You may want to go more than twice…

Not being one for New Year’s resolutions, I tend to look at the end of the year as a time for reflection. As I reflected, and looked at my reflection, I decided to take a more proactive approach to my health this year. To this end, our ministry office has been on an extreme health kick. First, we dialogued the changes we were going to make. That took about a month. Then we changed a lot of our eating habits around the office. That took two months.

We noticed that there were differences among us. Deacon Tyrome, who is metabolically gifted, inhales about 5,000 calories a day but is still thin. Others of us in the office smell chocolate that SOMEONE ELSE is eating and gain weight! Regardless of our starting points we all vowed to improve personally and support one another along the way. We dealt with some myths that fat people have about thin people and that thin people have about fat people. We openly talked about what contributed to our negative habits, while continuing to celebrate the good things about ourselves. We began to hold each other accountable and make the entire process FUN!

When one person gets weak another person snitches. Deacon did a random purse snack check and found a chocolate bar in a young lady’s bag. I looked at Deacon and said, “There’s never just one…” sure enough she had second bar that had already been hidden, half consumed.  The guilty party then went on to implicate another young lady in the office that helped her eat the first half of the bar! Even though Deacon is passionate about food, he doesn’t understand the depth of bad habits that many of us have. I knew from experience that once you are in a place to buy imported gourmet chocolate you don’t just buy one bar. We laughed all day!

Month four, April, we took our fitness to another level and joined a gym. After our second workout I came back to the office and began to change shoes and prepare for the rest of the day. Deacon came in my office and began to reveal several healthy snacks to which I replied that I would rather be hungry.  Undaunted, he insisted I have a piece of all natural jerky. He continued on, saying that he was proud of me for working out and putting forth a continued effort to be healthier. I looked up from my desk, shoe leather textured jerky in hand and jokingly said with a completely straight face, “Thanks, but it’s the weirdest thing, I’m still fat.” Deacon looked at me like I was in need of immediate inpatient treatment. He said, “Well… you may want to go more than twice.”

Deacon, like many of you, understands that weight loss is a process. Although I worked out very hard, it will take more than two visits to undo all of the effects of foods I loved ranging from my mother’s baked macaroni and cheese to the sinfully decadent and creamy lobster bisque at Capital Grille.

If we understand that two visits are not enough for the gym, why do people think that two visits to church are enough to transform their lives completely?  So you went to church on Christmas and Easter and now we won’t see you again until next Christmas unless your mother calls and guilts you before Mother’s Day and says, “Don’t buy me anything. The only gift I want is for all of my children to be in church with me.” Yet you expect everything from debt cancellation to the saving of your children and restoration of your marriage. Give me a break. Until we are ready to get in there and do the hard work on a consistent basis we will not see change.

Join a church. Yes, I know that means making a commitment; but when you joined the gym you promised to pay for a year whether or not you go. When you bought your car or your car insurance you committed to a set time period. When you got your cell phone you committed to a year -long commitment and have to recommit with every phone upgrade!

Some of you reading this article are holiday worshipers or permanent visitors to various churches in the city. I urge you to make a commitment, join, and really give God your best effort. I can give you at least ten very valid reasons why I would not commit to a gym membership but at the end of the day when I really wanted to see change, none of my previous excuses hindered me. I made a decision and I did it. In order to see your life transformed, your soul renewed, mental, spiritual and emotional chains destroyed, you need to make a commitment to God that is bigger than Christmas and Easter. Join a church, after all you may want go more than twice!

Monday: Luke 8

Tuesday: Matthew 28

Wednesday: Acts 1

Thursday: Acts 2

Friday: Acts 3

Saturday: Lay out your clothes, bathe your children, comb your children’s hair, buy gas, check your stockings, set TWO alarm clocks in two different rooms, phone a friend to arrange a back up ride, make peace with the fact that the pastor’s not perfect, your phone DOES need to be on vibrate, adults may NOT snack (or sleep)during service, service WILL last longer than Law and Order but not as long as the movie Titanic and the choir may not sing “your song”. Finally, go to bed early so you won’t be “too tired”.

Sunday: JOIN A CHURCH!