Getting rid of my beer belly!

Ok, so I may have a belly, but it's actually not a beer belly.  Also, this blog isn't about weight loss or beer but hopefully I now have your attention.  Cheap trick, I know, but it will all come together in the end. What is it that you're carrying around in your life that you wish you weren't?  What's consuming you? 

The other day I was thinking about just that in my own life. What's eating at me that I just can't shake off?  I think we can all probably relate to that feeling.  Is it something at work, something that happened at home, something you read on Facebook or maybe something much bigger like poverty, war, and prejudice?  Maybe each day is different for you. You wake up or go to bed with something on your mind that you just can't shake.  Maybe it’s an argument with your wife, a bad report card from your child, or sales reports from work highlighting the dismal economy?  The list could go on and on, and while these are all things that rattle any core, something bigger keeps me up at night and it isn't my three month old baby. 

A few years ago, my wife and I finally found our church home.  I often tell people it's the exact place we were looking for without knowing what we were looking for.  Nicole has always been a believer and has had a relationship with Jesus.  I wouldn't have called myself a non-believer but I surely didn't have a relationship with JC.  Soon after we found our home, we decided that we wanted to get baptized.  Sure we were both baptized as children by our families, but this was something different.  We were baptized together and were submerged and declared God our Lord and Savior. It was a glorious day and I know the angels were singing up in heaven.  I knew at that time that I believed and had started my walk.  What I also thought then was that I was getting rid of my "beer belly".  I was washing all my sin, my doubts and fears away.  What I didn't fully realize was that this was just the beginning and if I don’t continually trim it away it will come back.  It would creep back into my life sometimes faster than I got rid of it in the first place. 

Part of what I have learned was that none of what I did that day matters if I decide to polish it with a nice coat of wax and never go back for its care again.  Kind of like your car, it's all shiny and new, you get the ultimate supreme wash with all the bells and whistles, but eventually it will wear away and get dusty and dirty again.  You can choose to wait and polish it every few months but what makes a car look its very best is when you wash and clean it every day.  Just because I was baptized doesn't mean that I'm all set and I can just sit back and wait to sit in my big chair in the sky.  I believe it is the constant relationship with Jesus that makes you stronger, shiny and new. 

Christ just wants to have a relationship with us.  We all try to run, hide and even cover up our missteps with Febreze but God already knows.  He already knows what I've done, what my doubts are, what my fears are and has seen me through every failure. See that what's so awesome!  We can be forgiven for our sins daily by coming to Jesus and allowing him to take them. In fact, He already paid it all on the cross for us. So now it's up to us to let Him. Lately, I've started daily conversations with Christ.  Sometimes I talk with Him at my desk, in the car, at home, in public and in the shower.  I talk to Him whenever I need to because He is always there.  The only reason why I am able to open my heart and soul to Him is because of the day I washed it all away. 

I've been carrying a burden on me over the course of the year.  It was beginning to really bother me.  The problem was that I knew it, Nicole knew it, and Jesus knew it.  However, until I was able to cry out to God and give it all to Him, I could not be healed on my own. See I wasn't myself; I would get these random pains and headaches.  I went to the doctor and we ran some tests and nothing was showing.  I would then get these bursts of anger and frustrations.  Sometimes, I would literally scream out from the pain and noise.  It got to the point where it was causing strain on me and my family.  It finally took me to get on my knees and ask God for healing not just for me but for my wife and kids.  I prayed and prayed. Shortly thereafter, I finally heard what God was telling me.  Listen to your wife, you big dumb animal, and let her help you.  So, we went back to the doctor and I finally received relief for my anxiety.  I was told it may take several weeks for it to start to work for me but Nicole would be able to notice it much sooner. A few weeks after that day, with tears in my eyes, I thanked God for His healing hand.  I could literally feel the change in my life and boy was it awesome!  I am will forever be thankful. 

Now you may be thinking to yourself, well you just got the right medication and that’s what did it, and I would say you are partially right.   Our doctor, Dr. Rick, helped me balance the pain with medication, no doubt.  However, what I know was the biggest factor was releasing to God what I was hiding from.  See I believe that God is the creator of all things.  Surely the medicine may have worked alone, but I have no doubt that the biggest factor in my healing was my relationship with Jesus. My conversations with Him allowed me to release control and let Him take over.  Through the Grace of God, the right doctor and medication I am on the right track.  See I also believe that none of this is chance.  Dr. Rick came into my life several years ago but has been Nicole's doctor for most of her life.  He has been a great friend and ally in taking care of Nicole, I and our kids over the years.  However, the greatest thing is that he is not only a believer but also has a relationship with Christ.  Only during the past couple years have we even learned the extent of his family’s involvement with his church.  I don’t believe all of this is just a coincidence.  It's just another part of God's amazing plans for us, set in motion before we were ever born. 

So what’s this blog all about again? Oh that’s right; it's about cleansing, shaping up and trimming the fat. I believe that some of the biggest fears people have about getting baptized are: the feeling of not being in control, justifying that you were already baptized as an infant or child so you don't need to be again, or the fear that your family or friends won't understand it.  When we submit our lives to Jesus Christ we relinquish control, but by being baptized we ultimately control our eternities.  If you we're baptized with a sprinkle or dusting as a child, that is so awesome and surely you have received God in your life. Children are born as an act of God.  However, I believe the most important thing that you can do as an adult, is to personally submit to submersion, like Jesus did.  It has to be done this way. If someone in your life doesn't understand your choice, then that is a perfect opportunity to invite them to church to learn more and share the good news together.  Who knows? They might even decide to get baptized with you. The more the better, there is room for everyone. 

Friends I invite you to get up and be baptized.  Commit your life to Christ with the ultimate act of submission.  I would love to be there for you, and if you want, I'll even get wet in the water. We could always use a little cleansing to wipe away our dust and dirt again!  You don't have to be perfect to get baptized.  You don't have to attend church every weekend or even ever have attended.  Just get in the water.  In fact, Jesus wants to be friends with you and you can consider baptism your first date.  After you are baptized and you commit yourself to Christ well be able to walk on earth and share the good news and when our Lord calls us home, we will be together all together again, but it won't happen unless you submit. 

Do you want to really know what keeps me up at night sometimes?  It's knowing that some of my family and friends may not be with me up in Heaven because they were afraid to follow Jesus and proclaim Him as their Lord and Savior.  So what can I do? I can't force it upon you, but I can share my story with you and continue to spread the love of Jesus to all I come in contact with.  So what are you waiting for? Get up and be washed by the water and get ready to make a big splash.  You won't regret it. 

"In the future, when you experience all these blessings and curses I have listed for you, and when you living among the nations to which the Lord your God has exiled you, take to heart all these instructions. If at that time you and your children return to the Lord your God, and if you obey with all your heart and all your soul all the commands I have given you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes. He will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where he has scattered you.  Even though you are banished to the ends of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you from there and bring you back again.”  Deuteronomy 30:1-4