Tag: Random

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The 3-D Plan to Eating Healthy (Part 2)

Yesterday I posted my first principle to what I believe is important to developing a lifestyle of healthier living and a healthier diet. Today, I would like to go beyond the desire that is needed to the second principle to developing a healthier lifestyle:

Determination: I don’t say this to pat myself on the back, but losing weight is hard! I believe I had to discipline myself more than I ever have for any one area of my life. I believe the desire that I spoke about yesterday is the kindling to starting the fire and determination is the logs that keep the flame burning.

There are days that the desires will cease, you will be tired and not want to put forth the extra effort that is required to see your desired results. There have been many days that I was worn out and had no energy after sitting at a desk all day. Now you may say, “You should be full of energy after sitting around all day!” However, it is more the opposite, when you sit around all day and your legs get stiff in the same position, it actually makes you want to go home and do the same, not stretch and get your body moving. However, even when the desires were not there, the determination to lose weight and to get healthier kept the flame within me going. There were days I wanted to skip my lunch meal of soup and go eat pizza or BBQ or Chinese food, however I knew those things would set me back, so as my desires weakened my determination kept me strong!

The picture above is a great example of how determination works. I had a picture in my mind of what I wanted to achieve (Yes Chuck it was to achieve your body as pictured on the massive Christmas Ornament I won at our Community Group Ornament Exchange 🙂 ). My goal when I started this journey 2 years earlier was to get to 165 pounds. As I posted in March of this year, once I got to that goal, I realized that it was really not where I wanted to be, so I kept going, in that post you can see where I was seriously losing desire…I was tired, but my determination got me where I am today and that is at 152 pounds. From the time I started losing desire, my determination (and Chuck’s picture) pushed me to lose 15 additional pounds!

Now, my determination has changed somewhat. I now want to maintain what I have achieved and tone up a little. My wife laugh’s at me, but my new picture is a reverse of what my former picture was. I have a little mini shrine of all my fat pictures set up in our multi-purpose room where I do sit-ups and push-ups. There is seriously a picture where I have 3 chins. Those pictures help motivate me to work hard, even when I am tired to achieve my desired results. Determination drives me to run 4 miles at midnight, if that is what I have to do (which I have done many times) to keep a regular scheduled workout. My desire is now to stay healthy, and my determination will keep me there.

Join the Conversation: What are you determined to accomplish? Is that determination motivating you beyond your desires?

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Kingdom Day – Living Out the Gospel

I had an idea the other day, but now it has grown into a massive dream. What is it? I want to inspire student ministries all across the world to participate in the largest single day service project ever! Why? To live out the Gospel to our disconnected communities. Will this dream happen? I don’t know, that will require the body of Christ working together and being willing to unite under the banner of Christ, putting aside personal preferences, styles, denominations, number, and everything else that divides us in order to flesh out the faith we claim to follow. Here’s how this idea became a massive dream and where I would like to see it go…

I am a part of a local youth workers network that works together to promote and to host several annual activities and events for the students in our communities. One of the events we coordinate as a network is a city wide D-Now (Disciple Now) where each church coordinates a weekend of small groups that meet in homes and group activities with the students of their ministries. On Saturday evening of the D-Now all of the students who participate in the D-Now come to a central location to participate in a concert and a guest speaker. Basically it is a ‘feed me’ type atmosphere where students do no more than ‘come and watch’ a show. Our D-Now’s can bring in anywhere from 700-2,000 students depending on what band we bring in and who the speaker is, so I made a suggestion (the idea) that my buddy Shane was all about too because we have the same heart on a lot of issues…

Why don’t we (the network) capitalize on the opportunity we have on this weekend with these students to do more than ‘come and watch’ to mobilize them to ‘go and invest/serve’ in our community? 700-2,000 students from 30 + churches is an awesome time for the CHURCH to unite to make a difference in the life of those who live in our communities. So I have contacted the Mayor of Augusta to see if there is a park that needs renovating in a poor neighborhood, as well, we are looking at partnering with a local mission and/or community center to help repair, clean, and freshen up with paint and other services that can be accomplished by students. We have also discussed finding some elderly people, who are disabled or in need that needs work completed on their private homes. In one day, a whole community will feel and experience the impact of Christianity, under the banner of Jesus Christ, as represented by 30 + different churches.

So my idea blew up into a massive dream as I was taking a shower the other night. It was almost as if the Lord questioned me, “Why stop with 30 + churches and why focus locally….why not globally?” – And I personally was inspired and could not sleep, so I shot a few emails off to people who may can help get this ball rolling, if it is meant to be. My dream is this…I believe with the combination of bloggers and a few major networks of youth pastors this thing could become a reality. Each youth pastor who desires for their ministry to participate would partner with at least 1 other youth ministry and youth pastor in their area. Together these youth pastors would plan a major or a small project for their ministries to accomplish together on one day, while thousands of other ministries and students are doing the same in their communities, Saturday, April 25, 2009. In one day, youth ministries all across the globe would act out the single largest service project ever in the worlds history, all for the cause of Christ and to futher the Gospel through the example of our service.

The logo may change, some details may change, this is about 24 hours old, but my question is, why can’t it be done? I read in Ephesians 3:20 (NLT) today and it blew my mind…“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish “INFINITELY” more than we might ask or think.”

So, are you in? What can you do? What do we need to do? I need help!!! We have less than a year, but together it can be done. We may need a website, bloggers, logos, t-shirts?, I don’t know, but maybe you do. If you have ideas or want to join in and help push this forward email me HERE or leave a comment. Kingdom Day (name may change), Saturday, April 25, 2009 (Date is Firm 🙂 )

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My Prayer

At the beginning of the week as I was spending some time praying the old song, He’s Still Working on Me, popped into my head. It all just clicked and made sense…what I was asking Jesus was simply, “Lord, Make Me What I Ought to Be…”

Where I lack wisdom…
Where I lack love…
Where I lack patience…
Where I lack skill…
Where I lack in priorities…
Where I lack…

“Lord, Make Me What I Ought to Be!“

Join the Conversation…What’s Your Prayer?

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Conversations With a 5 Year Old

This is a special “Conversation With a 5 year Old” post. These are conversations straight from a 5 year olds heart and brain to his lips. Many times Gavin surprises us with his wisdom and knowledge and other times he melts our hearts with his his child-like innocence and purity, and then there are the embarassing times 🙂
Today I have two conversations to post about:

Conversation #1 Gavin on New Baby Sister…(Nicki is changing Hailey’s diaper)

Gavin: “Mommy!”
Nicki: “What?”

Gavin: “Hailey pee pees just normal…she doesn’t have a wee wee that sticks out when she pees.”
Nicki: “Oh!”

That would be the overly observant Gavin!

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Conversation #2 Gavin on his favorite and least favorite parts of the Hulk

Me: “So Gavin what was your favorite part of the movie (the Hulk)?
Gavin: “When the bad hulk came out!”

Me: “What was part of the movie did you NOT like?”
Gavin (Less Enthusiastically): “Well, um, I think the part I didn’t like was when that man and that lady started kissing!”

At least I know I don’t have to worry about any girlfriend talk as Gavin starts Kindergarten this year! He’ll be too busy acting like the Hulk beating up the bad Hulk and that is not a bad thing! 🙂

Join the Conversation: Have you had any interesting conversations lately?

Other Conversations with a 5 Year Old Posts HERE – HERE – HERE

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Master Pontiac, Buick, GMC and Archie Hixon

I don’t know about you, but I hate going to car dealerships! I used to sell cars for a short stint of my life while I was in-between jobs. I’ve been in the meetings where the salespeople are trained how to be dishonest and how to lie to gain a sale, so when it comes time to buy a vehicle, I hate it and get serious headaches as well, I get in a bad mood.

On top of having to go purchase a vehicle, this is a horrible time to have an SUV that you are trying to trade-in. It is a great time to be in the market for a SUV. My family and I were in both predicaments. We had a 2005 Nissan X-Terra that we needed to trade-in as our family just grew to the place where we could no longer legally and safely fit in it, but we needed a larger SUV or van to solve our problem. We were siding with the SUV…just because we are not the van kind of people.

Saturday morning we went to our normal breakfast place (Sunrise Grill) before we went to Master Pontiac, Buick, GMC of Augusta. I said a little prayer to myself that God would give us a salesman that would do us right and not play games with us. We pulled into the lot and there he was, the salesman that was going to be our headache for the next several hours or the man that God was going to answer my prayers with. Fortunately, Archie Hixon, was the answer to my earlier prayer. He was a great salesman and a very great guy overall. My wife and I left the lot feeling like we knew a great deal about his family. It turned out that Archie goes to a local church and is very involved in their small groups. When he found out I used to be a full time youth pastor and was praying about God opening a door for me to get back full time, he urged me to check into the opening at his church as their youth pastor just left to start a church. As serious as Archie was, I knew this guy was not about to pull a fast one on us, when he was wanting to see us every weekend.

My wife and I were very pleased with the deal they gave us on our trade and the price that we got our new/used Chevrolet Trailblazer for. We asked for them to lower the price on the Trailblazer but they said it had already been discounted and they were firm on their price, but they easily gave us a new set of tires without any hassle. We were never put under pressure to add anything, Archie wanted to make sure we were offered the extended warranties and the other extras, but once we declined we faced no rebuttals. The bottom line is, we left the dealership $2,000 under what we were expecting to pay, we feel the price for the vehicle we purchased was fair and right, and Archie was a great salesperson. We did not purchase from him because he was a Christian, but a good salesman (trust me I have not bought from people because they were horrible salespeople), however I am glad I found out we were helping provide for a fellow believer with our purchase, as I know the car market is a tough business period, but especially with a tough economy.

If you are in the CSRA or the Augusta area and you are looking for a vehicle, go talk with Archie Hixon at Master Pontiac, Buick, GMC in Augusta on Washington Rd. You’ll be glad you did!

Join the Conversation: Have you had a great experience or a poor experience with a recent purchase? Tell me about it!