I Am Living Proof

Loving the gas prices? No.

Loving the how risen gas prices affect food prices by two ways? No.

Hence, I love this list of The 20 Healthiest Foods for Under $1 Per Serving.   This post lists things like Wild Rice, Oats, Tofu and Coffee.  I love everything on this list and have a recipe for all of these ingredients.  Nicely done, the article has recipes suggestion.

I would also put in yogurt just because it is so cheap and so good and good for those who are lactose intolerant.  Do a little bit more research and add Ham to that protein list for about $2 per serving.

My peeps:

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

This is why we need prayer.  Everyday.  For all things.

Not as soon as Jean prayed for me, I had a battle last night.

Let me say that because my strength and shield are of God that nearly all the time, I feel nigh invincible.

I am not so cocky that things won’t get to me and hurt me.  I know they will.  I am fighting a battle.  I am in a war.  I can’t expect to fight and not get hurt in a serious way.  But whatever injuries, critical, crippling or otherwise, I know my God will protect, heal, deliver and restore.  My God has it all.  Whom shall I fear?

Then just last night, I was helping out a friend who used to be in porn and saved by the grace of God Almighty.  Unfortunately, she still has images/videos all over the internet many of which she has no control over.

She wanted me to respond to a myspace wall post from a guy.  So I go to the guy’s myspace page to send him a message by posting a comment when I have to scroll to the bottom of his profile.

Let us say we know now he is an “old” fan of my friend.  In other words, he had a picture of my friend that I wish I hadn’t seen.

In the past, that one pic would have broken me.  Satan and his armies launched a million exploding arrows upon me day after day and this time, one hit me square in the chest.

This time, I felt the sting of the pierce.  I feel my skin lit on fire.  I smell the stench of cooked human flesh as the arrow exploded.  I hear the armies of Satan laugh with a victorious roar.  It is enough to take the breath out of me.

I know the arrow is there.  I know it hurts like all hell.  My mind wanted to race a million miles a minute and ease the pain away.  The flesh knew what to do.  My flesh thought he had life again.

But my spirit is born and sustained by God.  Without stopping in my tracks and through gritted teeth and eyes full of tears from the pain and torment, God reached out, pulled that arrow out and healed of my pain.  In my joy and thankfulness, I reached out to His hand, kissed it and told him, “I love You”.

This is how God is so good.  Glory to God in the highest.

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

There is so much I wanted to post about this week: Pornography, Marriage, Forgiveness, Love, Calvinism, attending multiple churches (or how not to succumb to peer pressure), Seeker Churches versus Believer Churches, Dispensationalism, The television show on BET called “Meet The Faith”, etc..

However, as I am writing this at 1:00AM Monday morning, all that I can focusing on is the following verse:

Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

All I can do is simply praise His name, give thanks and pray.

I went to my standard 5:45PM Saturday evening service which turned out to be Communion Service. After Communion ended, one of the Pastors (who is a Rabbi, who has accepted Yeshua as his personal Lord and Saviour) invited everybody that needed healing to come forward. Just them by themselves. I immediately stretched forth my hands and began to pray for those who needed healing. Not just those who were able to come forward but for all. The worship team lead into two of my favorite songs and I began praising Him, thanking Him and kept praying for healing for everybody.

I felt that I had to come back on Sunday morning and pray again for those needed healing.

I noticed that when I think about other people, I never worry about my future holds. Lately, I am trying not to be anxious but I would be lying if I don’t think about it a little. I keep coming up with what I need to do, how can I approach my next job in this time of transition and can I serve in ministry? My faith is still absolute but I have to pray harder and harder every single time. I pray just for myself but I tend to simply pray for others with all the prayer requests that I have received.

When I think about others, joy and peace overwhelm me. One could argue that thinking of others gets your worries off of your mind. In a way, that is true. When I do pray for others, I reminded on how incredible and awesome our God really is.

Thank you all for those who took the time to pray for me. Can I pray for you?

There is many things I go out of my way to be humble especially for those things that come at the grace of the Almighty God.

One of the things I cannot deny that I do have terrific group of friends whom I love so dearly. Some of them are friends with each other, some have worked with others and some don’t even know each other. But they are all my friends and I have been rewarded with not only connecting with them and getting to know them intimately but also for open my heart and soul to them.

I went to lunch back in the winter of this year with one amazing person where she held me to a secret: she was in the running to become the new Assistant Coach of Women’s Soccer at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.

For a sports fan myself, I was blown back out of my sneakers. As much as I love sports, I don’t know that many people who play or coach at the professional and collegiate levels.

I knew all the hard work she put into coaching junior and senior high school girls, running soccer camps for youth groups coming in from Canada, playing in various leagues on top of working in a 9-to-5. So when she told me that she was in the running, I simply thought, “This will happen for her.”

She had one matter of her visa being processed (since she is a citizen of Canada) so she made me swear not to tell a soul because it might not happen for one simple reason or another.

Six months had passed and I get this instant message:

Erin: I am approved for my work visa and I gave my two weeks on Friday!!
Joe: cha-ching!!!!!!!
Erin: I know-SWEET!!!
Joe: I was just thinking about you last night
Joe: and was hoping that was going to go through

I have no idea why so many people are going through so many life changes whether it be in relationships or career in this year alone. However, just as I am stoked about upcoming journey I am about to embark on, I am even more thrilled in sharing the lives of my friends as they go on their own journeys.

Her last day here at work is today. Although she is set free to do what she loves to do, I won’t have to miss her. SMU is three exits down from my work I know plenty of my Friday and Saturdays will be spent with me and my son enjoying some soccer games on cool and crisp Autumn days and nights.