Food

We are one week into our lent series. Last night the food was good and the lesson wonderful. If you did not join us please make plans to join us next Wednesday. The main dish will be Baked Chicken. We will continue our video series.

It is funny to me how many of our gatherings involve food. Each Wednesday we feed the kids at confirmation and on Sunday Nights the high school youth have Dinner and? as part of our lessons. For lent we are providing dinner each week. If we have a meeting on a Sunday of course we will have lunch.

No wonder weight is an issue in America.

I am on week 2 of my plan to be down to 240 pounds by the Mission Trip. I am doing this mostly for health reasons but I am also doing this in part for faith reasons. If my body is a temple I do need to care for it like I would an actual temple. So far I am down 5 pounds. i knew the first week would be easy. It was even easier since we have the juicers coming in on a regular basis. Additionally we have many discussions around the church about eating and eating healthy. We even discuss having you join us in changing our eating habits. Perhaps a Meatless Monday? I have gone over a week and have only had 2 meals with meat.

I cannot become healthy if I am not inviting Christ to help me. All diet plans in the past have not worked because I tried to do it on my own. This time I I have invited God to be my partner.

The ELCA has a wholeness wheel. We need to be whole to be healthy. Mind, Body and Spirit.

In the Love of Christ Jesus.

Dan Johnson

Youth Ministry

Is your body a Temple??

I am excited. Kevin (our Director of Music) is back with us as he continues his treatment of his Brain cancer. As you may know Kevin is no longer using chemicals to fight the battle. He is using diet. While I am extremely happy that Kevin is back his return has caused many of us to look at our eating habits. I can not say that my results have been good. Three years ago I was told by my Doctor that I need to reduce my sugar intake. I needed to reduce my weight and I needed to reduce my blood count numbers. Results? Not good.

At first I was motivated to reduce my sugar intake. I did well. I cut out many sources of sugar. I lost weight and my blood work improved. But over time I reverted to bad habits and my counts are back up along with my weight.

Lately I have been feeling God working on me for my eating habits. Along with my overall health. In addition to Kevin's radical change of eating habits I have had many other messages from God about what I put into my body. My son Nick has chosen to become a semi vegetarian eating no beef or pork. (I know this has not been easy for him.) Another message came from the Internet. I download a podcast of a church out of New York. They are doing a sermon series called Bod for God. They discuss the biblical issues in taking care of ourselves. And they remind us that for a change to work we need to invite Christ into the change. Additionally we have 2 youth in the high school program who are vegetarians. When preparing for our Sunday night gathering we typically have a meal. Because of their choice of eating habits I do find myself looking for ways to honor them with the food selections. Our Lenten journey is a journey to Jerusalem. We have added an emphasis on walking. And lastly Kevin had sent me a DVD called "Eating". I watched this DVD last night. And while I was not thrilled with all of the video, ( I am tried of hearing about Global warming everywhere) it did make me think about the Standard American Diet. I recommend that you watch this video if you get a chance. Feel free to borrow it from me if you want.

Paul tells us in his 1st letter to the church at Corinth "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body."

If we took care of our Church building they way most of us take care of our bodies what message would we be sending the world? I would have to say it would not be good. We are not at our best for God if we are not at our best. We talk at Holy Cross about becoming a church of excellence. In order to do that we need to be taking care of ourselves better then we have been. We have been created for a greater work in God. We need to prepare for the work the Lord has put before us.

I have a goal. I hope that you all will hold me to it. Today is March 8Th. On Friday July 8Th the high school ministry will be loading vans and heading into the mission field. I currently weight 260 pounds. I want to be 240 pounds by the time we load the vans. Please join me in this walk. The road is much easier if shared. Jackie has joined me will you?

Let's keep moving and keep the conversation going. "We can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" Put your faith in Christ.