God makes no mistakes (300.4 pounds)

I was reminded of one of my favorite songs this week.   It was written by Kim Moore and sang by Mac and Beth Lynch.  The lyrics go like this:

My life I give to you O Lord use me I pray
May I glorify your precious name In all I do and say
Let me trust you in the valley dark as well as in the light
Knowing you will always lead me Your will is always right

I know God makes no mistakes
He leads in every path I take along the way that's leading me to home
Tho at times my heart would break there's a purpose in every change he makes
That others would see my life and know that God makes no mistakes

And when some day in heaven above I see his dear face
May I then be counted faithful as a runner in this race
Now I'm trusting in the Savior to show me the way
In his righteousness He guides me as I seek to please him day by day

I know God makes no mistakes
He leads in every path I take along the way that's leading me to home
Tho at times my heart would break there's a purpose in every change he makes
That others would see my life and know that God makes no mistakes

If you care to hear the song you could find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFB_g8k0WQM

This song was a good reminder for me that when unexpected things in life occur, God is not surprised.  This week I needed a firm reminder that my plans are not as important as the Lord's and sometimes I need to just back off! 

Alright, on to weight loss... I have talked many times about perspective.  I lost 4 pounds this week.  Typically I would be excited about that.  This week though I was really hoping for 4.5 pounds.  Instead, I am just a sliver over 300 pounds still.  God is so good and He makes no mistakes.  I just want you to know that next weeks post to my blog will be very special to me!

Isn't it a waste? (304.4 pounds)

I had the distinct privilege to speak with a man whom I had never met before this week while waiting on a closing to start.  Our conversation began with the state of the mortgage industry and quickly moved to the future.  He was intending to talk about the future of the mortgage industry, but I took this opportunity (like many before and many to come) to talk about what God is doing with my life.  After telling this gentleman of the plans of my family he asked me this question:  Isn't it a waste?  At that moment, the reality of perspective set in.  I had just gotten done telling this man how well things had been going for me and how fortunate and blessed I am.  From his perspective, I was throwing all of my hard work and success away.  I was able to share with him a quote from the Francis Chan book Crazy Love that I read some time ago that has resonated with me since I read it.  The quote reads "Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter."  I was able to relate this to him in a way that gave me the opportunity to share my story and the story of Jesus with this man.  What a privilege I had to share such important truths with a man I had never before met.  Alas, our conversation ended too soon.  I don't know if I will ever have the privilege to meet this man again, but I do know my time was not and will not be wasted.

It was a slow week in weight loss at 1.8 pounds, but man am I getting close to my next goal!

I am smiling as I sit at my computer right now (306.2 pounds)

It is so exciting to me to think that in under 3 weeks the Notre Dame football season will kickoff.  I am smiling as I sit here at my computer right now thinking about the prospect of sitting in Notre Dame Stadium under 300 lbs.  Looking back at the last 6 months and thinking about the miracle that has been going on inside of me just makes me so very thankful that I serve the one true God!

If you are looking to lose weight you need to PRAY! (310.0 pounds)

I was listening to the radio on Saturday and the DJ was asking people to call in and give him advice on how to lose weight.  Now, I will admit that I am no expert on weight loss even though I have had some success with it lately.  The answers that people were sharing were ones that I have heard many times before like:

Don't eat after 7pm.
When you get the munchies, eat veggies instead of chips and chocolate.
Drink a lot of water.
Stop drinking pop.

The list went on and on.  I attempted to call and didn't get through, but I have some advice that I wanted to share so I thought I would do it here.

If you are looking to lose weight you need to PRAY!  For me, I pray that the Lord would make the smaller amount of food that I eat satisfying.  I pray that my appetite for the things I should be eating would remain and my appetite for the things I should not eat would be diminished.  Most of all though I pray that God would let me use my story to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others around me. 

You see, even after losing 120 pounds I know that I still have a problem with the sin of gluttony.  If I give myself over my desires, I will put that 120 pounds back on just as fast (if not faster) than I lost it.  Knowing this, I have tried to share my story with as many people as I can.  In doing this, I have a built in accountability that I NEED!  All of you as my friends and family are part of my accountability network when it comes to my weight.  If I stop posting on this blog that most likely means that I am not doing well and I hope some of you will contact me and urge me on.  Experientially I do know that I could never have lost the weight I have lost on my own.  Additionally, I know that on my own I will not lose the weight that I still need to lose.  If I go this alone, I know that I will gain back every pound that I ever lost and more.  With this all being true I need to rely on the grace and power that I have through Christ.  He is the only way that I have had any success at all.  I just wish I could have shared that on the radio on Saturday with 100's of more people.

I lost 3.8 pounds this week and 125 pounds so far total.  God amazes me every day with the miracle he is doing in me.

God has called my family to GO! (313.8 pounds)

I was fortunate enough to marry my high school sweat heart.  There are so many things that I appreciate about my wife (of 15 years now.)  One thing that I have often times taken for granted is that Ruth and I line up so very closely on things that are very important in our lives as parents and as husband and wife.  One of the things Ruth and I have always seen eye to eye on was God's calling on our lives.  I must pause to say that there have been periods of my life where I let other things get in the way of my pursuit of the Lord's calling, but it was never far from my mind.  For over fifteen years, Ruth and I have known that God wants us serve as full time missionaries on a foreign field.  For almost 15 years, I have been too busy to pursue this calling or making excuses on why we should not go.  For the longest time, I have used the excuse that I should stay here and work and give so that others could go, but the reality is that God has called my family and me to GO!    So, here is my public declaration:

Alexis, Sarah, Ruth and I are going to follow the Lord and become missionaries.  We have been called by God to go to the country of Bangladesh.  It is estimated that over 90% of Bengali people are Muslims and less than 1% are Christians.  My family and I would never have chosen the field of Bangladesh if we were given a choice based on our own desires, but we are willing to give God the preeminence in our lives and we are thrilled to be going to Bangladesh.  I will post more information at another time on what we will be doing in Bangladesh, but in the mean time please pray for us.  Pray for my daughters who are also open to God's calling to go to Bangladesh, but they will be learning about the pain that comes at times with following Christ.  Pray for my wife as she is preparing school supplies for our girls as she will be homeschooling them when we get to the field.  Pray that God would be working in the hearts of people who would partner with us as we get ready to raise support to go to the field.  Most importantly though please pray for the men, women and children of Bangladesh that they would be receptive to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.  Lastly, please pray with me as I prepare to talk to the team in my corporate office to tell them all of our plans.  I am scheduled to take them all to lunch on 8/17 where I will be telling them of my families plans.  This will be an especially difficult time for me as I have grown to know these people well and consider them all friends and I love them a great deal.

This information will come as a surprise to some of you and any time you have questions I would love to be able to answer them (574-386-3456.)

After a bad week last week, this week in weight loss was awesome!  I am proud to say that I lost 8 pounds this week!  I am currently at 313.8 pounds and 299.9 is in plain sight!