Russell Mckinney's Blog

Straight Talk About God and Life

My Weight Loss Goal Has Been Reached

Approximately seven weeks ago, on January 13th, I posted a blog entitled “Diet Time Again.” In that blog, I announced that I had begun a diet. I wanted to get my weight down from 201 to 180. I also gave the specifics of my tried and true plan for weight loss.

Well, I’m happy to report that yesterday morning I reached my goal of 180 pounds. Now I can move into maintenance mode and try to stay in the close vacinity of this weight. Several years ago, I had a fair amount of success maintaining my weight after a previous diet. I actually held the weight for a few years before falling off the wagon and starting the upward climb. We’ll see how things go this time.

Ecclesiastes 7:8 says: “The end of a thing is better than its beginning.” Solomon didn’t have diets on his mind when he wrote those words, but he sure could have. When those scale numbers materialized into the number 180 yesterday morning, I felt such a tremendous wave of accomplishment surge through my now skinnier body. That “end” was certainly a lot better than the “beginning” of 201!

Today, there’s no doubt that my “temple of the Holy Spirit” is in better shape than it was at the start of this year. The thirty minutes of exercising I’ve been doing five or six days a week has my muscles toned, my energy level up, and my stamina level increased. I won’t say I’m in the best shape of my life because that title will always be held by my early twenties self. I weighed this same weight then, but didn’t have the bad back, nicked up knee, and touch of arthritis in my right pinkie. I also didn’t have the wear and tear of a lot of years of pastoring and parenting! Still, though, I think I’m doing alright for a guy who’s 43.

To those of you out there who are Christians and need to lose some weight, I want to offer this thought: your dieting will go much better if you will see your weight loss as a spiritual activity. Don’t think, “Oh, this is something that I have to do.” Think instead, “This is something that I need to do to do a better job of maintaining my temple of the Holy Spirit.”

You see, Christian, when you get the focus off you and onto God the Holy Spirit, who literally lives inside your body, that will get your perspective where it needs to be. When weight loss goes from being something you are doing for yourself to being something you are doing for Him, you stand a far greater chance of being successful with that weight loss.

And the great news is, when you lose the weight under that mentality, you will receive eternal rewards as well as the obvious earthly rewards. You won’t just lose weight; you will gain heavenly rewards at the judgment seat of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11-15; 2 Corinthians 5:9-10). So, that’s like having your cake and eating it too! Oh, wait, that’s not the best comparison is it? Sorry about that.

March 1, 2010 Posted by russellmckinney | Heaven, Personal, Reward, dieting | , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

No Church Today

We had to cancel church today due to our second big snow in six weeks. Whereas the December storm dumped a foot on us, this one only gave us six or seven inches. I suppose we should be grateful that the weather guys missed the forecast a little. We were supposed to have gotten a foot again.

I really do hate cancelling church. The fact is, I could get there. I have not one but two all-wheel-drive vehicles and am pretty good at driving on snow and ice. I could get the parking lot scraped too. My brother-in-law, Ben, has a big blade on his jeep and volunteers to handle that job for me.

So why cancel? I do it because I don’t want anybody getting hurt by trying to get to church on a wintry morning. If one car ended up in a ditch, I’d feel terrible. If one elderly person slipped and broke a hip while getting in or out of a car, I’d feel terrible. If one mother’s feet gave way and she went down while holding her child, I’d feel terrible. I know that we are not supposed to live in fear of what could happen, and I’m really not a “doom and gloom” person. But I don’t think God wants us to completely abandon common sense in some misguided, fanatical zeal about never missing a church service.

As I listened to the church closings on our local radio station this morning, it became obvious that 95% of the pastors took the same cautious approach I did today. No church was having regular services. One was only having an 11:00 worship service. A couple were having one 2:00 service this afternoon. But 95% just cancelled everything.

For me, a Sunday morning without church is like a basketball court without goals. It’s just not right. I’m not one of these people who secretly cheers when church gets cancelled. (Seriously, if you are such a person, you need to do some soul searching and figure out why getting to “legally” skip church excites you.) And it’s not just the fact that I want to preach. It seems like I’m always preparing sermons or preaching them. The thing is, I really do miss the fellowship and community of church. I enjoy being around my brothers and sisters in Christ. I enjoy them being a blessing to me and me being a blessing to them.

Oh well, my prayer on days like today is that cancelling services will help the members realize how much they enjoy coming to Disciples Road Church. It’s the old “absence makes the heart grow fonder” thing. I don’t ever want church attendance to become rut or ritual to them. I don’t even want it to become mere ”religion.” Christianity got off track when it became a religion. It was always supposed to be a relationship, a relationship between the believer and Jesus. And as a integral part of that relationship, the believer is supposed to attend church on Sunday, the first day of the week, as a way of celebrating Christ’s resurrection on that Sunday morning so long ago. Yes, Christians are supposed to do that celebrating every Sunday, not just Easter Sunday.

On a completely different note, I did get one bit of good news this morning. My scales weighed me at 187 pounds. So, I’ve lost 14 pounds in 20 days since I started my diet and exercise program. If you want to know the specifics of how I’m doing it, go back and read the post entitled “It’s Diet Time Again.” 

My goal is still to get somewhere between 175 and 180 pounds. From there I’ll just be trying to maintain. I’ve been in that range before, and I’ve even held it for a couple of years, but it doesn’t happen naturally. What naturally happens is me drifting back up over 200 pounds. Since I know that full well, maybe I can prevent it from happening this time and stay at my ideal weight. Now if I can just figure out a way to safely have church after a big snow on Saturday. That one is a little more problematic.            

January 31, 2010 Posted by russellmckinney | Christ's Resurrection, Church attendance, Easter, Personal, church, dieting | , , , , | Leave a Comment

A Couple Of Updates

I thought I’d check in this afternoon and offer a couple of updates.

Update #1: We just added four more audio sermons to the church website (www.disciplesroadchurch.com). That makes a total of 22 sermons for your listening pleasure. The latest four are:

- ”Abortion”

-”In Defense Of The Virgin Birth”

- ”Jesus & Creation”

-”A Christian’s New Year’s Resolutions”

I think that each of these sermons will be a blessing to you, but in particular let me recommend the one on abortion. It’s a sermon I preached several years ago, and the introduction is dated in regards to the political people that I mention. But once you get past those opening minutes, you’ll find a clear and concise study of  what the Bible teaches about life in the womb. I also cover the arguments for abortion and explain how they match up with the Bible. Seriously, if you have any questions about this controversial issue, listen to this sermon. It’s only about 30 minutes long and it will help you.

Update #2: When I wrote that I was going on a diet, I promised that I’d check in with periodic reports. So here’s my first one: This morning my digital scales weighed me in at 194. That’s a loss of 7 pounds in 10 days. I’ll take that. I could have done a little better but I splurged this past weekend by eating out twice. That after- church buffet bar at K.F.C. was not diet friendly. Neither was the popcorn shrimp and fries I had Saturday night. All of it sure was tasty, though. You can’t just eat low-fat food all the time. You’ll turn yourself into a food martyr. Always remember to keep dieting in a proper balance. Do it, but don’t make it a form of idolatry that owns you.   

For the record, each day I’m still doing the two quarts of water, the 30 minutes of exercise, and limiting myself to no more than 2,000 calories and 30 fat grams. It ain’t always easy but it’s encouraging when the scales show progress. I’ll keep you posted.

January 20, 2010 Posted by russellmckinney | Personal, abortion, dieting | , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Diet Time Again

Well, this past Monday I hit the ground running on my new diet. My digital scales clocked me in at 201. That’s 20 to 25 pounds north of where I need to be. Since it’s been a few years since I really got into diet mode, I think I’m due for a reconfiguring.

Truth be told, in addition to my weight issues, my stomach has been bothering me quite a bit for the past several months. Too much fried food will do that. I was up to two tagaments a day because the heartburn had become such an issue.

I don’t worry that I won’t be able to lose weight. That’s not to brag, just to state the truth. I know I can drop pounds when I put my mind to it. I wasn’t always so confident, but several years ago I went from 225 to 175 in just a few months. That’s when I learned how to effectively shed weight.

My teacher was a Bariatric Clinic that Tonya and I attended for a while. They gave us a simple plan and guaranteed that we would lose weight if we followed it. For a male, it goes like this:

1. I’m allowed food and drinks totaling up to 30 fat grams and 2,000 calories per day.

2. I have to drink two quarts of water each day.

3. I have to put in 30 minutes of exercise each day.

Certainly there are all kinds of other diets out there (Atkins, Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, etc.), and I’m sure these other plans will work too. For me, though, I know what’s done the trick in the past. I’ll dance with the one that brung me.

Back then, it took me a few weeks to get the hang of reading the sides of every box and learning to count fat grams and calories. Eventually, though, I became an expert at it. As for the 30 minutes of exercise, my weapon of choice is a treadmill. Yes, it’s old school, but it works. It’s been sitting there in my bedroom just waiting for the day when we’d get reaquainted. I can drink one of my two required quarts of water while walking on it and watching t.v.          

The exercising is fine once you get in the habit of it. It really does give you more energy. Drinking all that water is a bit of a chore, but it’s not too terrible. The hardest thing is the difference in the tastes of foods. With a few notable exceptions, fattening food does taste better. Don’t believe the hype about not being able to tell the difference between regular food and low-fat food. But as the old saying goes, no pain no gain (or in this case, no loss).

If I needed any reassurance that my tried and true system still works, my digital bathroom scales have been giving it to me. By Tuesday morning I had gone from 201 to 199. This morning I was at 198. The slow process has begun. Oh, I’m well aware that losing the first handful of pounds is the easiest. Just drinking the water will accomplish that. If I’ll stay on course, though, the scales will continue to be friendly. Like so many things, the plan will work if I will work the plan.

I’m not one of these fitness fanatics who is going to lose my mind over my appearance. I’m not going to bow down before weight loss as an idol either. (I’ll admit that I experienced a touch of that when I lost all that weight years ago.) And, yes, I’ve read 1 Timothy 4:8, which says: “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things…” Every overweight preacher knows that verse. If you don’t mind, though, if I can get in on that “little” profit without sacrificing any godliness, I’ll take all the profit I can get.

I think the better scripture concerning weight loss is 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, which says that God the Holy Spirit’s indwelling of the Christian’s body makes that body a temple. As such, the Christian is told to “glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Admittedly, those verses are found in the context of a warning about sexual immorality, not weight loss. Still, the basic idea can be applied in any number of ways, including that of excess weight.

I do know that too many Christians are far too flippant about this subject. Preachers, in particular, are notorious for making jokes about it. For example, one old joke says that a preacher’s belt is nothing more than a fence around a chicken graveyard. Yes, that’s funny. It loses some of its humor, though, when a guy has been preaching for fifteen minutes and is red in the face, out of breath, and in need of a chair. Getting drunk or having an affair isn’t the only way to defile a temple.

As the weeks move along, I’ll keep you posted here and there on how my diet is going. I’m also trying to make some other changes for this new year. I want to go to bed earlier and get up earlier. That’s hard for a born night-owl. I want to watch less television. I want to listen to more preaching and contemporary Christian music. I’ve already started writing a second book. This one deals with prayer. Hopefully, and prayfully, I’ll make great strides in all of these areas as 2010 unfolds. One thing’s for sure: I’ve got plenty of room in my life for improvement.

January 13, 2010 Posted by russellmckinney | Choices, Christian Liberty, Personal, The Holy Spirit, The New Year, dieting | , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments