Day 98

Today's workout was really hard.  I am excited because we have a ball game tomorrow and I get to hang out with some youth.  Life is good.  I didn't really lose any weight this week but I am hoping it is because I am building muscle.  I am working really hard so I hope it is!  We shall see.  The Hokies played great this weekend.  I am excited for the rest of the season but I didn't feel that way last week!

Knee Injury = Loving Community?

Last night during our Joyful Noise League games one of our youth got hurt.  In a play that was a bang bang play with two youth going up for the ball, they hit knees and one of the youth came down hard on his knee banging it into the ground.  He immediately began holding it and wrenched over in pain.  Ice was immediately gotten for him and he was helped to the sideline.  His mother was called and the game went on to finish. 

After the game was over, his teammates helped him to his mom’s car.  A couple of people offered to help drive or take him to the ER but the mother said she was fine.  Now please keep in mind that this youth is not an active member of our youth group, in fact he goes to another church.  He came to us last year and played with us on our basketball team.  Once that ended and we started our three on three league he has continued to play with us. 

After Youth Group was over I got a text from the youth’s mom asking if his ipod, wallet, and water bottle were in the gym.  I went down to look for it and while I was in there another youth and his mom were in the gym.  Jo, the mom, asked me what I was doing and I told her I was looking for some stuff that belonged to a youth.  I explained what happened.  She lives near this youth and offered to take it with her so it was easier for him to get it.  We ended up calling the mother of the injured youth and found out that he had passed out in the car from the pain and had ended up in the ER.  In fact that was where they were when we called them.

Jo said that she would take the stuff home with her anyone and that they could hook up the next day to get it to him.  We all left the church.  With everything that was done from ice, to carrying the youth to the car, to taking stuff for him you could end the story there by calling us a loving community, but that is not where the story ends.  In fact, Jo and Ian, her son, didn’t go home.  Nope they went to the ER and found this youth and his mom.  They visited for a little while, gave him his stuff and told them that if they needed anything to let them know.

Today I wrote an email to the youth’s mom to check on him.  She told me how he was doing, that the knee was just bruised really bad but not broken.  She then told me how blessed she was by the visit from Jo and Ian.  She told me that they were feeling lonely when in walked warm smiling faces.  She thanked me for my concern and told me that her youth would be back soon to watch and help me with the scoreboard.  He really is a great kid.

She was right when she said she say warm smiling faces.  That is what you get from Jo and her family.  They are a very loving and caring family.  They give in so many ways and it is truly a blessing to have their youth in the youth group and their family in the church.  I am so thankful for families like theirs.  We have so many of them in our church.  It truly makes for a loving community.   Everyone who helped yesterday did an awesome job.  Thank you so much for your help!  Thank you for being a loving community!

Should I throw in the towel?

This morning when I woke up, I got on the scale like I always do on Monday mornings.  As I wiped the morning from my eyes I looked down and there was that number staring back at me.  It was the same number as last week.  I couldn’t believe it, I worked so hard all week and worked out every day.  I stepped back off the scale and looked at the picture I have of Drew Carey on my wall over my scale.  He lost so much weight and I have been using that picture as my inspiration along this year of me and JC. 

It is so disappointing and really takes away some of your momentum when you step on the scale after a week of working hard and eating right and you haven’t lost even a pound.  It drives me crazy and on more than one occasion it has made me want to stop trying and throw in the towel.  I could then just be lazy and eat everything and anything and not worry about losing any more weight.  I could just continue to be overweight and live with it.  What’s the point?

I’ll tell you what the point is.  The point is that I have lost weight.  Sometimes it has been slower than others, but I have been consistently losing weight.  I feel better, stronger, and healthier.  I fit into some of my clothes better.  I am more alive than I was before I started this whole journey and I truly feel like good about what I am doing.  I actually look forward to my workouts and really look forward to my writing.  I feel a push to finish the race.  I am only three months in and have nine more to go.  That is plenty of time to lose the weight, I just have to keep trying.

I know that if I keep working hard, eating right, and making God a part of this program that I will lose the weight and feel better about myself.  I have always struggled with weight issues.  Food has always been that vice for me.  Food has always been that one thing that comforts me and makes me feel good no matter what the situation is.  That is what got me in trouble in the first place.

I also hadn’t been motivated to work out or exercise.  I worked at the YMCA for 5 years and I never used the equipment or tried to lose weight.  I always looked for the easy way out or sat in front of the tv or computer.  Now I feel like I make an effort and if I keep working hard I will lose the weight and feel better and confident. 

The main reason to not throw in the towel is because I have the love and support of so many people.  I know that they are behind me and I am making every effort to lose the weight and be healthier.  God has given me the motivation to make this happen and I am going to work harder to help myself.  After all it is the year of ME and JC.  I owe myself that.  I owe God that.  Your body is supposed to be a temple and mine is more like a McDonalds.  I have some renovating to do!

So the next time I look down at the scale and I see that the number is the same as last week.  I am going to smile and tell myself that I have an opportunity to try again.  I will then workout and try even harder to make it happen!

Darkest before the Dawn

When we have issues in life they have a tendency to get worse and worse.  Often they start out with something very small.  Then there are two or three more small things before a big issue hits.  Then just when you think that life couldn’t get any harder, that is when another big one hits.  It usually smacks you in the face and you feel like you can’t take anymore.  That is when those issues make life so dark.  You can’t see your hand in front of your face because it is so dark.  You feel like you have lost all hope when all of the sudden, there is a light.  An answer appears before you or someone comes in to help.  The darkness lifts away and you the light is shining down on you.  Life is good again until those small things start to reappear again.

It’s hard to deal with the darkness of life.  It is so drab and so painful sometimes.  We all have been there.  That boy or girl that broke our heart, the car battery stops working, you don’t have enough money to pay a bill, or the project you were working on for work doesn’t go as planned.  It is so hard when these things happen.  They cause us pain and self doubt.  We question a lot of things when we are in that place.  I do however have the answer to what we need when we are at that place.  I know what we need to have ready to go when we are at the darkest parts of life.  We need night vision goggles.

  If we had night vision goggles we would be able to see in the dark.  There would be no fear of the worries and troubles getting us so down that we enter that dark place.  That dark place couldn’t exist because we would be able to see. No matter what we could see and there would be light.  If we had night vision goggles then life could not throw us such painful curveballs.  We would know what was coming and how to react.  So how do we get these night vision goggles that bring light to dark times?  We have God in our lives.

God is the true light of the world.  He is an eternal flame that is burning for us.  We just need to reach out, pull down our goggles and let God light the way.  We have to have him in our lives.  We have to worship him, love him, learn from him, and understand that he will take care of us.  If you are that time in your life when you feel it is the darkest, you have to pray.  Prayer will bring God close to you and he will shine down on you and provide the light for your night vision goggles. 

If we accept him into our lives and have a relationship with you, we will not know what the darkest times look like for we will have the light of the world.  We will have heavenly night vision goggles to light the way.  So do not allow it to be the darkest before the dawn.  Allow yourself the opportunity to always see what is going on and have light in your life.  Invite God into your life and you will have vision in the dark.  You will have heavenly night vision goggles!

Day 96

Well I was pleasantly surprise by my Hokies today!  They pulled it out and won the game.  I liked what I saw from the offense. I hope the defense can heal before Saturday.  Today was a lot of fun watching football, going for a run walk and getting new basketball shoes for the league which starts tomorrow!  Very excited about league play.  Hope everyone has a great time!  Talk to you soon!

Day 95

Wow today was a long day.  I was so tired after Friday's for Jesus that I didn't think I was going to finish my blog for the day.  I did get one written and am now ready for bed.  F4J was awesome and the kids did great.  I am so blessed by them and their work everyday!  They are amazing.  The sweatshirts came in and they rock!  They are the best.  I can't wait for all of us to wear them to pilgrimage.  It  will be sweet!  Justin and I had a good time today.  He rocked me in some NBA 2K11 but I get him back in ping pong.  In fact I was undefeated in ping pong today!  It was a good day all around. 

Hammer and Nails

Jenny always showed up early for Sunday school class.  She would find her seat and place her bible in her lap.  She would wait patiently for her friends for the Sunday school teacher to show up.  She loved learning about Jesus and his love for her.  One day her classmates came in and they all laughed and talked before the teacher got there and got everyone settled.  Once the class was settled, the teacher began to teach.  Halfway through her lesson Jenny raised her hand and asked a question.

“Teacher, how did Jesus die?” she asked.

The teacher a little taken back said, “Well Jenny, Jesus was killed by crucifixion which means he was nailed to a cross.  His hands and feet were nailed to the cross and he was left to die and after sometime he died.”

“Oh, so nails were used to kill Jesus?”

“Yes, Jenny, more like spikes than nails, but yes nails were used to nail him to a cross.  Here, let’s look the story up in the bible.”

After looking it up and reading the crucifixion story, Jenny began to understand what had happened to Jesus and it upset her very much.

A couple days later, Jenny’s Dad was in the house and wanted to hang a picture. 

“Honey, have you seen my hammer and nails?”  said Jenny’s Dad.

“No, did you look in the garage?”  said Jenny’s Mom. 

Jenny’s Dad went out in the garage and looked all around.  He looked in his cabinets and tool box and couldn’t find any nails or his hammer.  He went inside and looked around and still couldn’t find it.  The next day he went to the store and bought a new hammer and nails and hung the picture.

About a week later, Jenny’s Dad wanted to fix a chair leg that was loose.  Again he went into the garage to find his nails and hammer and again they were missing.  He asked his wife and she didn’t know where they were.  He looked around the house and still couldn’t find them.  He looked in his bedroom and in the kitchen and they were nowhere to be found.

He walked by Jenny’s room and heard her playing.  He peeked through the crack in the door and saw her playing with her dolls.  Pushing the door open he walked in.

“Hey sweetie, you didn’t happen to be playing with Daddy’s tools?  Especially my hammer.”

“Oh no Daddy, I wouldn’t play with it.  I did get rid of it though.”

Shocked and unsure of what he just heard, he replied “Got rid of it?  What do you mean Jenny.”

“I threw them away Daddy, both your hammers and all the nails.”

Now a little upset at his tools getting thrown away, he answered, “Why would you throw Daddy’s stuff away?”

Looking up from her dolls, she said “Because Daddy, those are the things that killed Jesus and I don’t want them in our house.”

Her Dad just starred at Jenny with a look of utter shock on his face.  He had never thought of it like that.  The fact that what was used to kill our Lord and Savior was indeed a household item.  It was something that almost every family has in their home.  It was surly a smaller version of what was used, but Jesus, who died for our sins, died on a cross that he was nailed to.  It really made for an interesting story the next week in his Sunday School Class.

The next week Jenny and her Dad sat down and talked about how he needed to have a hammer and why he needed to have one.  He explained what type of hammer and nails were used during the crucifixion and that it wasn’t what he had in the house.  Jenny agreed to let there be a hammer and nails in the house under one condition.  They had to frame a hammer and some nails so that when they looked at them in on the wall, they would remember that Jesus died for their sins.

Twenty five years later, the hammer and nails still hang on the wall.  An everyday remember to Jenny’s Dad of the love of Jesus Christ.