Prescription for Life

This past weekend was a bit odd. Nothing out of the ordinary happened except one question came up nearly 10 times with people I know. The question I was asked over and over this weekend was about how much weight I had lost. I jokingly told Misty, I did not know which was worse, that people could tell I had lost so much weight or the fact I needed to lose weight and no one said anything about it.

Last October a pastor's study group I'm in worked through a book called Prescription for Life by Dr. Richard Furman. To say this book changed my life is a gross understatement. When I cracked open the book, I initially did so with the hopes of losing some weight. As I read the book my focus changed from weight loss to long-term care of my body. Dr. Furman lays out in his book three simple strategies that will help you take care of your body and live younger longer. One of the benefits of following Dr. Furman's prescription for a healthier life is weight loss. I can attest that the program works having shed 50 pounds in 7 months and having maintained the same weight for almost 4 months now. The strategies in the book work, but as Dr. Furman puts it in the book you have to go from deciding to do something (your thoughts of what you want to do) to committing to do it (putting action to your decisions).

One of the things that caught my attention and has been more of a driving force for me behind changing my lifestyle is the fact that a simple change of lifestyle now can help me avoid common health problems later in life. Those problems are ones that everyone thinks is "just a part of life," such as heart issues, strokes, & dementia. This new lifestyle helps to protect your arteries against vascular problems. Both of my grandfathers were affected by dementia. I have joked for years with Misty that I knew it was coming for me and when it did, just put me in a home because I wouldn't know where I was anyways. But by changing my lifestyle now, I could do my part to avoid much of the vascular problems that plague so many. Avoiding dementia 30-40 years from now was enough incentive for me to be committed to this change of lifestyle.

Over nearly 11 months God has worked on me about this change. I was selfish about it at first, wanting to lose weight and avoid dementia or heart issues like my grandfathers. The reason I say I was selfish was because it was all about me and what I would get out of changing my lifestyle. As God has worked on me, I've realized a greater benefit than avoiding those health problems or losing weight. The greater benefit is that I'm being a better steward of the greatest resource God has given me, a healthy body, and I can make a bigger impact for His Kingdom for a longer time, just by taking care of my health. I now want to be that old guy at 85-90 years old that is still outworking 65 year old men. But more importantly, I want to be that old guy who is still able to serve God faithfully up to the last breath because I made a change in my life at 36 years old. I want to serve my God alongside my grandchildren and great-grandchildren so I can leave a greater legacy of faith than I could if I don't remember my name or I'm worried about overtaxing my heart.

I usually end my blog posts by trying to encourage my readers to put into action whatever biblical truths I've discussed. Today's encouragement is simple and can be life changing if you do it. I encourage you to pick up a copy of Dr. Furman's book here and start to make a change in your life that will reap temporal as well as eternal benefits. Trust me, you won't be disappointed if you do.

If you have questions that I can answer, feel free to email me at pastornick@northcatawbabaptist.com. You can also check out Dr. Furman's website here.


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