See…0 grams of trans fat.  It’s healthy.  Whew…I’m on my sixth.  Take that Jillian Michaels!!

People often have questions about heaven.  What is it going to be like?  What will it look like?  What will we be doing? Etc.

I believe in a literal heaven.  I don’t believe it will necessarily be “streets of gold” or “mansions” etc.  Could be.  My guess is that those are metaphors that best communicated the awesomeness that is heaven to 1st century readers (these same metaphors might work just as well in most parts of the world).

So, let me contextualize for a moment with a picture of heaven that at least makes me want to be there!  These will be in heaven!!:

Krispy Kreme Bacon Cheeseburgers!!!  Eternity in bliss.

WOW do all of those contestants look great!  Did you see Heba?!?  Holy cow she looks like a different person!  Clear winner of the $100,000 at home challenge.  They looked great - Jerry & Coleen, Phil & Amy P. (they don’t even look like the same couple), Amy C. & Shellay (holy cow skinny), L.T. & Tom, Renee, Adam & Stacey, and Brady! 

Ed lost – 139 pounds.  41.49%

Vicky lost – 101 pounds 41.06% (Vicky did not win!!!!!  Hallelujah!!!  She will get no money!)

Michelle lost – 110 pounds 45.45%

YES!!!  MICHELLE WON  MICHELLE WON!!  I CAN KEEP WATCHING THE SHOW!!

January 6th – new season.  Bob is getting angry.  Man I love this show!

Presidential Debates are cutting into the normal Biggest Loser time…like what is more important for America…to vote for one of these two yahoos or to lose weight?!  Seriously.  Losing weight is the change we can believe in!

• Vicky vs. her husband, Brady (brown team).  Man…she just turned on her husband (“he’s holding me back”) I’m rooting for Brady.  Not a fan of Vicky.
• Shellay’s whining is tiresome.  I think Jillian is going to kill her.
• I really like Amy & Phil (Tenacious D).  Good parents.
• Reward challenge – care package from home.  Winner…(balancing on a moving bar while holding handle bars above head submerged in a decreasing pool of water)…after 107 minutes…Amy (purple team) fell.  Vicky won. 
• Rough reward…tear jerker (I mean…for a lesser man than myself…sniff…sniff)
• Shellay is still holding the treadmill.  Jillian just said, “Quit holding the treadmill or I’m going to punch you out.”  yes.
• Jillian’s team didn’t do their “homework.”  Jillian is going ballistic.  Ouch.  “You guys aren’t cutting it…at all…compared to any other season…I’m sick of it…I’ve met the leaders…I’ve met the people who changed their lives…AND IT ISN’T YOU!!”  Amy (purple team) just got kicked out of gym.  WOW! 
• No one goes home tonight.  Tomorrow…Wednesday special Biggest Loser for result.  To be continued…

The Biggest Loser for September 28, 2008

• Road trip to Grand Canyon!
• Come on everyone…you are trying to lose weight!  Skip the RV and go camping!  Good decision Yellow team.  Last week’s gamble didn’t pay off.
• Yep…it is about equal…Extra Gum versus an all-beef hot dog.  Give me a break.  Are you trying to tell me a stick of gum is going to satisfy my hunger in the same way a delicious hot dog would?
• Pink team…put the medicine balls down!!
• Is this Survivor or Biggest Loser?  Leaderless, wandering around looking for food, shelter, sleeping, etc.? 
• Ed & Heba, when asked how the RV was in front of everyone else you’re only answer is… “It would be better if everyone had one as well.”
• Someone is going to win an RV!!! That is awesome…until they can’t ever drive it because gas pricesare sky high.  Congrats to Ed & Heba…you should put it in your front yard on blocks.
• Purple team…Shellay…good thinking by throwing the ENTIRE rope out into the water!  Pull it back in and redo it…what are you thinking!?
• “When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” – Jillian.  Oh that’s stout.
• Jerry’s leg doesn’t look good.  No blood clot.  Torn hamstring.
• Jillian is beating the snot out of Michelle…and making her eyes excrete a salty substance mixed with Mary Kay mascara. 
• Red team weigh in…wow!  Good job.  15 total pounds (Phil under 300).  Brown team…8 pounds…little disappointed.  Pink team…9 pounds.  Orange team…(commercials are irritating)…18 total pounds (Ed under 300…good).  Purple team (excuses excuses)…9 pounds.  Yellow team…(and yet…another commercial)…5 pounds (Jerry GAINED 2 pounds!).  He is retaining water…come on people.
• Vicki (Brown team) just said, “Screw my husband…I’m staying!”  And she smiled at Colleen and Jerry’s weight misfortune.  I don’t like her (at least in TV world…her and Johnny Fairplay).
• Twist tonight.  No one votes.  Only one family falls below the yellow line.  Then that family has to decide which of the two of them goes home.  Yellow team lost and fell below the line.  Colleen or Jerry are going home.  I’m bummed about that.  I like yellow team.  Colleen deserves to stay.  But Jerry NEEDS to be there because of his health.
• Going home:  JERRY!  I like that dude.

Jerry looks good!  Great job dude on the turn around of health.  Of five cardiac medicines, Jerry is off four of them.  Keep going dude!  He has lost a total of 70 pounds.

As we talked about in the message on Sunday, God created (and even began) with body.  And the Christian story is about body.  At Creation there is…body; when Jesus comes to the earth he does so with and in…body (fancy theological word is incarnation).  At Jesus’ resurrection…body.  The promise of our resurrection is…body. 

Somehow we have lost the message and importance of body.  We have gravitated towards “spirit” and “soul” as the only thing that matters.  In fact, I would dare say that for most Christians, their picture of the afterlife is absent body and only free-floating spirit (where do we get that?!!?).  Hinduism moves towards a place of freedom from body (they call it Nirvana…more than just a 90s band ) …NOT Christianity.  That isn’t our story!

Paul understands body.  He references it as the very location in which the Spirit of God dwells (1 Corinthians 6:19).  He assumes that we would love and take care of our bodies and thus can use it as an analogy as to how men should love and care for their wives (Ephesians 5:28-29).  He even goes so far to rhetorically comment, “After all, no one ever hated his own body…”  REALLY?! 

The Scriptures call us to live life following Jesus in body.  And when you place that filter on as you read, it is amazing how much the Word has to do with, or has reference in BODY.

Given the importance of body (even as we reflected on it in regards to sex)…what are the implications of body and living out God’s intended body-life?

• How do we treat our bodies?
• What does this mean for things like diet and exercise?
• What does this mean for habits that affect the body?
• What does this mean for issues of rest for the body?
• What spiritual disciplines are necessary because of and for the sake of body?
• What happens when body is neglected in the spiritual life in favor of spirit/soul?
• What happens when body become ultimate in the spiritual life and has become an idol?
• How do we live out faithful sexuality in this body? (no matter what state we find ourselves…married, unmarried)
• What distorted perceptions of body plagues our mind in today’s society and culture (e.g. magazine cover images, drive to be unhealthily thin, eating disorders, gross obesity)?
• What does it say about a society that the total amount it spends to discipline the body from consuming as much food as it does (c. 33 billion dollars a year are spent on weight loss products and services in the United States) can easily put a massive dent in starvation around the world?
• What if the Kingdom accomplishments that God is calling me to is shortchanged simply because I have let my body deteriorate and become lazy to the point that all I’ve committed myself to now is perpetual snacking and TV watching?

Oh man do I have some repenting to do

To the Dude that Smokes and Works out at the Gym With Me,

I’m glad to see you are at the gym working out.  Seriously…great job!  I always want to support anyone who summons the fortitude to actually go to the gym and workout…BUT…

If you walk in after smoking a cigarette, you are killing everyone around you.  Seriously, dude.  It is hard enough working out as it is let alone having to do it while feeling like I’m sucking on a previously smoked cigarette.  This isn’t about the fact that you smoke.  Hey…it isn’t good for you…but…you already know that.  This isn’t about Jesus loving you less because you smoke because he doesn’t.  This is purely about not wanting to run next to an ashtray.

So please…grab an Altoid…change the clothes…something…but your killing me on the treadmill next to you…it is one powerful scent!

Sincerely,

Your fellow gym-goer

P.S.  This same principle applies to farts as well…good grief man…just run to the bathroom

Oh man I knew it the moment I saw her…Ali weighed 122 lbs. (she started at 234!)  She lost 112 lbs.!!!!  She looked phenomenal – 47.86% of her body weight.  First woman Biggest Loser!!

And Roger…that dude lost a TON of weight!

Can we talk about Bernie beating out Mark by ONE POUND to win the $100,000.

O.K…big conspiracy question:  Is Paul really “ill” or did he not lose any weight and refuse to come back to the finale?  Anyone have any “inside” answers?

Oh my goodness.  What an incredible show.  Can you believe the final four?!?!!?  I mean really…Roger, Mark, Ali, and Kelly…they are amazing!!  It is phenomenal!  I mean absolutely phenomenal!  Good for them!  Good for them!!  And good for the ladies…wow!  They are all the “biggest loser” in the best of ways!

I think I’m going to cry my eyes out and bawl all over myself…that is the “biggest loser” way.

According to a Men’s Health survey of the top 20 WORST foods for you in regards to health.  The #1 – worst food is:

OUTBACK CHEESE FRIES!!!

2900 Calories (no that isn’t a typo)

182 g. fat

240 g. carbs

This explains so much!  Just so you know…in heaven these will be served at every meal!