Choices

11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29: 11 NKJV

At my worst I topped out at around 420 pounds.  In my own eyes I was overweight, useless and without hope.  I would go through each and every day not thinking of what exciting adventures awaited me, but of my next meal.  Food had, over time, become an addiction for me.  It not only gave me comfort in my pain, but it contributed to that very pain inside.  Some people with a food addiction have refered to it as their safe place, somewhere they could go where they felt comfortable.  I was one of those people.  When the stresses of life would come, I knew only one way to deal with them.  I would have continued on this path of self destruction had it not been for that day when I injured my knee at work.  The doctor informed me that if I didn't take action, if I didn't make the right choices, that I could expect more injuries in the future.  More than anything, this event shook me into the realization that I needed to make changes to the way I was living.  Not only that, I needed to make changes to the way I dealt with what life threw my way.  In the aftermath of my injury, doctor Chuck refered me to a physical therapy clinic here in Portland.  I was apprehensive as to whether this would be effective, for all I had known was dissapointment in my health until then.  However, far from being just another dissapointment, I was blessed to work with one of the most outstanding physical therapists I have ever met.  Not only did she guide me through my exercise rehab, but she also nudged me in the direction of making the right diet changes.  For the first time in awhile, I was making the right choices.

15But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, 16to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,
Galations 1: 15 - 16 NKJV

It took time and effort, but eventually my highest weight of 420 pounds dropped to my lowest of 328 pounds.  That's nearly 100 pounds!  So, I realized that I definately had it in me to change my lifestyle.  No longer was my only choice to reconcile myself to a life of overweight misery.  My next big moment came when I became more involved with a aquaintance from church who soon became a dear friend.  Today, my friend Kevin continues to be a inspiration and source of guidance to me.  However, it wasn't Kevins passion for health and fitness that had the most influence in me, but his revelation of the man I was in Christ.  See, Christ Jesus did not see me as a overweight person, only as His Fathers child.  In Him there is no condemnation, only love and mercy.  Continuing this trend, my friend Dennis has continued to teach me of the man I am in Christ.  The very truth of Christ Jesus is that we who have accepted Him now live each and every day AS Jesus who is within us {Galations 2:20}.  When I look into that mirror, I need not see a overweight man, but Christ Jesus Himself.  Knowing this, I have decided to document as best I can the coming year in  my life.  The title of this blog is "Gym Rat," and there is a reason for this.  For those of us who have been to the gym, we've seen them.  These are the people who spend every waking hour at the local gym working on improving their health and fitness.  While spending 24 hours a day at the gym might be reasonable to a chosen few, life dictates that I attend to my job as well.  However, my goal through this coming year is to spend more time working on my overall health and fitness.  You'll find my progress reports here on this page as I write them.  This choice was pretty simple.  If you want to get your car fixed, you go to a mechanic.  If you want your taxes done, you go to an accountant.  If you want to improve your health, you make sounder food choices and you go to the gym and be active.  It's that simple.  That being said, it begins.

~Scott~