When ahead in the race…don’t coast to the finish line!

Run the race on your journey with the Lord in such a way as to WIN!
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 1 Corinthians 9:24 ESV
2014 © All Rights Reserved – ChristianVitality.com

Imagine for a moment you’ve decided to run a race. A real foot race.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s a mile, a 5k, 10k or even a marathon.

You have a close friend of yours that you’ve made a friendly bet with of whoever gets the best time will take the other out to dinner afterwards. You are both at the same level of fitness and you both have an equal chance of winning.

You give it your all and about 80% of the distance to the finish you find yourself so far ahead that, there’s no way that your partner in crime can catch up.

So, you find yourself in this mental game we often get into with ourselves.  Should I ease up and take it easy…you know…coast in to the finish line in style?

You could do so easily, without chancing the loss to your friend.

Taking out the compassion for your friend argument out…you know, slowing down and letting them catch up (which I would fully endorse from a philosophical standpoint), you promised God you’d do your best and accept whatever the outcome.  So, if you ease up and coast in are you fulfilling your promise to him?

What about to yourself? Would you be letting yourself down by not staying the course and giving it your all?  You’d still win, wouldn’t you?

I’d like to make the point that once we commit to the race, whether its the race Paul talks about on our spiritual journey and service to Jesus or whether it’s your weight loss program that you should always give it your best…your very best.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 1 Corinthians 9:24 ESV

That way you’ll finish knowing you didn’t let yourself down, you did “everything unto the Lord and not to men”, and finally you wouldn’t be letting your friend down either.  Don’t you think they’d be upset if you told them you pulled back and coasted all the way in?

23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23-24 ESV

Whatever you have on your plate for today.  Give it your best effort…your very best.  Some days your level of best will vary and that’s okay.  Just give it the best you can today. You’ll be glad you did and make God proud in doing so.

let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, Hebrews 12:1b ESV

Be blessed today as you honor God with your spiritual & physical life.

 

Excerpt from Christian Fatloss Program sharing my fat loss journey with members of the private weight loss program for Christians.

 

My Journey Alongside Yours: Today I weighed in at 211 lbs.  Achieving my 5% goal for this cycle of 211.375 (or less).  If you compare last Friday (1 week ago exactly) to today I have lost 2 lbs this week which is par for the course.  It was another one of those weeks where my weight jumped up a bit from my lowest 212.5 of last week and it appeared that I might be lucky to hit 212.5 this week.

Yesterday I did hit 212lbs for my official weigh in for week 4 of 5 for this cycle, appearing to only lost .5 lbs.  God is good though and if you stick to the plan the weight loss will come.

In hindsight I was sore for quite  a bit of the week from my softball game last Friday and had my back slightly out (probably from picking up my 3 year old).  The inflammation as I’ve pointed out numerous times in the weeks prior was having me carry around all that extra water.

So, do I sit back and coast knowing I achieved my goal?

No way. I’ll stick to the plan and the fact I play Softball again tonight will likely set me up for a bit of swelling for next week.  I can only hope an pray that I hit 211lbs or lower next Wednesday on my final weigh in for this cycle.

Who’s your judge? God of course. And mostly you are accountable to him and yourself.  Give this week the honest effort you deserve.  “Do everything unto the Lord and not to men”, remember?

4 days to go until the 2 day break and the end of this cycle.  After the break we’ll jump back into to 5 days of grace and then start the next cycle.

Let’s do this! Make him proud…make yourself proud.

What do you think of this post? have you been guilty of coasting through life at times? Share some instances or challenges you faced? Share your victories in the comments below.

Find YOUR Majestic Moment – they’re everywhere!

God's Majestic on Display in Creation
Find YOUR Majestic Moment Today!

One of my mentors is big on Magic Moments and although he professes to be a Christian, he’s more mainstream and focused on more mainstream audiences.

His philosophy is that at the end of our lives we’re not going to remember most of the things that keeps us busy, but we will remember the Magic Moments.  He believes we should strive to fill our lives with those kinds of moments in order to achieve fulfillment. I totally agree.

This morning I had one of those most amazing moments.  For the last week or two after I get the kids ready with their breakfast and before I jump into the getting ready routine, I’ve been trying to spend 20 minutes in the sun everyday on the deck off of my bedroom.

I’m blessed to have a view of the mountains here in North Scottsdale which are literally only 3 miles away and in my backyard.  My deck faces North so in the morning I face east on a barcalounger and was really enjoying the moment.  I started to meditate on God’s word and focusing on being grateful in the moment and the word Majesty came to mind.

God is Majestic. His creation is awesome and all around us.  We are his creation.  Our friends, our family, and all the things around us are his creation (in harmony with man’s creation).

Within a couple of minutes of these thoughts it started to sprinkle.  When I say sprinkle, I mean the kind of huge drops that often come with thunderheads When I looked up at the sky, I saw almost exactly what the photo above shows. Drops every second or two coming straight down on me as I looked straight up.  It was one of those wow moments that made me think, “hey God thanks for that you are awesome” kind of moments.  A Majestic Moment.

So, whether you are in an Urban surrounding or in the middle of the woods, try to set aside 20 minutes to have yourself an encounter…your Majestic Moment. An encounter with God, a Majestic Moment, that you will never forget.

You can have one of these moments in the middle of the woods, the desert, driving in your car.  I had one recently in a park in the middle of downtown Kansas City recently.

God’s creation and Majesty are on display for all to see…you just have to take them time to look.

Be blessed my friend as you strive to see God’s Majesty and store up your own Majestic Moments.

Share in the comments a Majestic Moment you had today, this week, or this month that you remember feeling that overwhelming sense of gratitude for God presence in your life.  Do have any? Share some things you might be able to do this week that will set you up to have one?  I want to hear from you all in the comments below.

Make the most out of EVERY day to get closer to God & lose weight!

Boating can be great for weight loss?
Make the most out of every day!

Today happened to be Good Friday for me.  I know that doesn’t (won’t) correlate but once a year for any of you, but it was a good excuse for our office to be closed and for them to allow me a paid holiday.

Diana had her normal Friday things planned and took our youngest daughter to her pre-school for the day.

I was left in the trusty hands of the other four kids  (12 year old daughter),  (10 year old Autistic son), (7 year old daughter), and (6 year old – youngest son).

I decided to take them to a local lake nearby called Saguro Lake to rent a patio boat and to cruise the lake.  We do this a couple of times a year and it is not really on the cheap side of entertainment, but for 2 hours (a couple of times a year) to take most of the family out to have a ball on the lake…it’s worth it to me.

Well, all of the patio boats were gone by the time we got there (at about 9:00am) and all they had left were ski-boats. Being a God is my provider kind of guy I rolled with it. So we picked one up and set sail or rather motor on the not-so-rocky seas.

If you’ve never been out on a lake in a ski boat at top speed, you owe it to yourself to try it a least once (or twice).  There’s something about cruising at 40+ miles an hour a foot or two above the water and it’s an absolute thrill when you come across the wake of other boats (or a scary rogue wave) that hits your boat. The screams of delight were classic emanating from our little vessel as the water broke across our bow.

We motored all the way across the lake and partially up the Salt River to a very nice sandy beach and anchored there.  After a great swim, the kids and I all had our daddy-packed-cooler lunch (that I packed in the morning).

We wrapped up our two hour rental with me allowing them to each have a turn at driving the ski boats (with me right next to them) at full speed. This was one of those I’ll never-forget-when-I-was-a-kid-when moments. For me I had 4 Majestic Moments that I’ll never forget to take to the grave with me.

There were a million an 1 things I could have done today and going to the lake was just one of them.

I think You should treat everyday as an adventure or journey along with Jesus.  Invite him along and let him grab the wheel and see where he takes you today.  You may be surprised at how much fun you have when you make the most out of every day.

How is this good for weight loss or my spiritual journey you ask?

Well, as we’ve often preach (teach) lowering our stress level is great for lowering our Cortisol levels, which has an affect on whether we lose or gain weight.  It’s a safe bet for you to think, that I reduced my stress level significantly by hanging out with 4 of my favorite people out on the lake today.

I the spiritual side I really allowed myself to soak in God’s creation. All the while surrendering my will to his.  So, the patio boat didn’t work out. So, what?  I consider myself a fairly spirit-led guy and I felt that was what the plan was and I had God’s blessing to do so.

In that moment when I faced a a potential defeat (not patio boats available) I surrendered and said to myself ‘God is  my source’ and rolled with the punches and took the path laid out for me.

Truth be told the ski-boat was a heck of a lot of more fun than that patio-boat would of been and my kids can now say they drove a ski-boat.

So, my challenge to you today if you have the opportunity, pray for God to open up the opportunity to have YOUR Majestic Moment. One that relieves some stress and brings you closer to him.

You’ll be glad you did.

So, please comment and tell me what your favorite Majestic Moment or stress reducing activity is. I love your comments.