Weigh In #17

It was another travel week this week.

I have to say, I'm not the biggest fan of traveling for work. In the 90's I was a semi-road warrior for a while. I didn't travel every week but there were months where I was on the road almost every weekday (and a couple of non-weekdays). Over the course of a couple of years I probably traveled every other week to wonderful destinations like Washington DC, Columbus OH, Slidell LA, and Ogden UT. That was all before having a wife and kids. So I'm not trying to compare myself to those folks that are gone all the time (the real road warriors).

I was back in that groove for a while in '05 and '06 when I was going to Philadelphia every 2 weeks. That got old REAL fast. Regular business travel with a family (3 kids under the age of 6 at the time) is definitely not my thing. It didn't help that it was a very stressful time with both work and family life.

I have been traveling about once a month for the past few months. It's not enough to be a killer but it is enough to make me reflect on those other travel times in my life. A couple of things pop up. I was pretty far from God in both of those other periods and I was really focused on how the travel affected me, and just me. I think those two things go together. At least in my life.

As I draw closer to God and pay attention to Him in my life, I find that I don't focus on myself. I start being drawn closer to other people. As I increase my dependence on God, I actually free myself from being wrapped up in myself. I have a kind of independence that I don't get any other way. I like it... :-)

So what does this have to do with my regular topic of losing weight? Well, some time back I realized that my weight/health was an area of my life that was all about me. It may seem counter-intuitive to think about how you eat and take care of your health as being about other people. But when I looked at it I saw that it affects a lot of people.

Current culture is all about "my right to do what I want" and I support the rights and freedoms we have. But to quote someone much smarter than me:
"Everything is permissible"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"—but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. (1 Corinthians 10: 23 - 24, NLT)

And for me, there are a lot of permissible but not beneficial things that end up affecting or hurting my family and friends.

So that's some of why I started doing this back in September and, I think, part of why I'm being successful so far. That is, I've pretty much put this (and other things) in God's hands. I still work hard each day and make the choices I feel like are right. But succeeding or failing at this endeavor isn't really about me and it's not even the point.

I'm depending on God and letting His will direct my life. I've never felt more free....

And just to make sure I'm consistent and accountable, here's what the scale had to say this morning:

277.4

That's more money donated to Love146.org (as you can see over on the right side). Won't you join us in efforts to end slavery in our time?

Photo credit to fsc2k5.