I want you to take a thought walk with me for a minute and consider some of the major causes of our current societal suffering.  It’s time to RISE UP!

 

Fast food or processed food has the addition of salt, sugar, oils, and preservatives.  When we eat these foods we are excited BUT NOT NOURISHED!  In addition these foods are calorie dense.  Where as salad has 100 calories per pound, chocolate has 2500 calories per pound.  So not only do you crave more and more of what stimulates you but does not nourish you, but you gain lots of weight and develop various diseases.  Your ability to think clearly is compromised.

 

We receive dopamine hits from lying in our bed clicking on our phones and tablets.  Sometimes it’s the games with their endless levels.  Sometimes it’s the seemingly endless content available to us on social media.  But in order to keep our attention in this highly competitive environment we are bombarded with drama-nudity, sex, violence, the extreme, the shocking and the emotional, in order to hook us.  The content with the most stimulation usually gets our focus.

 

A few years back I was writing a musical and got professional counsel on how to make it better.  My two takeaways were: your message is to complicated and it needs to be more entertaining.  All of the movies and programming you are getting are competing for your attention just like the food is.  The more vivid the colors, the more stunning the special effects, the more exciting the plot, the more emotional the engagement, the more graphic the violence, the more seductive the sex; the more all of the above the more likely it will win your choice.

 

Over 70% of people in the United States are overweight or obese.  74% of the food in the grocery stores is laced with sugar.  When the 700 million obese people of the world look at themselves (me included) we see the result of all of the above physically.  But what about the result of all of the above spiritually and socially? Is it any wonder our kids can’t concentrate in school?  Is it any wonder it’s so hard to have a successful marriage?  Is it any wonder we see more mentally unstable people killing masses of people?

 

If there were ever a time to pray and fast it’s NOW!  We are seeing the perfect storm of human demise.  By making pleasure our god we are destroying our ability to hear from God.  And the road to recovery ISN’T EASY!  So that’s why we need to pray.  We need to study.  We need to inspire one another to take action!  We need to make regular calls for action.  We need to daily invite people to start a new way of living, to make a change!  We have to create safe environments not only for our children and for the weak among us but also for ourselves.
It is only when I immerse myself in the presence of my Creator.  When I read about his character in the bible, when I meditate on the insights I find as I study and as I pray, it is only then I find hope and strength and peace. It’s time to RISE UP!  It’s time to leave Babylonian entertainment and eating!

So you might be curious what has gone on so far in this 50 day journey.  Today is day 40.

• I’ve lost more than 20 lbs
• I’ve inspired others to spread their spiritual insight.  Many in turn have told me they have challenged others to do the same.  So the 50 day challenge is going viral.
• The people sharing are telling me stories of how gratified they are to hear from others what a blessing they have been
• Many have thanked me for sharing exactly what they needed at that moment.

So, would you like to take the 50 day challenge?  You commit to sharing a person insight that God has blessed you with in your journey through life every day for 50 days in the format you choose.  I dare you to start tomorrow and see what changes your own life will be blessed with.

Why not start….today?

Different people learn in different ways.  Some people are kinesthetic learners.  They learn by action.  They remember what they physically do.  So when teaching them something incorporating actions is key.  Others learn visually.  These people need to see the picture to grasp the concept.  Still others learn by hearing.  They benefit from listening to a lecture.

Perhaps everyone is a little bit of each mode but certain people thrive with one predominant mode.  As a teacher I am constantly trying not only to teach using different styles or modes of learning but also to use different modes when I am learning something.  I find this accelerates my learning.

But did you know that different people love in different ways?  Gary Chapman wrote a book that talks about the 5 primary love languages he discovered.  You can learn about them here.  But my brief focus is this:  What if you’ve been trying to love people with the wrong language.  What if you’ve been giving your wife hugs but her love language is gifts.  You can give her all the hugs in the world but when someone else gives her a gift and that’s her love language she may think they care more about her than you do.  Or maybe you are trying to be loving to a neighbor, co-worker, relative or friend who doesn’t get it because you aren’t speaking their love language.

So my challenge for today is for you to discover your love language and look for clues to discover the love language of those you wish to impact.  By the way, I hope you try to improve your learning process by using multiple modes as well.  And if no one else told you today, I LOVE YOU, and GOD LOVES YOU MORE!!!  See you on Day 39!

DCG

 

Please check out this documentary after watching my video.

https://go.ithriveseries.com/watch

Sometimes it’s difficult to receive the love that tells us what we need to hear even when we don’t want to hear it.

I don’t want to have friends that only tell me what I want to hear.  I want to be able to trust the advise of those who I hold in confidence.  When I ask them if an outfit works or if a certain song sounds good in my voice I sure hope they will tell the truth.

Of course we want those who speak truth to us to be respectful in their presentation.  We don’t want them to be insensitive when telling us difficult things.  We hope that they’ll be gentle.  But we still need to know the truth to help us to make the best decision.

God has placed some strong believers in my life who have my back.  I mean by that statement that they have my best interest at heart and they communicate to me the truth that is necessary for me to make good decisions.  I value having a spiritual community that I can share with.

Do you find it difficult to tell others truth?  I hope you are balanced so that you aren’t insensitive to their feelings but you still give them the information that will help them to make the best choices.

I am so grateful for the true love we receive from our Heavenly Father.  God reveals to us who we really are and yet gives us hope because He still loves us and believes in us.  Sometimes it’s painful to pray or read the bible and ask God’s Holy Spirit to show us ourselves and our need for Him.  But we are better off when we do.

So today I pray that God gives you and me the truth we need to have a better life.  And I pray that we will be willing to lovingly share truth with others whose welfare may depend on it.

Sometimes knowing how different your now could have been will inspire the change necessary to make your future all it could be.

What If

My son and I were talking this evening and I asked him this question: “What if we had stayed on the Corrective Diet?  How different would our lives have been?”

The Corrective Diet is a way of eating that emphasizes consuming a plant based whole foods diet.  I lost 32 lbs in one month following this approach.  When you are on the Corrective Diet you eat foods that will create an oxygen rich blood environment and alkalize your body.  When I finished the first month I chose not to continue.  Now some of you may point out that diet’s invariably fail but I mean what if I had continued to practice these principals of eating permanently.  I asked my son to think of the many ways our lives would have been different if I had not stopped.  I would have had more energy.  I wouldn’t have some of the health problems I face today (After being on the Corrective Diet I no longer needed to use blood pressure medicine to keep my pressure in the healthy range).  More energy means I would have been able to spend more time playing with him and his sister.  By taking a look at the potential effects of one choice I can learn to more deeply value the longterm effects of my decisions.

Have you ever taken the time to think about how different your life might be based on a change of one behavior?  Have you really gone done the road with your imagination to consider the implications?  This technique can be really useful in getting you to feel the value of a change or the danger of delaying a change.

What if you stopped waiting for the perfect time to make a change and decided to change now…I mean right now?  What if you not only taking massive action today but also encourage those in your sphere of influence to do the same?  You can change the world one choice at a time.

You’ve Gotten Use To The Usual

When I was in 7th grade my science teacher made us go on a no sugar diet for several days.  After not even a week of not having added sugar our taste buds changed.  What use to be sweet became too sweet.  Imagine how many things that are bad for us we have gotten so use to that we don’t even feel their badness!

As a Christian I realize more than ever before why it’s so important to pray, study the bible, meditate, and share my faith.  All of the above actions allow me to re-tune my spiritual taste buds.  Reading about Jesus and immersing myself in thoughts of Him allows me to see how really negative our world is compared with His character and philosophy of living.

Leave Your Comfort Zone!

Change isn’t comfortable.  If it were everyone would be changing.  We get use to the way things are.  Even though we know things could be better we don’t want to exert the energy to make things different until the pain of staying the same becomes strong enough to our weigh the pain of changing our behavior.

So envisioning the “What If’s” allow us to create greater pain or pleasure as we see the multiple ramifications of our choices.  So….what if you choose to use the power of what if today?