The Next Stage

A little under a year ago, I started this journey.

I weighed in at 368.4 pounds.

I wore size 48 pants.  And had just started wearing 3XL shirts.

I would get winded going up a flight of stairs.

Now, almost a year later, things are much different.

I now weigh 226.6 pounds

I should buy size 34 jeans.  I'm only bringing Large shirts on my trip this week.

And I routinely climb 130 flights of stairs on the stairstepper 12 minutes a day 5 days a week.

What a change in such a short time.

But this blog is about more than just losing weight.  As my header says, this journey is about becoming healthy; communing with God; and fulfilling my obligation as husband, friend, and disciple of Christ.  I've done pretty well on the first criterion (though I still have farther to go).  And I'm making strides on the second two criteria.  So I'm adding more intention to those areas.

I also firmly believe that as I grow in my relationship with God, I will become more capable of a husband, friend, and disciple.  Therefore, I'll be adding a Rule of Life to my...well...life!  At our church, we are focusing on a four stage rule of life:

1. Scripture Reading
2. Prayer
3. Generosity
4. Service

I have some goals for each stage:

Scripture Reading:

• I will buy and read through a One Year Bible.
• I will finally read through My Utmost for His Highest
• I will also read one book from a Christian thinker a month and complete a "book report" here.  My first book: Mere Christianity.

Prayer:

• I will commit to daily personal and communal time with God.  Right now, although I pray each day, it is usually more of a quick, formulaic thing.  That will not be any longer.  I will take no less than 30 minutes a day to spend time with God.  Each day will consist of an individual prayer activity and some prayer time with Anna, as well.

Generosity:

• I will spend $40 a month of my "spending" money stocking my car with bottled water and energy bars.  Then, when I'm at an intersection and there's a man (or woman) holding a sign asking for help, I will bless them with some food and drink.
• I will commit to shopping at thrift stores before buying new--thereby allowing us to have more money available to use for God's work.  Additionally, if I buy something new, I will do my best to donate something to Goodwill.

Service:

• I'm still fleshing this portion out, but I intend to become a big brother/mentor in the near future.

This Rule of Life addition is in no way meant to be legalistic.  There's no life to be gained from that (in my opinion).  But it is a way to help me get into right relationship with God.  I see it like my exercise plan.  It's not all or nothing.  It started out as a processes--and still is.  There are times I don't make all my goals.  And that's fine.  As long as I fail while trying--instead of failing to try.  The specifics of my Rule of Life, like my exercise and eating habits/goals, are in no way meant to provide the way to live.  They are my way to live, and that's it.  I post these here for nothing other than to let you all know where I'll be going from here.

Now my updates will consist of both ROL (Rule of Life) updates and exercise updates and eating updates.

*whew*

That's it.  Hope I didn't build it up too much.  I am, though, very excited for this next stage in my journey.  What about the rest of you?  How are you caring for your spiritual lives while improving your physical lives?  I know some people take the time to focus on Yoga and Meditation: Kim, Kat, etc...  But how does everybody sustain their spirit?

(Just had to add some words to this post.  When I put it in Word, it showed the word total as 666.  Yikes!  Hehe! Now it's 693.)