Tired No More

It's been five weeks since I told you about my detox diet of all-natural foods, so I thought I would update you with my progress.  In thirty days I lost 14 pounds!  I'm wearing clothes that I haven't worn in years.  My energy level is improving and I've stopped fading in mid-afternoon.  Other than walking, I haven't even exercised.  It's all about the food and some natural supplements where my body is deficient.

Last week I returned to the medical clinic to get the results from the various tests that were run.  I was pretty upset to learn that in the food allergy test my blood had a severe reaction with milk and moderate to strong reactions with wheat, gluten, rye, cucumbers, lemons and peaches!  However I am not allergic to peanuts! (Thank you, Jesus!)  Still, have you ever read a label to any of the packaged food we buy?  They all seem to have wheat, gluten or milk.  Plus, I'm to stay on a diet that is free of these items for at least a year.  Is it a simple diet?  Yes.  Is it an easy diet?  No - mainly because I'll need to plan ahead and not just run to a fast food place when I get hungry.

Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening [discipline] seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

After mulling over the results for a few days, I have decided that this is not a death sentence, but rather a LIFE sentence.  By eating all-natural foods, I'm allowing my body to operate the way God designed it.  I'm feeling better and hope to stay that way.

A Time to Laugh

Ecclesiastes 3:4 "...and a time to laugh;..."

Q: What kind of lights did Noah have on the Ark?

Adults just don't take the time to really laugh, but sometimes Jesus presents laughter like a buffet.  My 'time to laugh' started at 2:30 a.m. last Thursday while away at a conference.  I was asleep when I awoke to the sound of my roommate heading to the bathroom.  Well at that time of the night, I knew I would have to go too.  Soon I took my turn and went back to bed.  My roommate started asking me it I had been up during the night, if the toilet was leaking, or if I had been sleepwalking and put a towel in the toilet. What??? After a crazy few minutes of inane discussion, we finally determined that a towel had rolled off the rack above the toilet and found its way into the water.  Now finding a towel in the toilet is not funny.  But thinking your roommate was sleepwalking and shoving towels into toilets, then taking wash cloths to pick up the soaked towel and toss it in the tub was hysterical at 2:30 in the morning. It took us a while to go back to sleep. :o)

Later that morning the keynote speaker was Barbara Dooley, the wife of former UGA football coach Vince Dooley.  She's the female version of Lewis Grizzard.  For an hour, she told us hilarious and uplifting stories that made the day even better.  I especially loved the story about their 5 year-old son, clinging to his Dad's leg on the sidelines of a UGA/GATech game when UGA was way ahead, but Tech began scoring.  Vince kept trying to get him to let go, but his son wouldn't.  Tech scored again, then Vince got down in his child's face and asked what was so important? His son said, "Don't worry Daddy, Jesus is just having a little fun!"

Psalm 126:2-3 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing.  Then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”  The Lord has done great things for us, And we are glad.

Q: What kind of lights did Noah have on the Ark?
A: Flood Lights.

Back in Time

It happened.  I traveled back in time yesterday.  I took my child to a birthday party at a local skating rink.  It had been 35 years since I had gone to a rink.  I wasn't sure what it would be like after so long,  but it was unbelievably the same. The rink was a mix of kids and teens, ranging from the expert skaters to the ones who met the floor often.  The concession stand and video games were there. The songs were either the same (Hokey Pokey & The Limbo) or very similar since today's country crossover is a lot like the sounds from the late 70s & early 80s.  In my mind I could hear Mrs. Means saying, "All skate, everyone skate."  

Why wasn't it different? Wouldn't it have become something else after more than 3 decades?  Why, after years of technological advances, was the only change playing CDs instead of records?  Why was I looking for something different?  

What worked 35 years ago works now.  And what worked 2000+ years ago also works now.

Romans10:9  that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

We need only look back in time to find the single most important event in the world and in our own life.  We cannot improve upon perfection.

Owner's Manual

I spent a long Labor Day weekend in Pigeon Forge.  I was 'glamping' with my parents (glamorous camping in an RV).  However there was no Internet service, so I missed an entry on this blog.  I was told by one reader that it was no excuse for not posting.  All I can say is that it's nice that someone noticed.  ;o)

Each time I travel to and from Pigeon Forge, it never ceases to amaze me that the vast majority of drivers use their brakes constantly while driving down the steep mountain roads.  It makes me think that people aren't really familiar with what their vehicle can do.  Don't they realize that even in an automatic they can shift to a lower gear?  Have they not read the Owner's Manual for their vehicle?  It is absolutely amazing what a car can do now.  But if people aren't familiar with those amazing things, the car might as well not be able to do them.

As followers of Christ, we too are made to do amazing things.  But if we are not familiar with those amazing things, we can't begin to do them.  I've read His Owners Manual and I am stunned by what He claims we can do.

John 14:12-13  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

I have never been able to understand how I could even come close to doing even one work that Jesus did.  And yet, the Bible shows that I not only can, but will.  I wonder what holds me back?