http://conversations.nokia.com/2011/03/30/hd-horizons-britain-in-high-def/

http://conversations.nokia.com/2011/04/14/hd-horizons-a-second-swoop-round-britain-from-above/

Simplicity
7 Things I’m Doing to Simplify My Life

How does this intersect with the meaning, purpose, and vision of this blog?  Actually it dovetails quite nicely.  You see, my reasons for wanting to lose all this weight have always been about *me*.  I’m not going to tell you I didn’t think about others, the impact my declining health and escalating weight had on them, or the potential that I might not even be present to watch my seven year old track star son grow into a knightly young man.  But the reasons were earthly, unspiritual, carnal (in the truest sense–pertaining to meat, flesh).

Listening to the January Embers to a Flame conference and a later Spiritual Foundations Seminar conducted by our Pastor of Church Revitalization, I was struck by the force of this realization:  I may grow spiritually in many ways, but my 390-pound body is a revolting temple of gluttony, not a temple of prayer, praise, and outward example of inward change.

“Glorify God in your body“

“Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?”

“Is not life more than food?”

“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work”

“For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.”

I could no longer ignore this.  How can I stand before anyone presuming to teach God’s word when I so blatantly despise it in this one point?  I would be no more the Godly example or Godly teacher if I taught people giving and stewardship yet spent every dime and stayed in debt constantly and gave nothing to the church.

Food is fuel for the body.  I made it my one ambition, my goal, my end zone, my passion–that perfect flavor, that sublimest texture…I wore a path in and out of Penzey’s and took huge pride in winning the chili cook-off at work.  ”Fist sized portions” the experts say… and now that I’ve seen that in action I realize most meals, most snacks, most everything I ate was in multiples of 4-8 portions’ worth.  My wife and son might have one, at the most two slices of a “large” meaty pizza.  There was none left most nights, sometimes there was one slice.  Now that I’m dining on meal replacement shakes 6 times a day, they’ve ordered pizza a couple times from the same place.  A “small” (4 slices) is too much for them.  They leave 1 or 2 slices for leftovers.  My son eats his bodyweight (52 pounds) in bananas and apples each month–I’m not exaggerating!  I’ve had three bananas and a couple wedges of apple in the last 7 years of his life, and those only came early this spring as I tried to eat more like he does.  I couldn’t keep it up, only dropped about 6-8 pounds by “not eating so much.”

Exercise was almost impossible at that weight.  My feet hurt every day, ankles were always swollen and tight, I was turning into my diabetic great aunt who hobbled around with more excuses and pains than any human had a right to.  So, the logical thought to me was, lose a good deal of weight, make exercise first possible without extreme pain, then by exercising and continuing to diet, lose more weight and get to a point where exercise could become a source of blessing and joy.  I’m just about at that point now.

Next steps are to get a bicycle that can hold my 342 pounds and that I can ride on down to 300 and below.  I hope to get to 100 pounds lost, 283.5 by the bathroom scales (390 I mentioned was on doctor’s scales with shoes and clothes), by my birthday the week of Thanksgiving.

After that, I hope to continue on down to 220 or so…not sure what is realistically my ideal weight given my build and height, but somewhere south of 240 would be best in my mind.

A dear pastor friend of mine spoke to this recently, saying the real issue is rightly responding to the means of grace God has provided to accomplish His purposes in us.  It isn’t our work, it is His work.  Do we respond in obedience and faith to the commands He has given us for our growth and edification, or do we rebel against those commands and attempt to grow by ourselves.

Yet again I am reminded of Andrew Murray’s book The Vine.  I must find my copy and re-read it.

The most common positive command in all of scripture is “sing” and “praise the Lord”

The most common negative command in all of scripture is “do not be afraid.”

The song the program began with, “Be Still My Soul,” is so powerful in its quiet strength.  It was inspired by Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God…” which was one of my father’s favorite verses.

First, Christ and the disciples reclined around a three sided table called a triclinium.  I had never heard of that before.  Michael Card went into some detail about how he felt the most important seats were likely arranged, with John to Jesus’ right, from whence he could “lean back” on Jesus and communicate with him privately, and his assertion that Judas may have been in the seat to Christ’s left, the position of the close friend, which would normally (one would think) be the position Peter would be in.  But Peter is across the table, because he has to motion to get John’s attention to ask Jesus who the betrayer is.  Judas was likely close by because Jesus was able to tell him, “what you do, do quickly” apparently without the others knowing…also Judas would need to be close to be able to reach and dip the bread with Jesus in the same bowl.

Second, I learned something that contradicts many sermons I’ve heard, but now that I think about it more, it makes sense.  The crowd shouting for Jesus to be crucified is probably not the same group that only the previous Sunday shouted Hosanna!  The chief priests would have had a group of “rabble” they could stir up easily and count on to give them the support they needed to persuade Pilate.  This group was not likely composed of many (if any) of Jesus followers.

Third, the fact that there are two words describing the response of the soldiers and the response of the Jewish rabbis.  Card said the rabbis “fell down” due to the manifestation of the name of God as Jesus said “I am.”   The miliary men are said to have “fallen back” as if they expected an ambush.  I look forward to reading more on this.

Fourth, the reason why Jesus and his disciples had the passover meal on Thursday instead of Friday.  Card explained that Jesus and his disciples were Galileans, so they followed the tradition of the Diaspora, or Dispersion community, who celebrated on Thursday so as to keep from being a day late.

Fifth, the name “Gethsemane” means “place of crushing.”  It was the spot in the Mount of Olives where the olives were gathered together to be crushed so that they would yield their oil(s).  It seems easy to see the parallel between Jesus being crushed and oil (symbolizing grace) coming from Christ as well.

Some great truths.  I am so appreciative for Michael Card fulfilling his calling to teach and sing (and teach while singing).  Today was an extremely rough day at work, and this radio program with Michael Card just helped my feelings and focus for the rest of the day.

I’ve had one added that I’m starting now, loaned to me by a dear friend at church, I’m Glad You Asked! by Ken Boa and Larry Moody.  I’m looking forward to reading this quickly so I can get it back to my friend.