Saturday Night - Turkey Fry!

First of all, my apologies to the Lighthouse Class at LRBC for skipping out on the turkey fry tonight. I'm sure the food and fellowship were wonderful! It's not the fact that there's temptation to eat wrong, or too much; I'm smack in the middle of "detox", and there would have been nothing there I could have eaten. Sorry guys!

This morning we learned how to properly use a recumbent bike and a treadmill for fat-burning. I had been looking forward to the bike, because I knew from physical therapy that I would enjoy that.

Pretty much wrong. Johnnie took all the fun out of it and killed us this morning! But we learned so much today on an "off-day", and I am so thankful that even when with his other clients, Johnnie took time out of his morning to train us.

I'm sore today... soaked in epsom salts (thanks, Kristy!) this evening. Johnnie told us not to exercise on Sundays, so we get a day off. I'm almost afraid to take the day off for fear of losing the gains I've made so far. But muscles have to be repaired. I'm looking forward to tomorrow - PHC is letting me have all the chicken and fish and brown rice I want to eat tomorrow! After two days of veggies and fruits, I'm ready for some "real food". It won't be KFC and Red Lobster, but still...

Oh yeah, almost forgot... this morning when I got dressed at the gym, my belt went down a notch! Woo-hoo!!

Well, here's all 12 of us... we aren't all exactly to scale! Front row, 1st 6 people are the red team - Bronnie, Tammy, Nandy (that's not a typo, just a really cool name for a really sweet girl), Charles, me, and Lisa. All those other people are the blue team, most of whose names I can't remember right now because we only met once. The guy on the top left is Tanner; he's Lisa's son.

In Through the Nose....

We made it through our first workout this morning without passing out, getting sick, or dying! I got a little nauseated, and some leg cramps and back pain, but I made it home in one piece. We did exercises that, when you sit and watch someone else do it, you think, "that doesn't seem so bad".  And to complete the illusion, our trainer introduced each new exercise with, "all you gotta do is..." But in all honesty, our trainer Johnnie is not only pushing us, but teaching us. He had us high-stepping up and down the main aisle, where we paraded past skinny little "perfect" people  on their treadmills and bikes. But after a few seconds they 'disappeared', and there was no one 'there' but us.

 

Just gotta remember... in through the nose, out through the mouth.

 

 

 

 

EARLY Thursday Morning - A Note to My Teammates

Wow - I woke up at 4:30 without an alarm clock this morning - my body must be telling me it's time to get ready for all this! I don't have to be in the office until around 9, so this is about a 3 hour time shift in my day. And I like to stay up late (I'm a night owl) -- those days are over.

 

I appreciate what Nandy wrote last night - I get tears in my eyes thinking about the enormity of the opportunity we have been given, and when I think about all the changes that are about to take place. Some of you have a past full of athletics - not me. This is my first chance to be lighter, faster, stronger, and more confident than I have ever been in my life.

 

I hope each of you has a strong support group - not because you "have" to have it, but because shared excitement feeds off of itself. I am blessed to have a church family to share my joys (and sorrows) with, and they are so excited for us! The kids in our Awana Club are so excited that the TV cameras are coming to Awana next week!

 

Have any of you thought about a specific goal regarding your weight? I was talking to a buddy of mine Tuesday morning about all this, and he said, "Well, you're a big guy - you'll never be, say, 190." Well, 190 is well within the range of what my normal weight should be - in fact, 172-197 is the weight the insurance tables tell me I should be carrying to maximize longevity. So I guess my ultimate goal (whether I reach it by May or not) is to break the 200 lb. mark and get into the 190's. That would put me trying to accomplish what Bernard accomplished - losing somewhere around 150 lbs. - a 45.5% body weight loss.

 

Just one more thought - we won't see much of them, but there are 6 other wonderful, equally-as-deserving, equally-as-motivated people as we are who are going through this process along with us. While we don't want anyone from the blue team to be THE Biggest Loser, my sincere hope and desire is for all of them to reach their full potential, as well. One of our red team member's heart (Lisa) is on that blue team (Tanner), and we want him to be wildly successful, so that he doesn't have 20 or 30 or 40 years of carrying all the baggage around with him.

 

Have a great day - see you all at PHC tonight, and at the gym in 24 hours!

 

"Believe in yourself, trust the process, change forever."

Calm Before the Storm...

Well, we're in the calm before the storm. I got my blood drawn this morning for the labwork that PHC will use to determine my dietary needs. I can tell them they're going to find a lot of cheeseburgers and pizzas floating around in there! The girl at the lab was not extremely friendly, but she was very efficient, and the experience was nearly pain-free. (I hate needles.) I also went to see my doctor today, and with an EKG, an "open-your-mouth-and-say-ahhhh", and a few deep breaths, he determined that I am at least healthy enough to participate in Augusta's Biggest Loser. He did not, however, guarantee that I would survive!

 

Tomorrow (Thursday, November 5th) is the last day for the next six months that will not begin with a 5:30 AM workout. I feel like I'm about to join the army! I received emails from some of my teammates today who were talking about working out together on the "off days" (days without the trainer). I want to, but I suggested that we wait until after day one to decide if we can do day two right behind it!

 

We are all very excited, and ready to go... but I have not yet decided if my theme verse will be "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me", or "Master, carest thou not that we perish?"!!

Augusta's Biggest Loser, Unofficial Day One

Last Friday I received a phone call from the promotions manager at NBC Augusta, telling me that I had made the final 15, and that I needed to be at the station at 7:00 PM on Monday to talk to the people from Omni and PHC. I took a seat in the back row of the three rows of chairs they had set up for us. As the chairs began to fill in, I thought, "I wonder if they will assume that the people sitting closer to the front want it more?" So I moved up and told everyone that I was afraid they would send the back row of contestants home. No worries, though. Jay Jefferies, the morning weather guy, picked up the papers from the table and said, as only a true Southerner can say, "It's ALL YA'LL!" We received congratulations from him and Liz Hill, the morning anchor, and then were introduced to various people standing around the newsroom. Trainers, nutritionists, chiropractors, ad people came up to speak to us. We then had to get up in front of the group, introduce ourselves, and tell why we were there. Afterwards, the masses began to depart for home, leaving us to take "before" photos, hop on the scale, and exchange numbers and email addresses. We were cautioned not to go have a "last meal", but to begin immediately watching what we ate, drinking plenty of water, laying off the diet sodas, and doing the best we could with what we already know until we have a chance for PHC to analyze us and put together a nutrition plan. Between now and Friday, it's off to the doctor and the lab so they can figure out what I need. I've already been in contact with my trainer and my other team members, and am enjoying getting to know some really terrific people.

Well, here we go............. Augusta's Biggest Loser!

Test Post

Trying a new desktop blogger thing... hoping to make new posts more habitual!

In the beginning God...

I read a news item Sunday night that told about an "academic" who has decided that in the original Hebrew, the Bible doesn't really say that God created the heavens and the earth, but rather that He "separated" the heavens and the earth. Her conclusion is that God did not create the earth itself, just everything on it.

 

It's hard to remember sometimes that God created the skeptics, too.

What do you mean, "read my Bible?"

The Center for Bible Engagement in Lincoln, Nebraska has just completed a landmark research study that reveals regular church attendance has little to no effect at all on behaviors like marital infidelity, drug dependency, financial crisis, emotional sickness, or other undesirable behaviors. They discovered the real "tipping point" of spiritual maturity happens when we encounter the Bible at least four times a week.

Reading the Bible four or more times a week. Who would have thought?

I'll be your friend, but not a very good one...

Facebook. Everyone is on facebook these days. It's been interesting to find people from the past - high school, college, early days in the ministry - and the present. If you know me and you are on facebook, please feel free to send me a friend request. But I will warn you ahead of time, I'm not a very good "friend".

If you send me a button or a piece of flair, I probably won't acknowledge it or send anything in return. You can invite me to your favorite events, ask me to join a cause, or hit me with snowballs and water balloons. I don't mind, but everything gets an "ignore". Automatically. I don't even think about it. I don't need to take a quiz to find out that I know nothing about music in the 80's, films in the 90's, or TV in the 60's. I don't care if my IQ is lower than Peyton Manning's or higher than Herman Munster's.

Life is too busy and too complicated in the real world; I don't have time for all that in the digital world. If you want to "friend" me, fine. But don't expect very much.

6 Things Everyone Needs to Know About E-Mail & Internet

1. No one in Nigeria is going to give you $12 million to help them transfer hundreds of millions of dollars into the U.S.

2. No restaurant or business is giving away free gift cards - not Target, not Applebees - none of them.

3. No bank is going to send you an email and ask you for your account information, your PIN number, or your social security number.

4. No password is completely safe. Strengthen your passwords by including upper and lower case letters, at least one number, and at least one punctuation mark, particularly for online banking or credit account access.

5. If you have a facebook or myspace account, don't post any personal information that you don't want the whole world to know, such as your email address, your real address, or your phone number.

6. Any email you are not expecting should be treated as suspicious, even if it's from someone you know. If you ever get an email from, for example, me, with a subject line of, "You've GOT to see this!" or "This is the funniest thing I've ever seen" - DON'T open it. (And by the way, don't be offended if you send me something and I don't open it - if I'm not sure it's safe, I don't open it. And neither should you.)

And always remember, if you want to check out a story before passing it along, just go to snopes.com and type what you are looking for in their search box. More often than not, you will discover the truth about that missing girl, the guy who is drugging ladies with perfume samples in parking lots, or the patient who will receive 3 cents for every forwarded email.

Stay safe!

Fight the Freedom of Choice Act Petition

There are so many phony petitions floating around the internet - everything from "Madelyn Murray O'Hare is trying to take religious programming off the air" to "x amount of signatures will help cure this sick child" - that I hesitate to even mention one. But this one is real, and I think it deserves our attention.

 

During an address to Planned Parenthood in July of 2007, then-candidate Senator Barack Obama said, "The first thing I'd do, as president, is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That's the first thing that I'd do." Well, he's president now, and he is waiting on the House and the Senate to send him the Freedom of Choice Act, a lethal piece of legislation that has been floundering in committee for five years, but will possibly make it to President Obama's desk. This act will lift all federal restrictions on abortion, including partial birth abortions, and could possibly be used to force faith-based hospitals to perform abortions against their will.

 

The group Americans United for Life has started an online petition drive, and has collected over 600,000 signatures to date. Their intention is to have this petition ready to deliver to Congress as soon as the bill comes out of committee. I urge all of you who read this to go to their website, http://www.fightfoca.com, and add your name to the list.

 

Signing the Freedom of Choice Act, it turns out, was not the first thing President Obama did when he took office. But he clearly indicated his stance and his intentions by overturning the Bush administration's ban on using federal funds to subsidize abortions in other countries.

 

Please visit this site and sign the petition.

 

P.S. - Madelyn Murray O'Hare is not trying to take religious programming off the air - she's dead. But those who would seek to destroy the moral fabric of our nation, unfortunately, are still quite active.

A Really Weird Song...

Saturday afternoon I was making my third trip to the hardware store, and as I listened to the local contemporary Christian station, I heard this little ditty coming out of my speakers.

Britney, I'm sorry for the lies we told
We took you into our arms and then left you cold
Britney I'm sorry for this cruel cruel world
We sell the beauty but destroy the girl
Britney I'm sorry for your broken heart
We stood aside and watched you fall apart
I'm sorry we told you fame would fill you up
And money moves the man so drink the cup

I know love goes around the world we know
And you never see it coming back
You never see it coming back
I know love goes around the world we know
And you never see it coming back
But I can see it coming back for you
Yes coming back for you

Britney I'm sorry for the stones we throw
We tear you down just so we can watch the show
Britney I'm sorry for the words we say
We point the finger as you fall from grace

Wow... does this guy (Bebo Norman, a young artist from Columbus, GA) really think that Britney Spears' spending habits, addictions, and bizzare behaviors are OUR fault?? And that we owe her an apology of some sort? And in the grander scheme of things, THIS is what passes for legitimate Christian music? After hearing this meaningless tripe, what a contrast to sit in church not 24 hours later and hear this one:

I boast not of works, nor tell of good deeds,
For naught have I done to merit His grace.
All glory and praise shall rest upon Him,
So willing to die in my place.

My trophies and crowns, my robe stained with sin
Was all that I had to lay at His feet.
Unworthy to eat from the table of life,
Till Love made provision for me.

I will glory in the cross, in the cross,
Lest His suffering all be in vain.
I will weep no more for the cross that He bore,
I will glory in the cross.

I'm not knocking contemporary Christian music - but why do so many artists think the way to reach the world is to take God OUT of their music?

Just my two cents' worth...

What Have We Gotten Ourselves Into?

How well do you know the man who was just sworn in at noon on Tuesday?

*On economic policy: "We should be guided by what works."

*On minimum wage: advocates raising it to $9.50 per hour (do you really want to pay $9.50 for a value meal at McDonalds?)

*On education: opposes school choice vouchers, opposes the teaching of intelligent design as fact, and supports merit pay raises to teachers, with the standards being set by... teachers.

* On energy: opposes the construction of nuclear plants, called McCain's proposal for 45 new plants "not serious, not new" and "not the kind of energy policy that will give families the relief they need." (Meanwhile, his home state of Illinois has more than half of its energy produced by nuclear power plants.)

* On vehicle energy: wants to ban the production of any vehicle that does not get at least 50 miles per gallon by 2030.

* On health care: wants universal health care by 2012, and plans to fine companies who do not provide health care for their employees.

* On housing: proposes a 33% increase in capital gains taxes on the sale of homes.

* On immigration: opposes deporting illegals; supports giving drivers' licenses to illegals; voted against declaring English to be the official language of the federal government.

* On foreign policy: does not believe that Iran, Cuba, or Venezuela pose a serious threat to the U.S.

* On the military: supports growing the number of troops, but wants to kill our missile defense system and slow the growth of Future Combat Systems (the primary military modernization program). Also would make Selective Service Registration mandatory for women as well as men.

* On abortion: has consistently refused to label himself as either pro-life or pro-abortion; voted for funding to provide contraceptives to students.

* On marriage and sexuality: voted against the amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman; supports giving "civil unions" the same status as married partners; "I do not agree... that homosexuality is immoral." "I strongly believe that African-Americans and the LGBT community must stand together in the fight for equal rights." (LGBT is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender.)

Ladies and gentlemen, your president, Barack Obama!

No pressure...

I missed a phone call yesterday morning, and spent the day playing phone tag with the caller, Dr. David Wood. As we talked, I recalled how my phone number got into the phonebook of a world-renowned evangelist. Dr. Wood is the founder of several ministries - Operation Go, The Witness Project, and Faith in Action. After I was recruited to take a PowerPoint presentation and develop it into a video for Faith in Action, Dr. Wood has been steadily providing me with additional projects - some small, some big. I recently finished a 15-minute video on his 6-year strategy for reaching India with the gospel.

 

When the phone rang, I thought he was calling to discuss the latest project he had for me - a previously-discussed plan to update some of their older videos with newer information. "Bro. Ed, I love the India video, but I need to know if you can edit it down from 15 minutes to about 9 minutes. I need to show it at a church next weekend, but I need it to be shorter. Can you produce a shorter version of it and have it in my office by Wednesday?" "Sure", I said, and began working immediately after supper. At midnight, I was finished, and quite proud of my efforts.

 

He called me back today during lunch. "Bro. Ed, I really appreciate your work on cutting that video down to 9 minutes. I'm going to be presenting the India ministry during Sunday School next Sunday morning, and they suggested that we bring a 2-3 minute video segment to show during Sunday School, to whet the people's appetite for the entire presentation Sunday night. Can you cut it down to 3 minutes? This is for the largest church in Alaska (Anchorage Baptist Temple), and this will be shown during a live television broadcast. There is a lot of money for the India project riding on this... and I need it by Wednesday, too."

 

No pressure.......

 

"Sure", I said. I finished my lunch and began working. The fastest way to get this done was to start completely over from scratch, instead of trying to cut and paste a preview video together from the footage I already had developed. Trying to decide which 3 minutes of narration to keep out of a 15-minute presentation was no small feat. Dr. Wood had written the script for the original video, and here I was, leaving 80% of his message on the cutting room floor. I could only hope that the 20% I chose is the right part. I suppose I will find out when he gets the DVDs on Tuesday.

 

It is very humbling to realize that the videos I create will be used to help Dr. Wood share his vision with churches all over the United States. I'm grateful for the opportunity to help their ministry in this small way.

It's Been a While...

I haven't posted anything since Halloween time... I have been extremely busy with all things Christmas around the church.

I don't know how many will read this, but I want to express my gratitude to the choir at LRBC for their hard work on the cantata, and also for their generous Christmas gift. This year was our 12th Christmas cantata together!

I want to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas, and best wishes for the New Year. I don't know what your New Year's resolutions may be, but I really only have two: First, to lose weight. Again. A friend was commenting that they had struggled with their weight forever; they had spent their whole life either dieting, or needing to diet. I sympathize. Second, I want to have an impact and an influence on those around me. It saddens me that there are people that I have been rubbing shoulders with for years, and I know that I have not made much of a difference in their lives. I want God to change that in me this year.

What do you want to accomplish in '09?

P.S. - I obviously didn't make it to Augusta's Biggest Loser... but I did get a sales pitch from PHC to separate me from my wallet.

The Biggest Waiter...

Still haven't heard anything on Augusta's Biggest Loser... they said they had to push the notification date into early November.

The Biggest Loser

About 6 weeks ago, I threw my name in the hat for "Augusta's Biggest Loser", a weight-loss competition sponsored by our local NBC affiliate. I should know by Wednesday if I happened to be selected or not. I've never had professional help with weight loss, unless you count a short, parent-mandated flirtation with Weight Watchers in the mid 70's -- when all the W.W. food and drinks tasted like they were produced in conjunction with Jiffy Lube. I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, while doing a search for "Biggest Loser", I came across this classic newspaper headline: "'Biggest Loser' audition canceled due to large crowd." I had to laugh at the wording, intentional or not. Apparently they set up a casting call at a Dave & Buster's restaurant in San Diego. 1500 people who needed to be on "The Biggest Loser" showed up. A standard D&B will hold about half that many people, maybe less. Thus, the headline - audition canceled due to large crowd.

Collection-plate Protocol??

An article appeared about our church in the Metro Spirit last week - it seems a contributing columnist has been visiting local churches at random, and writing about each church based on one visit. Mrs. Angel Cleary visited our church the night that we had Jeremy Edens in our service, and because we took a separate love offering for him, she decided that we were all about the collection plate. You can read her article here.

While she did write that we were friendly, that was pretty much the only positive thing she wrote. Our instruments, in her view, are "an interesting combo"; our Sunday night crowd was in "full suits and high heels"; and she apparently wasn't happy that our guest pointed out that in spite of Patagonia being littered with Catholic churches, no one is preaching the gospel there.

In case you want to check out her other church critiques, they are listed on the side of her column with such titles as "Karaoke Church" (Glenn Hills Baptist) and "Churches and Dead Cats" (Woodlawn Methodist).

Apparently, we are not the only church that has been misrepresented by this writer - I found the following letter to the editor from a member of Oak Grove Baptist Church:

"To the editor:

AUGUSTA, GA - On Wednesday, Jan. 9, the Metro Spirit printed an unfortunate article by a troubled young lady named Angel Cleary. Cleary need not expect a Pulitzer Prize for her misguided, inaccurate smear of a small Southern Baptist Church.

Finding a Baptist church in Georgia made of brick with white columns and a steeple is a discovery worthy of national media attention. Cleary just described the vast majority of Baptist churches in the Southeast.

Her personal attack on the musical minister demonstrates her lack of unprofessionalism and underlying emotional problems. Twice, she referred to her disturbed childhood. I suggest that she focus less on Nostradamus and more on the words of any supreme being she chooses.

Cleary claims she had nightmares as a child, wondering if she would be here for the rapture. I hope she is here when it occurs so she can report on it afterwards. Most of the journalists and reporters of her ilk will still be here.

The prominent sign she refers to is actually a small sign in the very back of the church and does not mention anything about the steps. This is an outright falsehood.

Surely Cleary can find a more newsworthy story at one of the big, rich churches in the CSRA, but I don’t think she will. I do not believe intestinal fortitude is one of Cleary’s strong points. Perhaps Islamic theology is.

The pastor of Oak Grove Baptist does not promote any doctrine that is not set forth by the Southern Baptist Convention. All Baptists, all Christians, for that matter, should take exception to her scurrilous article.

How astute Cleary must be to deduce that the people inside the church seemed to know everyone else. Her keen powers of perception are apparently being wasted on the Metro Spirit. She could have a lucrative career as a psychologist.

Members of Oak Grove Baptist never realized that they belonged to a “farm church,” which is an ignorant phrase coined by Cleary. Actually there are no farmers in the church, but they would be welcomed. Cleary, on the other hand, is one Oak Grove can do without."

Just for the record, a couple of Catholics wrote in to complain about the manner in which she reported on their church, as well. Apparently Ms. Cleary visits churches, writes about them, and leaves some pretty upset folk in her wake.