Welcome to Fitness Fridays! Here’s how we roll – I share, you share, we all find benefits and encouragement. Full details and instructions here. Let’s roll!
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This post is dedicated to three people. The first is my good friend, Paul, because he is serving his country away from his family. On this Independence holiday, he and his family are deep in my heart and prayers. Thanks Paul, for kicking me in the rear and reminding that “fitness is personal.”
The other two are friends who were physically fit and healthy, then suddenly found out they had pancreatic cancer. Howard, who passed away in March, impacted my life more than he will ever know. I will never forget sitting in the waiting room years ago with his wife, awaiting news of Howard’s progress in an agressive surgery to remove the cancer. I can still hear the doctor say to Jan, “Howard would not have survived that surgery at his age if he had not been so healthy going in.”
The final person is this trio of dedications is a man of deep integrity and noble character. He is my friend and collegue, Dean Morris. Moments before writing these sentences I read on his blog that the doctors have determined that there is nothing left for them to do for Dean. He too, was a healthy man, and avid runner and outdoor sportsman when he received his diagnosis.
Dean is an inspiration to many including myself. Throughout his time of sickness, he has continued to savor life and enjoy it to the fullest. He continues his job as Worship Pastor at the Church at Severn Run, caring for and leading his team with 100% of his effort. Like Howard, Dean is one of those rare men who embody the terms intergrity, charachter, honor, grace, mercy, and charity.
So what does this have to do with Fitness Fridays? EVERYTHING.
I’ll never forget sitting on the edge of Howard’s & Deans’s hospital beds post-surgery. I’m haunted by the memory of my thoughts on those days at how shameful it is that they have to suffer when they had no choice, yet I have the choice to be healthy and had done little to correct that.
Since April, I have been on my road to fitness recovery. Admittadly, I’ve gotten off track the last few weeks but this week, Amy and I made some drastic choices to be able to continue our fitness routines. I’ll be blogging about that later down the road.
So my fitness Friday topic and questions for this week are my inspiration and my reasons for fighting for fitness.
My inspirations: Paul, Howard, and Dean.
My reasons: Amy, Lauren, Karley, and Tyler.
What are YOUR inspirations and reasons for fitghting for fitness?
Please pray for Dean, his family , and his church. Please pray for Howard’s family. And please, pray for my friend , Paul, his family and all the other brave men and women of our armed forces, and their families – especially on this weekend of our celebration of freedom.
| 1. Fred McKinnon (back pains, but still going) | 2. Breathe Magazine | 3. You're next! |
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3. July 2009 at 6:35 PM
Sorry to hear about your friends. I, too, have a dear friend battling cancer, and he was in the best possible physical shape.
My motivations? I walked in constant conviction from the Holy Spirit about my health, weight, and lack of exercise. I came to the point where I felt like my entire life was just bogging down. My prayers were dead, it was as if the heavens were bronze over me. Vision had died, and my relationship with Christ was OK on the surface, but shallow.
I finally decided that maybe my disobedience in this area was affecting things … and decided I no longer wanted the conviction of willingly and knowingly disobeying God.
So, I made the plunge. Now, I’m grateful.