Matthew 7:1-5 (New International Version)
1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
There is a story told about two farmers in Tennessee (my home state, of course). It seems these farmers were walking together in one of their fields, when an angry bull suddenly appeared and began to chase them.
The farmers--not being foolish, realized they were not going to be able to out run the bull, so they wisely split up so at least one of them (presumably the fastest) would be safe.
As luck would have it as the bull chased one of the farmers, he came upon a tree and safely climbed out of the angry bulls reach.
The bull, still raging mad, whipped around and spied the other farmer as he was headed toward a hill in the distance. The bull immediately headed for the frightened farmer, but once again as luck would have it, the winded, frazzled farmer spied a small cave and dove into it just before the bull could reach him.
The enraged bull snorted, pawed the ground and headed back to the tree, looking up at the farmer he could still see. Suddenly the other farmer came racing out of the cave toward the bull. This distracted the bull, and he chased the farmer back to the cave, just missing him as he once again dove into the cave.
The bull returned to the tree, bellowing in anger at the farmer in the tree. To that farmers amazement, the other farmer again raced out of the safety of the cave toward the furious bull. With disbelief he watched the bull chase the farmer toward the cave. He was overcome with gratitude for the other farmer trying to give him a chance to escape--but he knew he wasn't going anywhere until the bull was long gone.
The farmer in the tree thought it might be good to give his friend some timely advice. As the other farmer dove for the cave once again, the farmer in the tree yelled, "You know, if I were you and I knew that bull was out here, I would stay in that cave!"
As the other farmer made a desperate leap into the cave he yelled back, "And if you were me you would know there is a bear in that cave!"
Now as with most stories like this, there is a moral to this story. The moral is that it is easy to sit safely up in a tree and make judgements about other peoples lives and actions. The trouble is, that usually information is limited. You have not lived their lives, walked in their shoes nor understand their situation. But somehow you feel that self-righteous duty to pass judgement on our fellow humans.
Perhaps in the future--it would be wise to remember the words of Matthew in the 7th chapter above, and always remember there could be a bear in the cave we do not know about.
Have a blessed day!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
How Much are you worth?
As an obese person--I have been so tired of being judged by the way I look. The prejudice that comes from those judgmental stares--the overheard remarks--some true--but some not.
The following is a refreshing thought that I read and would like to share with you today. It is entitled "Valuable to God". It doesn't necessarily have to do with obesity--but isn't it nice to know there is One who judges the value on the inside--and wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all judge by the "content of character"--not the "color of skin"--or the money we have or etc. etc,
"Martin Luther King"
Valuable to God
He who trusts in his riches will fall,
But the righteous will flourish like foliage. Proverbs 11:28
A certain rich man died and the question was asked at his funeral, "How much did he leave?"
"He left it all,"came the reply.
Often I hear someone introduced this way: "This is Bob and he works for .......,"as if where a person works or what a person does determines his or her value. (I have noticed it is usually only the well-to-do or those who are thought of as "successful" who are introduced this way.)
Yet, God does not judge us by our success. He loves each person the same. Your value and mine does not come from what we do, the clothes we wear, the house we live in, or the type of car we drive. Our value comes from the fact that God made us and loves us, and Christ died for us. Our value comes from the fact that He adopted us into His family and we are now His children forever. Don't depend on possessions or position for your identity. Get your identity from Christ, for you are of infinite worth to him!
Please note--I believe this was written by Billy Graham. It is from a devotion Book called "Hope for Each Day"
The following is a refreshing thought that I read and would like to share with you today. It is entitled "Valuable to God". It doesn't necessarily have to do with obesity--but isn't it nice to know there is One who judges the value on the inside--and wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all judge by the "content of character"--not the "color of skin"--or the money we have or etc. etc,
"Martin Luther King"
Valuable to God
He who trusts in his riches will fall,
But the righteous will flourish like foliage. Proverbs 11:28
A certain rich man died and the question was asked at his funeral, "How much did he leave?"
"He left it all,"came the reply.
Often I hear someone introduced this way: "This is Bob and he works for .......,"as if where a person works or what a person does determines his or her value. (I have noticed it is usually only the well-to-do or those who are thought of as "successful" who are introduced this way.)
Yet, God does not judge us by our success. He loves each person the same. Your value and mine does not come from what we do, the clothes we wear, the house we live in, or the type of car we drive. Our value comes from the fact that God made us and loves us, and Christ died for us. Our value comes from the fact that He adopted us into His family and we are now His children forever. Don't depend on possessions or position for your identity. Get your identity from Christ, for you are of infinite worth to him!
Please note--I believe this was written by Billy Graham. It is from a devotion Book called "Hope for Each Day"
Saturday, July 18, 2009
So--why did you do this to yourself?
Question Item 1. Why did you allow yourself to gain to the ungodly weight of 448 Pounds?
Answer--wish the hell I knew. But since this is supposed to have some information about me--let's get on with what I know you will find the boring stuff--the stuff you have heard hundreds of time. Let's call it my life's story.So here we go.
I was born and reared in rural middle Tennessee I was born into abject poverty. My Father left when I was six months old--Mom could not afford to keep me. My Grandparents took me in--God Bless them. They were sharecroppers. So we moved from area to area and crop to crop and lived in sharecropper's shacks. Nutrition was not high on the list of important issues--not being hungry and eating what we could get was. That was usually high carbohydrate, high calorie food. We did not eat "high on the Hog" and if we had meat it was poor quality, fat, high calorie and not high in protein. Feel sorry for me yet? Don't! It was how we survived--and I dare say there are many surviving the same way today.
This did create a problem for me though. I gained weight--and I remember in second grade the teacher making a really big deal out of me weighing 165 pounds at the age of seven years. She wasn't nice either. I never liked her, and although she is probably long dead--I never will. I don't want to bore you now with the rest of my life. I had tough times, but I overcame for a long time. I was blessed with a good IQ and graduated 12th in my high school class and was the first in my family to graduate from college magna cum laude. I had good jobs, made good money, married a wonderful woman--things should have been good.But the damnable weight--keep coming and coming--like a plague; and for the life of me I could not stop it. It disabled me. I suffered from clinical depression, Type II diabetes, Hypertension, sleep apnea, Arterial fibrillation, arthritis, bursitis, Heart attack, and so on.
Finally, I could not live anymore. I just existed--day to day. Same thing--sleep, eat, medication, sleep, eat, sleep. No one to talk too, not able to drive, not able to work--just exist. I got so tired of it--I planned the easiest way to end it for me--and my wife.
Question Item 2. Why weight Loss surgery?
Simple--I wanted to live. I had heard about and researched weight Loss surgery (WLS). I did not have the financial means since I could no longer work, but knew the minute that it was possible, I would do it. I knew there were risk--like dying--but I did not care. I was not living anyway. So on 4/28/2009 I had the RNY Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass. I have to date lost 80 pounds and my life has changed dramatically. This blog--like thousands of others will be about my journey. I will post the good and bad. I have had successes and failures. I am not a consummate blogger--as you see, but this will be an honest assessment of what happens to me. I hope people read it, like it, learn from it and enjoy it. If not, to be honest--it's mostly for me anyway. Have a blessed day and I will post more at a later date.
Answer--wish the hell I knew. But since this is supposed to have some information about me--let's get on with what I know you will find the boring stuff--the stuff you have heard hundreds of time. Let's call it my life's story.So here we go.
I was born and reared in rural middle Tennessee I was born into abject poverty. My Father left when I was six months old--Mom could not afford to keep me. My Grandparents took me in--God Bless them. They were sharecroppers. So we moved from area to area and crop to crop and lived in sharecropper's shacks. Nutrition was not high on the list of important issues--not being hungry and eating what we could get was. That was usually high carbohydrate, high calorie food. We did not eat "high on the Hog" and if we had meat it was poor quality, fat, high calorie and not high in protein. Feel sorry for me yet? Don't! It was how we survived--and I dare say there are many surviving the same way today.
This did create a problem for me though. I gained weight--and I remember in second grade the teacher making a really big deal out of me weighing 165 pounds at the age of seven years. She wasn't nice either. I never liked her, and although she is probably long dead--I never will. I don't want to bore you now with the rest of my life. I had tough times, but I overcame for a long time. I was blessed with a good IQ and graduated 12th in my high school class and was the first in my family to graduate from college magna cum laude. I had good jobs, made good money, married a wonderful woman--things should have been good.But the damnable weight--keep coming and coming--like a plague; and for the life of me I could not stop it. It disabled me. I suffered from clinical depression, Type II diabetes, Hypertension, sleep apnea, Arterial fibrillation, arthritis, bursitis, Heart attack, and so on.
Finally, I could not live anymore. I just existed--day to day. Same thing--sleep, eat, medication, sleep, eat, sleep. No one to talk too, not able to drive, not able to work--just exist. I got so tired of it--I planned the easiest way to end it for me--and my wife.
Question Item 2. Why weight Loss surgery?
Simple--I wanted to live. I had heard about and researched weight Loss surgery (WLS). I did not have the financial means since I could no longer work, but knew the minute that it was possible, I would do it. I knew there were risk--like dying--but I did not care. I was not living anyway. So on 4/28/2009 I had the RNY Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass. I have to date lost 80 pounds and my life has changed dramatically. This blog--like thousands of others will be about my journey. I will post the good and bad. I have had successes and failures. I am not a consummate blogger--as you see, but this will be an honest assessment of what happens to me. I hope people read it, like it, learn from it and enjoy it. If not, to be honest--it's mostly for me anyway. Have a blessed day and I will post more at a later date.
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