Yesterday I had the chance to reply to a post on Facebook that I was disturbed by, not because I disagreed with the person for believing what they did but for the blanket statement they made. I have a hard time dealing with people who make "One size fits all statements" about anyone or group. Since this is an election year, I have plenty of fodder.
In the post yesterday, the poster called Arizona Governor Jan Brewer a witch for attacking Mr. Obama verbally. I commented with a question as to why she was a witch and was it because she disagreed with the President? The reply was even more inflammatory in that he said no, any American has the right to disagree with the President but "Her fascism is abhorrent and that's what makes her a witch. The Eva Braun of Arizona maybe?" This blew my mind.
I went to Dictionary.com to make sure my understanding of the word Fascism was correct. It was and I copied and pasted the definition into the conversation. I also questioned wasn't Eva Braun Hitler's mistress? I asked if maybe he was suggesting Brewer was Mr. Obama's mistress and he was the Fascist? Okay, I went too far with the last comment, but the point is Americans have a tough choice to make this year. The last election had turned into a muck-fest where both sides chose to sling mud at the other. I personally did not vote for the President and I had many friends who did. There were some lively debates that year! I think I have never been called a racist so much as when I told someone I either wasn't voting for Him or I disagreed with one of his policies!
This election is a serious one and I for one, along with many Americans are scared for our country. I have listened to both sides for nearly 6 years and I have come to the conclusion that BOTH sides have some GOOD ideas and BOTH sides have some BAD ideas. What we need is a leader that will bring the country together, rather than further divide it.
I will start this off with a disclaimer: I am a registered Republican, but I do vote for the best candidate regardless of party. With that said, I would like to address the things that have bothered me during the last political election:
Mr. Obams is NOT a Muslim and he IS a U.S. Citizen. Saying He is a Muslim because his Dad was a Muslim is akin to saying I am a Catholic because my Dad was. Okay, I was Catholic for 15 years, but that was a conscious choice, not a birthright. The thing is here, I was no more a Catholic than Obama was a Muslim just because of our Father. As for the U.S. Citizenship thing, there is no way in this country and all the reporting that has to take place to run for office,that the man could have slipped into the race without providing a valid birth certificate. END OF STORY.
The second thing from the last election that bothers me is this: Just because I disagree with a Liberal, the president, or Democrats in general does NOT make me a racist. The President is Black--Big Deal! I disagree with most Liberal leaning agendas and have for a long time and before Mr. Obama, no one ever threw the race card at me. Sure I was called a bumbling idiot and a buffoon but never a racist until now.
The Far right made the last election about Religion and Citizenship and the Liberal Left made it about Race. Thus began the Great Divide. The country has continued to split down the middle between race, ethnic,age and socio-economic lines. The country is more more divided than at any other time in History other than the Civil War. Even more divided than the Viet Nam War era!
The country is at such polar opposites between the parties that we could very well be looking at a class war. The Far Right has continued to make this election about Religion and Citizenship (immigration) and the Far Left has made it about Race and Class (Occupy Wall Street and Obamacare). The truth is, it is about to get ugly!
In my opinion, we need to think about one thing this election: The economy! Until the economy is back on track, we are not going to get the other things accomplished. We need someone to bring both sides together and get people working again. That is the main priority. All else depends on it.
As for the other issues we hear about: Obamacare--everyone needs to be able to go to the doctor when they are sick but demanding all people buy insurance is not the solution. Stimulus money: throwing money at people just to say you did something is not the solution, expecially if it increases the debt load. Taxes: If I earn more, I should pay more period; but penalizing me for being able to make money and save it is just theft by the government. Welfare reform: The only way to really reform welfare is to pay people TO WORK, not pay them LESS IF THEY WORK. I would rather pay a man a stipend if he were working than to pay him to sit at home or take his stipend away IF he tries to work. If you ask most Americans on welfare, they would rather work than draw welfare but the government penalizes their benefits if they do work so there is no incentive to work.
Getting people back to work is the real solution to our economic problems. One solution I would like to see is the SBA giving loans for new business startups for all the people who come up with a way to make their own business work. No matter how small the business. A one man shop is one less person out of work and one more paying taxes. Even if they fail, at least they tried. It is better than to never have tried at all. We gave loans to people that couldn't afford houses to begin with, so why can't we take a real chance and give people the chance to start their own business. If they succeed, there will be more taxes going into the government coffers.
In this election season, we need to look for the right person who will grow the economy and NOT further divide the country. I may disagree with you the way to accomplish that, but I will always try and be respectful of your opinion. TODAY I CHOOSE TO BE RESPECTFUL!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
TODAY I CHOOSE MY DESTINY!
There is is saying that a man's destiny is predetermined by God. Others belive that a man's destiny is determined by his surroundings. I say that a man's destiny is His (or hers, for a woman)to choose.
It is not God Who chooses our every move as if we were puppets. He gave man free will to choose which direction we will take our lives. We are born with an inate ability to make our own decisions, good or bad and as a result of those decisions our lives take shape.
There are certain things that affect our lives that ARE beyond our control--laws of nature and the decisions others around us make--but it is not the things themselves that make our destiny, rather it is the way we respond to a situation that makes our destiny.
I was raised in a broken home in "the projects" where my mother raised three kids for several years on a seamstress's production paycheck. I had an absentee father and an absentee step-father. I was a screw-up during high school and after high school I couldn't even get into the Air Force due to an undiagnosed medical condition. I never attended college and by all that society tells us should be my fate, I should be in prison or stuck in an hourly job with no future. In fact, several of my friends from school have been a guest of the state.
But the conventional thought did not turn out to be true. Despite all my very real circumstances, I did NOT meet expectations for my life. I say this not to brag on my life, which in my mind has been pretty awesome, but to prove a point that my situation did not determine my outcome.
All it took was for me to be open to the opportunity and just one person to believe in me. Yes, I had one person to believe in me even when I didn't believe in myself. That was my sister and my best friend up until the day she died. Because of her belief and caring I was able to see the potential I had and the dreams I dreamed became more than just dreams.
A spark of hope is all we need in order to overcome our obstacles. We need not be bound by what society tells us we can or can't do. Our destiny is not restrained by our circumstances, rather our reaction to our circumstances is what controls our destiny. I refused to believe the naysayers who said I couldn't do it. No one has the right to choose your outcome but you! Today I choose MY DESTINY!
It is not God Who chooses our every move as if we were puppets. He gave man free will to choose which direction we will take our lives. We are born with an inate ability to make our own decisions, good or bad and as a result of those decisions our lives take shape.
There are certain things that affect our lives that ARE beyond our control--laws of nature and the decisions others around us make--but it is not the things themselves that make our destiny, rather it is the way we respond to a situation that makes our destiny.
I was raised in a broken home in "the projects" where my mother raised three kids for several years on a seamstress's production paycheck. I had an absentee father and an absentee step-father. I was a screw-up during high school and after high school I couldn't even get into the Air Force due to an undiagnosed medical condition. I never attended college and by all that society tells us should be my fate, I should be in prison or stuck in an hourly job with no future. In fact, several of my friends from school have been a guest of the state.
But the conventional thought did not turn out to be true. Despite all my very real circumstances, I did NOT meet expectations for my life. I say this not to brag on my life, which in my mind has been pretty awesome, but to prove a point that my situation did not determine my outcome.
All it took was for me to be open to the opportunity and just one person to believe in me. Yes, I had one person to believe in me even when I didn't believe in myself. That was my sister and my best friend up until the day she died. Because of her belief and caring I was able to see the potential I had and the dreams I dreamed became more than just dreams.
A spark of hope is all we need in order to overcome our obstacles. We need not be bound by what society tells us we can or can't do. Our destiny is not restrained by our circumstances, rather our reaction to our circumstances is what controls our destiny. I refused to believe the naysayers who said I couldn't do it. No one has the right to choose your outcome but you! Today I choose MY DESTINY!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
TODAY I CHOOSE NOT TO MAKE EXCUSES!
An excuse is just a reason to justify failing. TODAY I CHOOSE NOT TO MAKE EXCUSES!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
TODAY I CHOOSE TO BE LIKE TIM TEBOW
This is copied from an article noted below. I am not the copyright owner of this piece. What if ALL of us were like this?
I've come to believe in Tim Tebow, but not for what he does on a football field, which is still three parts Dr. Jekyll and two parts Mr. Hyde.
No, I've come to believe in Tim Tebow for what he does off a football field, which is represent the best parts of us, the parts I want to be and so rarely am.
Who among us is this selfless?
Every week, Tebow picks out someone who is suffering, or who is dying, or who is injured. He flies these people and their families to the Broncos game, rents them a car, puts them up in a nice hotel, buys them dinner (usually at a Dave & Buster's), gets them and their families pregame passes, visits with them just before kickoff (!), gets them 30-yard-line tickets down low, visits with them after the game (sometimes for an hour), has them walk him to his car, and sends them off with a basket of gifts.
Home or road, win or lose, hero or goat.
Remember last week, when the world was pulling its hair out in the hour after Tebow had stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers with an 80-yard OT touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas in the playoffs? And Twitter was exploding with 9,420 tweets about Tebow per second? When an ESPN poll was naming him the most popular athlete in America?
Tebow was spending that hour talking to 16-year-old Bailey Knaub about her 73 surgeries so far and what TV shows she likes.
"Here he'd just played the game of his life," recalls Bailey's mother, Kathy, of Loveland, Colo., "and the first thing he does after his press conference is come find Bailey and ask, 'Did you get anything to eat?' He acted like what he'd just done wasn't anything, like it was all about Bailey."
More than that, Tebow kept corralling people into the room for Bailey to meet. Hey, Demaryius, come in here a minute. Hey, Mr. Elway. Hey, Coach Fox.
Even though sometimes-fatal Wegener's granulomatosis has left Bailey with only one lung, the attention took her breath away.
"It was the best day of my life," she emailed. "It was a bright star among very gloomy and difficult days. Tim Tebow gave me the greatest gift I could ever imagine. He gave me the strength for the future. I know now that I can face any obstacle placed in front of me. Tim taught me to never give up because at the end of the day, today might seem bleak but it can't rain forever and tomorrow is a new day, with new promises."
I read that email to Tebow, and he was honestly floored.
"Why me? Why should I inspire her?" he said. "I just don't feel, I don't know, adequate. Really, hearing her story inspires me."
It's not just NFL defenses that get Tebowed. It's high school girls who don't know whether they'll ever go to a prom. It's adults who can hardly stand. It's kids who will die soon.
For the game at Buffalo, it was Charlottesville, Va., blue-chip high school QB Jacob Rainey, who lost his leg after a freak tackle in a scrimmage. Tebow threw three interceptions in that Buffalo game and the Broncos were crushed 40-14.
"He walked in and took a big sigh and said, 'Well, that didn't go as planned,'" Rainey remembers. "Where I'm from, people wonder how sincere and genuine he is. But I think he's the most genuine person I've ever met."
There's not an ounce of artifice or phoniness or Hollywood in this kid Tebow, and I've looked everywhere for it.
Take 9-year-old Zac Taylor, a child who lives in constant pain. Immediately after Tebow shocked the Chicago Bears with a 13-10 comeback win, Tebow spent an hour with Zac and his family. At one point, Zac, who has 10 doctors, asked Tebow whether he has a secret prayer for hospital visits. Tebow whispered it in his ear. And because Tebow still needed to be checked out by the Broncos' team doctor, he took Zac in with him, but only after they had whispered it together.
And it's not always kids. Tom Driscoll, a 55-year-old who is dying of brain cancer at a hospice in Denver, was Tebow's guest for the Cincinnati game. "The doctors took some of my brain," Driscoll says, "so my short-term memory is kind of shot. But that day I'll never forget. Tim is such a good man."
This whole thing makes no football sense, of course. Most NFL players hardly talk to teammates before a game, much less visit with the sick and dying.
Isn't that a huge distraction?
"Just the opposite," Tebow says. "It's by far the best thing I do to get myself ready. Here you are, about to play a game that the world says is the most important thing in the world. Win and they praise you. Lose and they crush you. And here I have a chance to talk to the coolest, most courageous people. It puts it all into perspective. The game doesn't really matter. I mean, I'll give 100 percent of my heart to win it, but in the end, the thing I most want to do is not win championships or make a lot of money, it's to invest in people's lives, to make a difference."
So that's it. I've given up giving up on him. I'm a 100 percent believer. Not in his arm. Not in his skills. I believe in his heart, his there-will-definitely-be-a-pony-under-the-tree optimism, the way his love pours into people, right up to their eyeballs, until they believe they can master the hopeless comeback, too.
Remember the QB who lost his leg, Jacob Rainey? He got his prosthetic leg a few weeks ago, and he wants to play high school football next season. Yes, tackle football. He'd be the first to do that on an above-the-knee amputation.
Hmmm. Wonder where he got that crazy idea?
"Tim told me to keep fighting, no matter what," Rainey says. "I am."
Follow Rick on Twitter @ReillyRick Love the column, hate the column, got a better idea? Go here.
Rick Reilly is the 11-time National Sportswriter of the Year. He contributes essays and commentary to "Monday Night Countdown," "SportsCenter," and ESPN/ABC golf and tennis coverage. He's also the host of "Homecoming," ESPN's unique, one-hour interview show set in the hometowns of legendary athletes. For more Rick, check out the archive.
Feel like taking a detour from sane sports? Try Rick's latest book, "Sports from Hell."
I've come to believe in Tim Tebow, but not for what he does on a football field, which is still three parts Dr. Jekyll and two parts Mr. Hyde.
No, I've come to believe in Tim Tebow for what he does off a football field, which is represent the best parts of us, the parts I want to be and so rarely am.
Who among us is this selfless?
Every week, Tebow picks out someone who is suffering, or who is dying, or who is injured. He flies these people and their families to the Broncos game, rents them a car, puts them up in a nice hotel, buys them dinner (usually at a Dave & Buster's), gets them and their families pregame passes, visits with them just before kickoff (!), gets them 30-yard-line tickets down low, visits with them after the game (sometimes for an hour), has them walk him to his car, and sends them off with a basket of gifts.
Home or road, win or lose, hero or goat.
Remember last week, when the world was pulling its hair out in the hour after Tebow had stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers with an 80-yard OT touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas in the playoffs? And Twitter was exploding with 9,420 tweets about Tebow per second? When an ESPN poll was naming him the most popular athlete in America?
Tebow was spending that hour talking to 16-year-old Bailey Knaub about her 73 surgeries so far and what TV shows she likes.
"Here he'd just played the game of his life," recalls Bailey's mother, Kathy, of Loveland, Colo., "and the first thing he does after his press conference is come find Bailey and ask, 'Did you get anything to eat?' He acted like what he'd just done wasn't anything, like it was all about Bailey."
More than that, Tebow kept corralling people into the room for Bailey to meet. Hey, Demaryius, come in here a minute. Hey, Mr. Elway. Hey, Coach Fox.
Even though sometimes-fatal Wegener's granulomatosis has left Bailey with only one lung, the attention took her breath away.
"It was the best day of my life," she emailed. "It was a bright star among very gloomy and difficult days. Tim Tebow gave me the greatest gift I could ever imagine. He gave me the strength for the future. I know now that I can face any obstacle placed in front of me. Tim taught me to never give up because at the end of the day, today might seem bleak but it can't rain forever and tomorrow is a new day, with new promises."
I read that email to Tebow, and he was honestly floored.
"Why me? Why should I inspire her?" he said. "I just don't feel, I don't know, adequate. Really, hearing her story inspires me."
It's not just NFL defenses that get Tebowed. It's high school girls who don't know whether they'll ever go to a prom. It's adults who can hardly stand. It's kids who will die soon.
For the game at Buffalo, it was Charlottesville, Va., blue-chip high school QB Jacob Rainey, who lost his leg after a freak tackle in a scrimmage. Tebow threw three interceptions in that Buffalo game and the Broncos were crushed 40-14.
"He walked in and took a big sigh and said, 'Well, that didn't go as planned,'" Rainey remembers. "Where I'm from, people wonder how sincere and genuine he is. But I think he's the most genuine person I've ever met."
There's not an ounce of artifice or phoniness or Hollywood in this kid Tebow, and I've looked everywhere for it.
Take 9-year-old Zac Taylor, a child who lives in constant pain. Immediately after Tebow shocked the Chicago Bears with a 13-10 comeback win, Tebow spent an hour with Zac and his family. At one point, Zac, who has 10 doctors, asked Tebow whether he has a secret prayer for hospital visits. Tebow whispered it in his ear. And because Tebow still needed to be checked out by the Broncos' team doctor, he took Zac in with him, but only after they had whispered it together.
And it's not always kids. Tom Driscoll, a 55-year-old who is dying of brain cancer at a hospice in Denver, was Tebow's guest for the Cincinnati game. "The doctors took some of my brain," Driscoll says, "so my short-term memory is kind of shot. But that day I'll never forget. Tim is such a good man."
This whole thing makes no football sense, of course. Most NFL players hardly talk to teammates before a game, much less visit with the sick and dying.
Isn't that a huge distraction?
"Just the opposite," Tebow says. "It's by far the best thing I do to get myself ready. Here you are, about to play a game that the world says is the most important thing in the world. Win and they praise you. Lose and they crush you. And here I have a chance to talk to the coolest, most courageous people. It puts it all into perspective. The game doesn't really matter. I mean, I'll give 100 percent of my heart to win it, but in the end, the thing I most want to do is not win championships or make a lot of money, it's to invest in people's lives, to make a difference."
So that's it. I've given up giving up on him. I'm a 100 percent believer. Not in his arm. Not in his skills. I believe in his heart, his there-will-definitely-be-a-pony-under-the-tree optimism, the way his love pours into people, right up to their eyeballs, until they believe they can master the hopeless comeback, too.
Remember the QB who lost his leg, Jacob Rainey? He got his prosthetic leg a few weeks ago, and he wants to play high school football next season. Yes, tackle football. He'd be the first to do that on an above-the-knee amputation.
Hmmm. Wonder where he got that crazy idea?
"Tim told me to keep fighting, no matter what," Rainey says. "I am."
Follow Rick on Twitter @ReillyRick Love the column, hate the column, got a better idea? Go here.
Rick Reilly is the 11-time National Sportswriter of the Year. He contributes essays and commentary to "Monday Night Countdown," "SportsCenter," and ESPN/ABC golf and tennis coverage. He's also the host of "Homecoming," ESPN's unique, one-hour interview show set in the hometowns of legendary athletes. For more Rick, check out the archive.
Feel like taking a detour from sane sports? Try Rick's latest book, "Sports from Hell."
TODAY I CHOOSE TO BE GOOD TO MY BODY!
This past weekend, my wife and I stayed near the house all weekend, only venturing out to go to Church on Sunday and lunch afterward. The entire rest of the weekend we stayed at home catching up on our rest.
Over the last several weeks I had been getting a new store ready to open and then there was the unexpected trip to Louisville to send my father home to his Lord. My wife had been stressed out at work over the same period and we both just needed the time to unwind and de-stress our bodies. By Sunday night we were feeling a little lazy but much more relaxed and ready for the new week.
In todays fast paced world we are always moving at the speed of life and we sometimes feel if we slow down that we might get behind or at the very least miss something. While God did not intend for us to just sit around and become couch potatoes, He also intended for us to regenerate our bodies through rest. He was the first of us to take a day off. After He created the universe, God took the Sabbath as a day of rest.
The human body is a resilient piece of craftsmanship. With all its intricate parts and inner workings, it is designed to give us a full day of work and support our efforts. However, as I said IT IS a delicate piece of craftsmanship so it also needs a few things to keep it running.
First the body needs fuel. Food and water are the fuel that keep the body the well oiled machine that it is. If we fail to feed the body, then it is like a car that we fail to put oil and gas into. It runs out of that fuel and it stalls. If you consider food as the gas and water as the oil, then like a car, without proper food nutrition the body will begin to be sluggish and non-responsive. Americans take in the equivilent of 142 pounds of Sugar (in all its forms) according to a 2003 study. Type 2 Diabetes is an epidemic in America and our children are getting fatter every year.
Water is the oil for our body and without it, the body will shut down on us. Like a car without oil, our body will lock up and shut down on us. Coffee, tea, soda, and other liquids may refresh us but they may also be slowly shutting us down. The human body is nearly 60% water in a normal sized man but it can be up to 75% in a newborn infant. When we work our body, we lose water through sweat. When we replace our body water with other fluids we throw off the delicate balance of water in the body and it does not tend to work as well. Think of the oil in an engine being replaced with soda. Oil is designed to lubricate the engine and keep things running smoothly--much like the water in our bodies.
Water does for our body what oil does for a car engine. It keeps our body lubricated and hydrated. The average American consumes 46 Gallons of soda a year as of 2009. Not only is the soda laden with sugar, but it replaces the natural water content and replaces the water with fat. Even diet drinks contribute to fat because they fail to trigger the brain to feel satisfied and they lead to over-consumption. Since the soda is laden with sugar, it replaces the well lubricated body with a sludge that has the same effect as it would if you replaced the engine oil with soda.
Soda and sugar are not bad in and of themselves, but anything in excess is not good for us. We need to read the lables of our food and stay away from added sugar as much as possible. Anything on a lable ending in -ose (Dextrose, fructose, etc) is a form of sugar that many people do not know are sugars.
The third thing the body needs is rest. If God took a day of rest, what makes us think we are any better? Like a good Father, He set the example for us by teaching us to rest. Without rest, the body does not function well. It becomes sluggish because the body did not have enough time to regenerate and recharge itself.
People who are sleep deprived tend to be more sedentary and without proper exercise, they function at a lower level than intended. This leads to people eating and drinking more, and this becomes a cycle that if not corrected will lead to obesity.
I have made 2012 my year of reclamation for my body. I have pledged to greatly reduce the consumption of sugar and to make the majority of my sugar intake be from fresh fruits and vegetables. I have pledged to 64 ounces of water a day minimum and while I still drink other drinks, try to keep them to mealtime and water otherwise. I have also pledged to exercise a minimum of 3 times a week with at least one of those days being cardio training.
In the Bible in the Old Testament there are plenty of mentions of people living hundreds of years. There is a philosophical debate as to whether people lived longer then and could not do so now. I happen to believe if we ate like God intended, worked and rested like our ancestors did then we too might live a much longer life. Maybe not hundreds of years but possibly a lot more reaching the century mark. TODAY I CHOOSE TO BE GOOD TO MY BODY!
Over the last several weeks I had been getting a new store ready to open and then there was the unexpected trip to Louisville to send my father home to his Lord. My wife had been stressed out at work over the same period and we both just needed the time to unwind and de-stress our bodies. By Sunday night we were feeling a little lazy but much more relaxed and ready for the new week.
In todays fast paced world we are always moving at the speed of life and we sometimes feel if we slow down that we might get behind or at the very least miss something. While God did not intend for us to just sit around and become couch potatoes, He also intended for us to regenerate our bodies through rest. He was the first of us to take a day off. After He created the universe, God took the Sabbath as a day of rest.
The human body is a resilient piece of craftsmanship. With all its intricate parts and inner workings, it is designed to give us a full day of work and support our efforts. However, as I said IT IS a delicate piece of craftsmanship so it also needs a few things to keep it running.
First the body needs fuel. Food and water are the fuel that keep the body the well oiled machine that it is. If we fail to feed the body, then it is like a car that we fail to put oil and gas into. It runs out of that fuel and it stalls. If you consider food as the gas and water as the oil, then like a car, without proper food nutrition the body will begin to be sluggish and non-responsive. Americans take in the equivilent of 142 pounds of Sugar (in all its forms) according to a 2003 study. Type 2 Diabetes is an epidemic in America and our children are getting fatter every year.
Water is the oil for our body and without it, the body will shut down on us. Like a car without oil, our body will lock up and shut down on us. Coffee, tea, soda, and other liquids may refresh us but they may also be slowly shutting us down. The human body is nearly 60% water in a normal sized man but it can be up to 75% in a newborn infant. When we work our body, we lose water through sweat. When we replace our body water with other fluids we throw off the delicate balance of water in the body and it does not tend to work as well. Think of the oil in an engine being replaced with soda. Oil is designed to lubricate the engine and keep things running smoothly--much like the water in our bodies.
Water does for our body what oil does for a car engine. It keeps our body lubricated and hydrated. The average American consumes 46 Gallons of soda a year as of 2009. Not only is the soda laden with sugar, but it replaces the natural water content and replaces the water with fat. Even diet drinks contribute to fat because they fail to trigger the brain to feel satisfied and they lead to over-consumption. Since the soda is laden with sugar, it replaces the well lubricated body with a sludge that has the same effect as it would if you replaced the engine oil with soda.
Soda and sugar are not bad in and of themselves, but anything in excess is not good for us. We need to read the lables of our food and stay away from added sugar as much as possible. Anything on a lable ending in -ose (Dextrose, fructose, etc) is a form of sugar that many people do not know are sugars.
The third thing the body needs is rest. If God took a day of rest, what makes us think we are any better? Like a good Father, He set the example for us by teaching us to rest. Without rest, the body does not function well. It becomes sluggish because the body did not have enough time to regenerate and recharge itself.
People who are sleep deprived tend to be more sedentary and without proper exercise, they function at a lower level than intended. This leads to people eating and drinking more, and this becomes a cycle that if not corrected will lead to obesity.
I have made 2012 my year of reclamation for my body. I have pledged to greatly reduce the consumption of sugar and to make the majority of my sugar intake be from fresh fruits and vegetables. I have pledged to 64 ounces of water a day minimum and while I still drink other drinks, try to keep them to mealtime and water otherwise. I have also pledged to exercise a minimum of 3 times a week with at least one of those days being cardio training.
In the Bible in the Old Testament there are plenty of mentions of people living hundreds of years. There is a philosophical debate as to whether people lived longer then and could not do so now. I happen to believe if we ate like God intended, worked and rested like our ancestors did then we too might live a much longer life. Maybe not hundreds of years but possibly a lot more reaching the century mark. TODAY I CHOOSE TO BE GOOD TO MY BODY!
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