There Is Hope (2)

At First Farragut we've had two Sundays now of "There is HOPE". Hope in Church and Hope in Christ have taken us through the first chapter of Colossians. My plan was to write a blog entry after each session of "There is HOPE" to be done by the time the "By the Way" (First Farragut's weekly newsletter) goes out on Wednesday. I've not been able to do it this week. It's not that I don't have anything to say, but because someone else already said it better than I ever could. Amanda Cleveland, a First Farragut youth, writes some incredible blog entries and she has one from Sunday. Check it out!

BIT: Hope isn't a fairytale, it's a promise. Thanks Amanda!

Update: 50 in 5

Yes, I know that I have not been doing regular updates on my 50 in 5 challenge. If you've not read the previous post ... I'm trying to lose 50 pounds in 5 months. It started on July 1 and runs through November. If your a math genius, you know that the average I need to lose is 10 pounds per month. It has been a month and a half ... so to be on target I would need to have lost 15 pounds.

[Scene cuts to John eating at the All-You-Can-Eat Seafood Buffet at Seafood World in Myrtle Beach] As we all know John struggled in July with his challenge as he was on vacation and tempted by all the wonderful food of Myrtle Beach. [Scene cuts to John walking around Pirate Land Family Campground] But he was no slouch either, regularly walking in the mornings even while on vacation. Did John exercise enough to be on his target loss or did he eat away all of his loss?

Well, for the first two weeks of July (before vacation) I did lose 5 pounds. Then two weeks of vacation, where I LOST 1 pound. Not the loss I wanted, but a loss while on vacation is a keeper. Then two weeks in August, back on the walking trail, and I lost another 4 pounds. My update is that I have lost 10 pounds (and am 5 pounds behind my goal).

But there is good news. I had my 3 month check up (which was really 5 months, but Dr. Ken didn't mention being 2 months late so we're going with it). My cholesterol came in at 199 -- below 200 for the first time since I've been testing. My sugars were down. My blood pressure top number was down 30 points (it's still high, but 30 points!).

I'll update you at the end of August. Maybe I can make up two or three pounds? Who knows.

BIT: I just wanted to share "The Call to Prayer" for my morning time with God. It is from Psalm 147:1. "Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God! How pleasant it is to honor him with praise!"

There Is HOPE

Have you ever listened to a song over and over again and then all of a sudden you are hit with this deep meaning spiritual moment? I have the album "Hawk Nelson is My Friend!" on my ipod. I listen to it when I'm walking (as part of my 50 in 5). It's fast paced and it inspires me to go faster and further. My favorite song on the album is Let's Dance, but I listen to them all. So, I've listened to One Little Miracle more than a few times. Nothing had really jumped out at me. A lot of times my mind is wandering when I'm walking (with an occasional run here and there) ... thinking about God, my next sermon series, what's going on in the life of my family, etc. Or, the voice of Jillian Michaels is screaming at me "Run, fat boy, run" (which we'll leave to later blog). I'm not always paying attention to the lyrics of the songs I'm hearing. But this morning, as I rounded the turn for my 4th mile, I was on Union Rd behind the Church (which is narrow and scary), that song came on and it was like the words and music were speaking just to me.


Perhaps I was more attune to the topic of hope because of our new worship series "There is HOPE (Colossians @ First Farragut). Usually my walks fill me with dread and pain, but this morning I was filled with God's reassuring hope as I listened to One Little Miracle by Hawk Nelson.

BIT: I "hope" you're being filled supernaturally by God's hope this week and/or sharing God's hope with someone who needs it. There is HOPE in Church!