make it work, why doesn't it? In my case, the simple answer is that I am a slave to my flesh.  I enjoy food (which isn't a bad thing by itself) but I enjoy it to excess.  In biblical terms, I am a slave to an idol.  I am, instead of Christian hedonist, a simple hedonist living to please my flesh.  Not the title I like to carry, but true.  How c