Since my early teens, I have been an avid runner. Staying in shape has always been important to me.\u00a0 The fact that my wife Maja shares this fitness ambition helped me stay fit for the first ten years of our marriage.\u00a0 Then our first child Kali was born.<\/p>\n
We were certain the demands of parenthood would create schedule issues for our rigorous exercise program, and they did!\u00a0 Our savior?\u00a0 The running stroller!\u00a0 We tossed the hapless little tyke into the running-machine marvel and proceeded to burn off unneeded calories.\u00a0 Life was good!<\/p>\n
Fast-forward to child number two, Kaleb. We quickly learned the enigmatic calculus of parenthood, namely, that doubling the number of children in the home strangely quadruples the responsibilities of the daily routine. Solution: we purchased a second running stroller!\u00a0 Now both of us burned the extra calories by pushing our little bundles of joy over hill, over dale, and over many dusty trails. All went well until we could no longer squeeze them into the stroller. Then squeezing a daily workout into our busy schedules became increasingly more complicated.<\/p>\n
As everyone knows, daily exercise is only one component of a healthy lifestyle, albeit an important one. There\u2019s also that nasty item we call DIET. For my former self, just the mention of that term left a bad taste in my mouth–if you\u2019ll pardon the pun. Tell me what I must do to pump up my biceps, and I\u2019m with you; tamper with my taste buds, and WHOAAH NELLY!<\/p>\n
For as long as I\u2019ve know her, Maja has punctiliously followed a healthy eating regimen.\u00a0 I, on the other hand, am a recovering carboholic. Talk to me of penne pasta, warm asiago bread, seasoned and aromatic mashed potatoes, and you\u2019ve got my attention!! Meat, Pasta, Potatoes.\u00a0 That was Rob Starner! For years my rigorous running program cheated the carb-monster, but eventually he got the best of me . . . or \u201cbetter of me\u201d to be grammatically correct.<\/p>\n
Fast-forward to a mere fortnight ago. Well into the teen years of my children, the responsibilities of life had grown to astronomical proportions and finding time to exercise had become increasingly more difficult. I was now carrying at least 30 pounds of excess baggage.<\/p>\n
Disappointed in myself, embarrassed, and dejected, I created a section in my closet for pants to be taken for \u201calteration\u201d and put boxes of clothes in the garage for donation. Then Maja reminded me of a diet she had done about a year earlier (like she really needed to do a diet at all!!). Even though a highly trained physician with a powerful microscope could not detect an ounce of excess fat on her, she claimed to have lost about 12 pounds and suggested (strongly) that I give it a try.<\/p>\n
Now I\u2019ve known Maja for . . . well let\u2019s just say \u201ca very long time,\u201d and I had no reason to doubt her claims; it\u2019s just that she ALWAYS looked slender, so for me her weight loss was hard to tell. I, on the other hand, . . . well let\u2019s not go there! Yet go there we must!<\/p>\n
Bottom line: I\u2019m on day 16 of the diet, and I am now 15.2 pounds lighter than when I started. But the pounds are not nearly as impressive to me as the inches. I truly BELIEVE that I can tell the reduction this diet made in my body fat in just one night.<\/p>\n
Now I had HEARD people\u2019s claims about their success with this diet, but I remained incredulous. I had SEEN before\/after pictures of those who claimed success with the diet, but I remained incredulous. It was not until I had personally experienced this weight loss that I truly came to BELIEVE it.<\/p>\n
I cannot escape the very close analogy that this diet has with the cross of Christ. The cross of Christ is a symbol of Christ\u2019s atoning sacrifice for the sins of all who put their trust in God. The power of salvation is not in the symbol, but in the divine act it represents. It is God\u2019s gift to all humanity.<\/p>\n
Now, people can HEAR the testimony of those who have experienced God\u2019s forgiving, life-saving grace. They can even SEE the transformation in the lives of those who claim this salvation. But until they personally put their faith in God and trust Him to do in their lives what He said He would do by the power of Christ\u2019s death, they will not truly BELIEVE in the power of God unto salvation!<\/p>\n
So, if you are overweight, out of shape, and wanting to take back the fitness-ground you\u2019ve lost, develop a routine of regular exercise, consult with your physician to find a diet that you feel is right for you, and consider changing your eating habits. \u201cNothing tastes as good as being fit feels.\u201d<\/p>\n
More importantly, if you are spiritually \u201coverweight,\u201d if you are carrying saddlebags of sin that create a hopeless outlook, a skewed self-image and\/or counterproductive behaviors, give your heart to Christ and accept his sacrifice on your behalf. This do, and you will experience the life-transforming power of God. Trust me, \u201cNothing feels as good as salvation tastes.\u201d Experience it to BELIEVE it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Since my early teens, I have been an avid runner. Staying in shape has always been important to me.\u00a0 The fact that my wife Maja shares this fitness ambition helped me stay fit for the first ten years of our marriage.\u00a0 Then our first child Kali was born. We were certain the demands of parenthood…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robstarner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robstarner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robstarner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robstarner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robstarner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.robstarner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robstarner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robstarner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robstarner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}