Even though lot’s of stuff has been happening over the past month or so, I never seem to have time to blog about it. Well I have some time here on my lunch break so here are some of the highlights since my last real post.
On the Weight Front
I am nearly down to 50lbs lost since I started AdvoCare last October and it’s awesome except that my 36 jeans which i just got a little while ago, don’t fit anymore. Probably going to just have to buy jeans at the Good Will until I am down to my goal size of 32 otherwise it’s just to expensive. But besides clothes issues I feel so much better than I can ever remember feeling :D. Oh what’s that? You’re wondering what that much weight loss looks like? Well it just so happens that a few weeks ago I put together a before and after video of me at 235lbs and next to that me at 196lbs (I’m down to 186 as of this post). If you are a die hard about following my Facebook status then you have probably seen this already but if not here it is:
On the Work Front
Things at my job are still going smooth, still really like the people here and I would say its one of the better places overall I have worked at. My side projects are a little less smooth but finally starting to wind down (and I am thankful about that because I could sure use a break). The site that I made for me and Kristy’s business is now up and you can check it out at www.thebetterbalance.com. We are really proud of it and are hoping to add more pages soon. Please let me know what you think. We are hoping that it will make for a good tool to help us to qualify for an all expense paid trip to Sun River, the latest incentive program that the AdvoCare leaders in the Northwest are holding. This trip is something we really really want to go on and we still need help to make it happen, so if you know anyone that wants either more energy or to lose weight please let me know their information so we can contact them, or if you want them to contact us, you can email me at advofxr@gmail.com. Thank you my good reader :D.
On the God Front
So God is testing Kristy and I pretty heavily right now. I learned this past Wednesday that I am going to need about $800 worth of dental work ASAP and Kristy needs about $700 to fix her car (the mechanic said it could be fine for another year or explode tomorrow, well I added the explode part but you get the idea). Now to put this in perspective, this “financial event” is coming on the heels of a really great sermon series our church has been doing called Upside. And the past couple of weeks the message has been comprised of a video that Dave Ramsey made as a tool for churches to use to help Christians (and Joe Shmoe in general) have better money practices. The primary thing that has stuck with me from the series is to gain a much more rock solid footing on our finances I have to RUUUN from debt as if it were a level 99 dungeon boss that just wiped my whole 40 man party and I was the only one left. (I tried to make that analogy work for anyone who has played WoW, D&D, Diablo, or most any RPG, let me know how I did won’t you 
) There are of course a ton of worldly reasons why it is good to stay out of debt, but the spiritual side of it is beginning to dawn on me.
You see, it is finally starting to click that going into debt might as well be telling God that I don’t think He knows best when I need something, I know better and the time I need it is now. Most of the time I don’t need it now, I just want it now. But what about when I situation like ours arrises and we definitely need the money ASAP but can only pay for some of it with what we have saved? This is where the test I believe comes in, do we just give up and put what we can’t afford on the card, because it’s easier than praying, and more particularly waiting, that God will send us what we require before my tooth or the car explode? Or do we do what we can and just live day to day for the time being, doing our best to prepare as though God is going to send us provision, i.e. setting up my dentist appointment and not just avoiding the tooth problem, and/or seeing if we could manage not driving Kristy’s car and instead just driving my car everywhere? I think it’s obvious I have to go with the latter of those two rhetorical questions, if I am going to claim that I live by faith at any rate.
Some of you may have doubts as to whether God will really show up in this, and I have been in that same spot in a lot of previous circumstances since I have been married. We have experience simultaneous job losses, other dental bills that insurance didn’t cover, unexpected mandatory donations to Uncle Sam… the list goes on, but God has gotten us through so much that it’s almost like I have no business doubting Him anymore when it comes to provision for Kristy and I.
Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
Matthew 8:23-27
Jesus, pictured here as a Pally I think
Joel, one of my new friends up here said something really spirit filled the other day, he said “There’s nothing like God creating a need that only He can fill.” Now I don’t know if God sent the storm on the lake, but if He did, it was so that Jesus could demonstrate that He, 100% man, was also 100% God. I don’t know if God lined up my tooth and Kristy’s car to happen at the same time, but if He did, it wasn’t because we were doing something wrong and are being punished. It’s actually so that He will get to show us and the people around us, that no matter how crazy and sudden a storm might come up, He’s a Level 99 shaman with complete elemental mastery and will one-shot any storm no matter how ‘leet it is; we just got to keep from acting like Leroy Jenkins and pulling all the storm mobs on us before Jesus is ready to quell them.
Yeah I miss WoW, and I can’t wait to play Diablo 3 too!
May 27th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Wait, wait, so is Jesus a pally or a shammy?? I’m so confused!
Sometimes (or really, a lot of times as of late) I find myself identifying with John the Baptist while he was imprisoned and sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the messiah or not. Like I’ve been living and preaching a certain way of looking at the world, but then my own experiences don’t seem to match up with what I’d been believing.
God makes my head hurt sometimes. It might be trite, but it’s true when Scripture says that His ways are not our ways - but it also doesn’t make it much easier to bear through things, either (but every little bit helps!).
Will’s last blog post..21 Days to Prove It to Myself