Progress

Well sorry to leave you hangin'! Last weekend was REALLY busy for my family and I, hence the non-blog-post... and here we are, two weeks later already. I hope you all had a great Super Bowl weekend, regardless of whether you watched it or not (Go Giants... ;).

Anyway, a lot has happened in the last two weeks for me, spiritually and physically, so I'm excited to share with you what's on my heart. First off, let's get to brass tax on how things have been changing physically since I started on New Year's. I measured my stats tonight and here's where I'm at:

Weight: 185 lbs
Body Fat: 14.3%

So I've lost a total of 10 pounds and knocked off 3.7% of my body fat in 5 weeks! It'd be dishonest if I said it was easy - it's been pretty hard getting used to not eating so much, but it seems like things are really working well, and I'm really surprised at how much of a difference it's made in so little time. Five weeks go by crazy fast!

Three days ago, I decided to go on a sort of "Juice Fast" - I'm replacing two meals a day with juice made from a TON of fruits and vegetables. My plan is, at the end of 10 days (next Sunday), I'll check my stats again and see where I stand. My ultimate goal is to get below my target weight of 180 lbs - this is what the doctors say is healthy for someone of my physique. So I'm not quite where I need to be, but I'm getting really close. Thanks for your encouragement and support :)

Now, onto the spiritual (and most important part). I've been able to stay consistent with reading my Bible every day before going to work over the last two weeks. Here's what I covered:

Monday 01/23: Genesis 11 - Tower of Babel
Tuesday 01/24: Genesis 12 - God calls out to Abram
Wednesday 01/25: Genesis 13 - Abram and Lot separate
Thursday 01/26: Genesis 14 - Abram rescues Lot
Friday 01/27: Genesis 15 - God makes a covenant with Abram

Monday 01/30: Genesis 16 - Abram and Hagar have Ishmael
Tuesday 01/31: Genesis 17 - Abram becomes Abraham, Sarai becomes Sarah
Wednesday 02/01: Genesis 18 - Abraham pleads for mercy upon Sodom
Thursday 02/02: Genesis 19 - Sodom and Gamorrah are destroyed, Lot escapes
Friday 02/03: Genesis 20 - Abraham and Abimelek

Ok, so a lot of ground has been covered here over the last two weeks. One of the recurring themes we read about here is second-guessing God's best for us, and trying to impose our own will over His. We first see in chapter 12 that God promises Abraham that he will become a great nation. In chapter 13, Abram and Lot separate. In this chapter, Lot is given a choice of two lands - to the east, the land was well-watered, but to the west, the land wasn't as good. Lot chose the better land, but by doing so, had to live in close proximity to Sodom, one of the most wicked places mentioned in the Bible. In chapter 14, Abram rescues Lot after he's taken captive by four kings who made war in his lands.

Here's where things get interesting. In chapter 15, God once again promises Abram that he will be a great nation, his children as numerous as the stars. Abraham believes him, but questions how it will happen. Abraham suggests to God that his heir will be one of his servants, but God promises that his heir will be of his "own flesh and blood". In chapter 16, Sarai doubts this promise and has Abram conceive a son with her maidservant, Hagar. I don't think it's too big of a stretch to say that Abram probably also doubted the Lord, because he went through with it, even though God said his heir would be of his own "flesh and blood." Funny how God can speak so clearly sometimes, and yet we still doubt He will do what he has promised!

Skipping over to chapter 18, Abram has already been given a new name, "Abraham", as a sign of God's promise. We find out in this chapter that God wants to destroy Sodom, and that somehow Lot has returned to live in that city. Despite getting captured in a war between four kings and having to be saved by Abraham, Lot still thought it was better to keep his family in the most evil place in the world because the land was good for their herds! In chapter 19, Lot eventually is rescued again and the city is destroyed, but he loses his wife because she looks back to the city as it was being destroyed, against what the angels had commanded her.

What I get out of these chapters is that God has a plan, and it's not going to change no matter what you do. God didn't want Lot to be in Sodom, and God wanted Abraham's descendants (through Sarah, his wife, and not her maidservant) to inherit the land of Canaan. Abraham's relationship with his wife suffered, because they decided it would be better to try to have children through their younger maidservant, even though God promised them that their old age would not be a problem. Lot lost his wife because he kept trying to live in a place where he ultimately should not have been. In the end, God's will was done. I can't help but wonder how this story may have been different had Abraham not conceived with Hagar, and if Lot had not returned to Sodom. Makes me consider some of the choices I've made in my life, and how things may have been different if I had listened to God sooner.

Again, I'm reminded of Jeremiah 29:11. God's plans are perfect, and as such, no amount of arguing by me is going to change that fact, even if I think my plans might be better at the time. It's best just to do what God says the first time, and be patient when He doesn't move in "conventional" ways.

Well, that's all I've got for tonight. I hope you all have a great week, talk to you next time!

Ben