Despite me not posting a single thing about the untimely death of Maria Chapman (daughter of Steven Curtis Chapman), I was still rocked by the news. It become a bit more personal when a few of the people I knew, knew the Chapmans closer than most.

I couldn’t stop thinking about my son, so close to Maria’s age. I swore, if I didn’t tell him “I love you” and hug and kiss him a hundred times a week prior to, I just increased that love twice over since then.

Now I am just finding out about Xzibit’s newborn son, Xavier, born on May 15th (two days before my birthday) only to pass away as his father gives the news this morning on his myspace blog.

Xzibit writes:

AS you all know, I shared with you the announcment of my newborn son Xavier Kingston Joiner on may 15th and also informed you that he was born prematurly. well this week was extremly difficult for him because his lungs were not strong enough to handle regular oxygen on his own. Xavier passed away this morning at 3:30am and I must tell you this, It is unatural for a parent to bury a child. I am telling you this because of the same reason I tell you when im having great times, life is too short to be fake. Hold on to your kids if you have them, protect them and show them you love them everyday you wake up and see them, dont take a second you get to hug them teach them and care for them for granted. You can have all the material wealth in the universe but it is NOTHING compared to having your family. I am thankful for all of my blessings and im not one to question God’s perfect plan, so I leave you with great love and thanks for the love that was sent earlier on my pervious blog to my son. Of course I need to take some time and handle my loss, STAY FOCUSED PEOPLE. Its not promised to any of us.

Xzibit’s words will rock me for a long, long time. What really impacted me is that in the midst of the darkness, loss and tragedy, Xzibit chooses to be satisfied in God.

That makes God beautiful. That gives glory to God and God alone.

I am not sure if I were to lose my son that I would be as strong as the words written today.

But I will not worry about tomorrow.

I will think about today.

I will think about my son.

Using more of Xzibit’s words that he wrote for his son way back in 1996 from his song “Foundation“. I can’t think of a more perfect way to describe my child:

When I look you in your eyes I can see my own
Straight love manifested in flesh and bone

Love you, Yusef. All that I have and forever. My love will not stray.

Since I am towards the tail end of my weight loss of 2.5 years, my updates will be posted less often than the other guys. -Ed.

Up to speed:

No I still don’t have a scale. I think I am going to go to a store and get a quick reading.

I am kinda cheap that way.

My 2XLT t-shirts from Calvin Klein are way too big. I am going to go try on XLT. I haven’t worn XLT shirts since high school.

I need new pants.

I need new underwear.

Other than that…

My energy drink intake has gone up so I am curbing that to 2/week. To counter, I am going to up my water intake to 1.5gal/day. That is 1/2gal more plus the current intake based on Weight/2 = water in oz per day.

For instance, I weight 250lbs. 250 divided 2 is 125. Since there are 128oz in a gallon, I just end up drinking a gallon of water of day.

I am craving milkshakes. That must be a calcium and sugar thing. So now I am on the search for good sources of calcium (greens) and sugar (carrots, fruits).

Today is the last day of my Fast Food Fast. I am not going back to fast food. Woohoo!

Today is the last day of my coffee. I am going to cut out rich coffee drinks (espresso + milk) and just stick to simple coffee with a sugar and dollop of steamed milk (called macchiato).

This time around, the lifestyle changes I have made seem to be real and very permanent. I have depend on God to help me with keeping my body healthy and shockingly enough (no, not really), He has come through. God is there to remind me with gut instincts and I am obedient.

Never forgot that God will help you with anything and everything. He knows what you are going through and His heart breaks for you. Lean on Him for it all. Watch His way be perfect.

My peeps:

James
Brent
Kristen
Buddy
Dan
Rick
Brandy
Deborah
Joel
Theressa
Steven
Love
Tawny
Kelly
Jen
Ron
Darla
Theressa
Heidi

I found out about Erica’s testimony from tweet sent by Crissy to several people, including Crystal in which in her response piqued my interest on what the heck she was talking about.

Man, I love social networking.

Now Crystal has Crissy as a guest blogger this week sharing her testimony in the post, Guest Blogger: Porn Star.

No matter what you can throw at God, He is almighty and all powerful and completely invulnerable to the best you can give to Him.  However, He can’t destroy it until you throw it at Him.

All He wants you to do is give up and let Him take care of everything.

Read Crissy’s post and leave some love over there.

Anybody who has read my testimony knows that this will hit really closer to home:

Club Erica Campbell

I am very familiar with her name and her career.

What is wonderful is that I see her picture now and she looks nothing like she did. She has beauty that could only come from Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour.

As my spirit cries out in joy, what else can I do but praise His holy name.

Who is like our God and who dares to even compare to Him.

I am at a lost of what to call this collective effort of my peeps wanting to lose weight. Thus, the title for this post.

My friend Brent at InWorship throws down this challenge:

“Starting this Friday, I will begin a new journey of eating well and exercising. Over the next couple of days, I will be working with my wife to figure out an eating plan and a daily routine to whip me into shape.”

… whereas my Twitter pal, Travis, throws down this challenge:

• 30 mins of exercise every day
• drink 64 oz. of water each day
• No soda
• No fried food

I am wrapping up a fast food fast in order to cut out both bad foods and convenience and a coffee fast (as a courtesy to my friend who fasted coffee for a month). I have been adding sports (basketball, soccer, football) to my everyday routine and I have gotten soda consumption down to once/twice per week all the while taking in a gallon of water per day.

I definitely don’t want to go back to fast food at all. So I figure I pick up these challenges, I can keep with that change in lifestyle and keep losing weight.

Most of all, I want to support and encourage those who want to lose weight and get healthy.

Over the last two years, I have lost 80 lbs. I was 10lbs away from my goal but now I want to lower that goal from 240 to 220lbs.. With that new goal, that would put me 20lbs. away.

I have a goal to aim for and I will be alongside others who want to lose weight as well. Woohoo!

Note: I don’t know why I didn’t think about this before. But I have to give thanks to God for taking care of my temple. When I started dieting, I would fail. Then I thought, “If I depend on Him for everything, why can’t that include a healthy lifestyle?”. So I leaned into Him to show me, help me and teach me for what is best for me.

Our God alone is good. - Ed.