This just in....
Studies show that 10 out of 10 people will die

"Whatever you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do ALL for the glory of God."
1 Cor 10:31 "For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Romans 8:13 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The greatest motivation for all things we do in our lives cannot be for temporal ends. Meaning temporary results.....even if "we eat right, stay fit" - we die anyway.......so even being healthy is a temporary joy.....and I want soul satisfying - PERMANENT joy.

So.....umm, with eternity in mind......why workout?
This may be a touchy subject for some believers......those who, when I talk about taking care of our health sometimes fire back at me some verse like "physical training is of LITTLE value"......compared to the very important spiritual fitness that we give ourselves to in reading God's word" YES, yes that is true......but let's not use God's word as an way to get out of taking care of what God has given us.

"He loves thee too little, who loves anything together with thee, NOT for THY SAKE"
ie....Loving health and fitness and enjoying food without enjoying the giver of the ability to exercise and access to food, etc.......

Background ~ When my mom left my dad, I was about 12....and she and I were never really all that close to begin with.....and I never really had a role model.......until...well...... I remember that sometime shortly after that....I saw Baywatch for the first time, and became obsessed with wanting to be like Pam Anderson. I had heard people talk about how beautiful she was and somehow I put together that women have value and will be loved......if they are beautiful. I had every newspaper, magazine and even a poster of the Baywatch crew.....only so that I could mimic her......though I didn't have the motivation just yet........
When I was about 14-15 I had gained a BUNCH of weight.....weighing around 215lbs at 5'5'' (ack!) I was picked on quite a bit the first couple years of high school - which was really rough......especially since one of the best looking guys was one of the biggest jerks. So the summer between my sophomore year and junior year, I decided that that was over........ I colored my hair bleach blond, lost 100lbs in 4 months (extremely unhealthy, and had friends and parents turn me in thinking that I wasn't eating at all, though I did eat a little bit here and there) and started working out....a lot. Around that time, I met a guy who was obsessed with fitness and we ended up dating for 3 1/2 years.........bodybuilding and fitness shows - figure competitions, vanity abounded. I had entered a costume contest as Pam Anderson and won $2,000.......the biggest ego trip though, was when little kids or teenagers would come up to me at the mall or the state fair and ask me for my autograph.......agh.........got a huge head over that......thinking that I was somebody, when I was imitating someone else's vanity......I was a hopeless fool.
In April, 2000, however......my life came to a halt.

As true as the book of Eccles - I saw the fleeting pleasure of sin as just that......fleeting. I saw myself in truth.......
"My sin, my sin, my Savior - how sadly on thee thy fall."

Sitting in that seat in the auditorium on Easter, Apr 23, 2000........the connection. The sins committed by me - the honor and respect and glory I sought for myself in my vanity, the immoral life I was living (with a man I was not married to), the horrible way that I treated people..... my sin is what sent Christ Jesus to the cross. The girl who cared so much about what people thought about her, was in a puddle on the floor surrounded by 2000+ young adults that seemed to fade away in the shadows. No thought was taken regarding "image" except for how I must appear before a Holy God.......and the beauty of Christ and His most amazing love for sinners and scoffers - gripped my heart unlike any image in the world. Who dies for their enemies!!? Only the Son of God loves like that.......and those born of His Spirit.
In light of the gospel of Christ now, being NO longer as one in the world - no longer one of those women who are slaves to their flesh, beating their bodies into submission at the gym -seeking merely to turn heads and feel 'valuable' and to continue to look in the mirror with hopes to convince themselves that they are really remarkable.........my life is lived now in light of eternity.
I am not my own....I was bought with a price, therefore, the God who has been so merciful to me, who is worthy of my praises, my devotion, all of me......I will eat and drink and workout IN SUCH A WAY that those in the world will know that what I eat or drink or whatever I do - is not my ULTIMATE value - Christ Jesus is my everything. I don't say this to be frothy....

I simply mean that if you have Salvation for eternity, nothing else matters;
If you DON'T have salvation for eternity, nothing else matters.

My Goal is God Himself, at any cost, my dear Lord.

Sorry for being all over the place........
In Christ Jesus by His Mercy,
Jen2