Keep Walkin’
June 26th, 2009 by Beth A. LewisSit in meetings most of the day…
Sit on airplanes or in airports waiting for late airplanes…
Work long hours and forget to eat until late at night…
Business breakfasts, lunches, and dinners…
Constantly trying to keep up with emails, blogging, FaceBook, Twitter, etc…
Yes, that’s a pretty good description of why I find it challenging to get enough exercise and lose weight! It’s also a very good list of my excuses!
And, I can just about convince myself that these excuses are valid until I’m confronted (in the nicest possible way you understand) by people I know are just as busy as I am and who manage to find the time/motivation/drive to just get out and walk! Or run! Or, for all I know, hop, skip & jump!
Example #1: Pastor Joe McGarry of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Baldwinsville, NY. Now, you have to love this guy…his blog is lutherangrilledcheese. That’s a man with a sense of humor!
Joe sent me a tweet at the beginning of Lent asking if AF would provide an incentive gift or two for a project he and several other pastors in the Upstate New York Synod were working as Lenten discipline. Joe decided that he wanted to lose weight, so he challenged several other pastors to a Biggest Loser Clergy contest. In mid-June, Joe wrote this in his blog:
“I gathered six other clergy in my conference for a ‘Biggest Loser Clergy Edition.’ Well on May 31st our journey together ended. I am proud to say that I won the whole event. I am very excited about this!!!
I worked really hard and I am proud of the things I have accomplished. In the process I lost 23 pounds!
I started out on this journey weighing 386 pounds. Through this experience with I have gained the confidence that I have not had since I was in high school when it comes to my health and my physical ability.
To be honest I was really worried last May (2008) when I started having chronic back trouble and my weight was creeping close to 400 pounds. Now I have regained the confidence that I once had. I have confidence that I can continue to get healthy and I can push myself to live a better life.
Inspired by my success I really would like to pursue a dream that I have had for a few years. That is to participate in a triathlon. September 20th of this year there is a triathlon in our area called the Finger Lakes Triathlon. They have a sprint triathlon which is a shorter route. The events will be: swim .45 miles bike 13 miles and run 3.1 miles. I believe that if I can commit myself to train for that event like I committed myself to this program I will be able to do it.
The final totals for our journey together as a group: We lost over 50 pounds and we met our goal of walking 436 miles. I would like to thank all those people who followed me and supported me in my weight loss journey. Now I would like to invite you to join me in my journey in becoming a triathlete!!”
Congratulations to Joe and the other six pastors who participated and lost weight together! Your gift books will be shipped to you next week! The prizes from AF? For each person who participated, a copy of Surprises Around the Bend: 50 Adventurous Walkers and for the winner, the seven volume set People’s History of Christianity.
Example #2: Pastor Ron Glusenkamp of Bethany Lutheran Church in Denver, CO. In addition to being Sr. Pastor at a large congregation, Ron is also co-author with Peter Mayer of a new adult Bible study resource that I’m happy to report we published today, God’s Standard or Gold Standard? It is a unit in our new Together in Faith Bible study series. And, he has a blog, he tweets and he is a frequent public speaker, which means that he, too spends a lot of time on airplanes and in airports. I just saw Ron’s post on his blog that noted this:
“I am starting to “rev up” for another marathon. On October 4, 2009 it is my goal to walk the 26.2 miles of the Portland, Maine marathon. This will be my third marathon since my double knee replacement on April 7, 2008.
So, today I started getting serious about training since the event is about 15 weeks from now.
A passage that keeps me going is from Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
So, if you are looking for some motivation, inspiration or just a place to share “perspiration” then you are welcome to drop by from time to time.”
Did you catch that? His third marathon since he had a double knee replacement 14 months ago!
Thanks for the guilt trip, guys!
Seriously, congratulations to both of you! You are both wonderful examples of the ELCA’s Board of Pensions priorities for a life well-lived on their Wholeness Wheel.
I’ll try to stay inspired so that I can become as disciplined as the two of you! Well, maybe not quite that disciplined, but at least more disciplined about getting enough exercise!
Blessings and happy walking, running, jumping, swimming, bike riding, whatever!
Beth
Beth A. Lewis, President & CEOAugsburg Fortress
