Less of me...literally!

A month ago, Josh Griffin started a competition call Youthpastordiet.com. On a whim I told my wife, Hey, I'm gonna sign up for this thing it looks cool. I had been talking about losing weight and getting back into shape. It hit me during our midweek gathering, we were playing a game called Ups and Downs and it involved running around our fellowship hall. By the end of the 5 mins I could barely breath. I was so winded that I had to cancel my lesson that I had planned and let my students just hang out and talk for the rest of the time. I was embarrassed, how in the world could I be winded after 5 mins when I've ran half marathons before?

Well the fact is there was WAY more of me now then there was then! I weighed about 180-185 the and ran a road race about once every two months. Now, I had seen a gym, treadmill, or my running shoes in over two years. I had reach the most I had ever weighed and I knew it. I jumped on the scale at home, and after it said "Holy Smokes!", it told me I weighed 230. Now 230 isn't that bad, I know youth ministers who weigh way more than that, but for me it was a lot. When I graduated high school I weighed around 135-140. So I've always been naturally skinny. That night I sat down on the couch and bent over to untie my shoes. Once again I lost my breath because my stomach was so big.

That was when I read about the competition and was like alright I'm all in. I'm probably not going to win the money, I'm a lot smaller than most that are signed up, but that's not the point. I need to get my life back on track and it starts now. I owe it to myself to be healthy and be in this youth ministry game for a long time. I owe it to my family to be a good healthy example. I owe it to my wife to be the energetic passionate husband I was when we married. I owe it to my youth to be able to keep up and be healthy example for them when so many in their life may not be. And last bit certainly not least, I owe it to the Creator of the universe to keep this body that he entrusted me with in proper working order.

I hope that you join me on this quest to regain my life. If you see me at Simply Youth Ministry conference, the competition will be winding down, and I hope you see more of Him and less....WAY less of me!

Just Keep Swimming!