My Journey - Spring is here!!!

This site is primarily for family, friends, 

and whoever cares to read about my journey in Christ.

Have A Jesus Blessed "Resurrection Day!"

As we "officially" celebrate Easter, I personally call it "Resurrection Day."  This day would prove whether Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or LORD!  His Resurrection showed He is indeed LORD!!!  

For more on this, see my devotion

"Lord, Liar, or Lunatic? at : www.biblefood.blogspot.com

Now to what's been happening over the past 3 months...

ME CYCLING!!!

Cycling continues.  I have only missed one week since starting to ride.  Not bad considering I thought the winter would be a problem, but it was such a mild winter, I was able to get out on my bike regularly (although it was cold a few times).

My longest ride is 19.65 miles (done on March 31) and my total miles in March is 185 miles (a record month). 

WEIGHT LOSS/NUTRITION

Weigh in:  I have lost a total of 30 lbs. and kept it off. I have changed most of my eating habits permanently. I am now working on exercise (cycling), and trying to eat more alkaline foods rather than acidic.

HOUSE CHURCH
We are now involved with 2 (sometimes 3) house church groups (two in Charlotte, one in Mooresville, and occasionally one in Huntersville).

JOB
I am still working at a local vitamin/health store. It has had its challenges - Especially battling against my memory issues and brain fog (nothing new), but at times it can be very discouraging.  And to top it off the pay is low!  Please keep praying for that right job to come along in ministry or otherwise.

MINISTRY
This has been a quiet time for ministry outside of House Church, and occasional opportunity at work.
So, I'm open to ministering as an interim pastor, missions, teacher, etc. I just want to serve Him in a meaningful way.  I recently went through Ecclesiastes, and really could relate to it.  Apart from Christ being in every aspect of your life, life really is meaningless.  Solomon had everything, but when He left the Lord out of the equation, his life (existence) was meaningless.


Christian Pool Players Association (CPPA) - I have been tempted to give up (pull the plug) on CPPA due to time required, lack of supporters, and needing a person to help take it to the next level. Plus in 2011, my playing went from fair to worse.  In the last month or so, I have been playing a little to see if it is even still in me. I haven't lost the joy for the game or the burden for the lost in the pool industry.  As with any outreach, you have to go where the people are. Contrary to popular opinion, people don't just come to church, and we have to go to where they are, and in my case that means pool rooms.  Please do pray for my game to improve enough to play a respectable game and to also (and most importantly) give me a platform to share Christ. If ANYONE has this same burden and would like to work with me, please email me or comment below.

Missions - I have also been asked by a ministry in India, who I know well, as I spent 3 weeks with them in India, to be the USA contact in helping organize groups to go on mission trips to India :-)

CONCLUSION

So, here we are at the the beginning of a wonderful warm Spring.  I am happy also for the longer days :-)
There is still some stress and breakdown with relationships with family members (not Joyce - She's the BEST).  Some do not understand some of the stands I take and feel I must take, but there again, I must live how I believe is right, and will be ultimately accountable to just one, that is God.

Please pray for me as I deal with these family issues and resulting emotional pain, and for me to be used of God in 2012.

Thanks all for taking an interest in my life :-)

Jim

Winter is here - Let me tell you about an exciting last 3 1/2 months! (part 1 of 2)

This site is primarily for family, friends, and whoever cares to read about my journey in Christ. 

Note:  If you are looking for my devotionals go to: http://www.biblefood.blogspot.com/

This blog is long, and I do hope some will still read it since I took the time to put it together.  Thanks :-)

I also have added a video blog right here for those who would rather see and hear me share about these last few months, see attached Video Blog:

As I get ready to share in this blog, I found it interesting that outside of the USA we have had the most visits here from Russia (no way! who?), Taiwan (really? who?), and Nigeria (no surprise here - lol).  I would love to know who's keeping up with my journey from Russian, Taiwan, and Nigeria :-)  Actually, anyone outside of my immediate family and friends, I would love to know who you are.

This update will be broken into two parts  as it is much longer than usual as so much has happened in  the past 4 months, but it will get you up to speed on what's happening in my journey.  This blog will cover September/October. Then, in a few days I'll blog again covering November/December.

I will share the good (mostly) and the bad and ugly some, but I won't go into too much detail since this is viewable by all, and I do want to maintain some level of privacy matters.  You can always email me directly at: biblefood@gmail.com

So here's my new update:

September

Actually, we have to briefly go back to August, as a lot of what I have to share will be connected to an event in August.  Back in August we were told by some friends to watch "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" (1 hr. 37 min. movie/documentary). 

Free on Netflix and Hulu. (http://www.hulu.com/watch/289122/fat-sick-and-nearly-dead) and then the "Food Matters" (1 hr. 17 min. movie/documentary). 

This was the start of a change to my health and weight loss.  Joyce and I watched this in mid-August and we both decided to give it a go.  In order to change our eating habits, we had to rid the house of many processed/junk foods (some of which we may have overlooked as good foods).  So, we took about 3 weeks to slowly transition away from processed and junk foods to mainly fruits and vegetables.  During that transition, I lost 2 to 5 lbs. That was a pleasant surprise! Also, we got the book "Eat to Live" b y Dr. Fuhrman. What a great book of healthy eating and cooking! Then, on September 16th we started "officially" on our juicing, raw foods, healthy homemade soups, and salad diet.  I did the "Reboot" as it is called, and Joyce mainly did the "Eat to Live".  I really don't like calling either of them a "diet".  As diets are all those things we "try" and fail at, and are often not really healthy.  What Joyce and I did was more of a lifestyle change to healthy eating. So, that began a journey that would affect us in many areas of our life, all in a positive way.   Also, as shared previously, we had an eventful September with Joyce's birthday, my birthday and our anniversary.  September was quite an exciting month.

October
What a beautiful month and weather was great too!


Autumn tree from my back porch.  Beautiful!

By the end of October, I had lost approximately 17 lbs. - how exciting!  Also, most importantly, I have noticed that I fall asleep faster.  It used to take me a couple hours, now it's usually 5-15 minutes. I am still tired a lot, but at least I'm not dragging my butt 24/7 like I used to.  I have more energy and looking forward to that continuing to be the case. In addition to that, I have seen almost all of my digestive problems disappear.  So, I'm thrilled with the improvement in my health at the end of October with noticeable positive differences, and will share more of that in my November/December blog that I will be sharing in a few days (then I'll be caught up to the current time :-) in my blog).

Also, by the grace of God and others blessing Joyce with the airfare, Joyce was able to visit her 98-year-old grandmother.  When Joyce asked her, "Do you know who I am", she answered back, "Of course I know who you are, you're Joyce."  That made Joyce feel good, and she enjoyed her visit with her Grandmother, mother, sister, brother and other family and friends :-)

For those who think life is suppose to be a bed of roses, on the not so good side our financial situation is the worse in over a decade, really stretching us to believe God during this time. Honestly, it is quite draining emotionally, as well as financially.  I really don't care about "things" much now.  I just want to pay my bills, enjoy family, and hopefully get to see more of them and more often.  Also, most important of all to me is to live a life that pleases God, which often goes contrary to people's logic.  Being a God pleaser is so much more important than being a people pleaser.

To end this blog, on the more humorous side, here is a pic of our dog Rusty sleeping, he looks like he's dead but it's just one of his favorite sleep positions.



Rusty sleeping

Glad to be able to share with you all, your prayers are always needed and appreciated.

I'll post again in a few days, until then be blessed and be a blessing!