God’s Uncommen Design (Meeting the call)

Jesus makes an authoritative announcement, “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6, NIV) He denies any other way to the Father other than through Him, which is God’s design.  It is not a fancy network marketing program or any particular evangelistic program presented by a church. It is through Him and only Him.

Simply put, God wanted everyone to come to the truth and be saved through Jesus.  Jesus died for everyone of all nations. His Word spread through evangelism.  To Jesus, it was world evangelism with no distinction between foreign and homelands.  Jesus planned to train and develop others, Uncommen just like you and I, to win the world for God. No easy button methods, only regular men who could encourage and inspire others to follow.  The phrase “follow me” carried so much power in John 1:43, meeting Nathanael John 1:47 and Jesus’ vision casting in verse 51. “He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.” (John 1:51, NIV). Jesus let Nathanael know he will see far greater things than the moment he has just experienced with Jesus.  Jesus saw great potential in these men who were willing to learn.  He saw far greater potential in them than they thought capable.  By the means and standards of man, the crew lacked knowledge and couth. However, Jesus saw the great potential as leaders and fishers of men. Each of us carries an Uncommen potential to be fishers of men.  How would you have answered Jesus when He said, “follow me”? Would you lay down everything and pick up the cross, or would you say, “I’d love too, but first I must __________(fill in the blank)? 

My call to ministry came at a time in my life when I would never have expected it.  I was sitting in a Bible Study for Dummies class at my local church.  Indiana Wesleyan professor Dr. David Smith was teaching. As he spoke these words, “God will use you regardless of your age,” I felt the nudge of the Holy Spirt, and then Dr. Smith uttered the following statement, “you are never too old for God” I felt it was directed right at me as that was the thought going through my mind.  When it comes to God, never say never. He will call you when you least expect it.  It was the summer of my 50^th birthday when I found myself jumping into Seminary and one year later starting the Uncommen charter in Iowa, proving you are never too old. God wastes nothing in using our stories to reach others.  My challenge to you is this; how can you intentionally create a new relationship finding potential in someone more extraordinary than seeing in themselves to develop a new leader in your community. 

Addicted to Hurry

Idols can easily consume our lives, and we see them every day from children forming an addiction to YouTube video stars.  Adults with reality TV, material possessions, and social media.  Each one is possessing a negative value of its own.  Enough is never enough.  We find ourselves in a hurry to get the next new possession to bring about happiness.  Life gets noisy when “things” become our idols.  Jones expresses, “Idols, in whatever shape or form, grab our attention, and if we are not careful, our ultimate loyalty” (Jones, 2003, p. 2).  When we focus our attention on these false idols, life becomes dangerous.  "For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be." (Matthew 6:21 ESV) I have chased awards, glory, and admiration, using the mask of busyness and hurry to hide inner personal pain.  If others thought I was busy, my admiration scale jumped, and others wanted to be like me.  My treasure was placed in admiration and awards while giving the outward appearance of being a driven professional not to disappoint my fans, friends, and family.

I never saw the danger in this behavior.  Jones explains, “The best idols remained cloaked in garments of innocent acceptableness” (Jones, 2003, p. 2).  I could not own my sin, for I could not see it, nor did I want to view it.  I used it to impress others.  Social media noise makes it easy to impress others.  Facebook is a significant contributor to happiness through busyness, seeking likes, shares, and commentary to hide inner turmoil and pain.  Busyness creates a distraction from life when posts such as "I do not have time to be on here."  Others mention, "I have no idea how I will ever catch up with all I have to do."  Some say this, "I guess I will sleep when I am dead" all that busyness, there is no sign of weakness for ambition and drive.  According to Jones, “Hurry is a desensitizer snuffing out moments of intimacy with life to the point that we get used to living day after day with little deep feeling or passion” (Jones, 2003, p. 44).  I had indeed become numb to my own life, trying not to disappoint others. I lost moments with loved ones, family, and my Heavenly Father.  

When it comes to hurrying, it is harder to be quiet and still through solace than to be busy. Leading through a small group gathering, we practiced an exercise for 3 minutes of silence, and the mental challenge began at 30 seconds.  Then fidgeting, followed by deep sighs at one minute, then heavy tension at two minutes, followed with huffs of disgust near the three-minute mark.  The most common comment was, “that was uncomfortable.”  Comfort is found in speed. Slowing down removes the comfort zone, challenging the mind for real transformation. 

Many monumental moments are missed through hurry, time with family, friends, and undoubtedly God-ordained moments.  Maybe even ignored someone placed in our path for a reason, because we are in a hurry.  Jones relates, “It is possible to miss today’s blessings in pursuit of tomorrow’s bounty” (Jones, 2003, p. 103).  Rather than regret the past, God has used this experience to teach the importance of pace. God allows you to sit in your mess, and you will learn from it. I have learned to say no, and enjoy a pace that friends who once knew the old me to see the transformation and His work building inside of me from the outside. 

Moving forward, my current addiction to hurry would involve learning.  I want to learn all I can, as fast as I can.  I must put it into perspective. It is all in God’s time.  I hold onto some regret that I did not finish higher education earlier in life. However, His timing has placed me exactly where He wants me through experience.  Realizing I will never fully arrive, I will, however, work diligently in His honor for His Glory.

It's transformation Tuesday, and what a transformation it has been.  Looking back four years to 2012 and that guy on the left, there has been many transformations.   The toughest part was the first step, realizing that my weight was going to kill me, maybe not directly but the effects of carrying it would.  While I may not be exactly where I want to be, I am on a journey that is never ending and I am not done yet!  I urge you if you are struggling with where you are at, reach out for help, if not me then someone you know.  It's a balance of faith life and fit life to create new life. 

The title sums it all up, my weight gain and the pain associated with it is your gain. I share photos of my progress not to be vain or look at me and what I've done but to share just exactly how far I've come. Fitness has no finish line, and I've learned a lot over the years of up and down weight control along with the emotions that run with it.
For every person who thinks its about me there are 10 or more who are struggling in silence with the pain of being overweight, giving up hope of ever being the healthy, vibrant person they once were.

At a point in my life where I hit 356 pounds I FINALLY BECAME DISGUSTED WITH MYSELF!

, the outward personality wouldn't let the unhappiness show, however inside I struggled. Struggled with bitterness, confidence, and more, the bitterness led to stress, sarcasm and perpetual search for happiness. Some seek happiness in alcohol or drugs, others find it in food. Food, that was my escape,joy, happiness, whatever you want to call it!
It was when renewing my Faith I found happiness, happiness in my heart and when the heart, was happy it is only natural the rest of me would follow. Without a healthy body to go with a happy heart, I could not possibly do all I am capable of to Glorify God.
In closing, I would just like to reiterate, it's not about me when I share progress, it's simply to inspire and encourage others who are struggling. I urge you to simply start, start anything just start! Start moving, walking, yoga, strength training or a combination of anything just start. Starting or starting over is the hardest part, however it is one of the best decisions you can ever make! Download a workout plan by clicking here and a bit more of my story

February of 2012 it's obvious I wasn't yet disgusted with myself as I was still working on growing that spare tire. I would say "it's who I am" sure I thought that, yet on the inside I was struggling. I struggled with self-esteem yet I exuded it somehow, I struggled with confidence yet I beamed in it. Everyday was a struggle on the inside with who I really was.

 it's obvious I wasn't yet disgusted with myself.....

You see, I had been in great shape before, in fact I had lost over 125 pounds when the doctor uttered these words " if you don't change your ways, you are going to die" that resonated pretty hard and eventually did make me change my ways, set some goals and I achieved them. Then I was lost.

This graphic is from one of my first support group presentations for those diagnosed with type II diabetes, regarding taking your life back, if I can do it you can do it too, that's how the website was born www.candoit2.com with hopes of reaching those who had no support, had given up or were just feeling hopeless regarding changing their life. As you can see from the photo above, I had quite a change from a 46" in waist to a 34" I had also just returned from Hollywood where I appeared in a 30 minute commercial with several other successful weight loss participants.

This aired for a couple of years, it was really amusing to see this at various locations throughout my travels. However at some point the challenges of life got in the way, I lost site of any future goals. I have no one to blame but myself, sure I found excuses, but they were just that. I gave up. I lost site of any future goals. I have no one to blame but myself, sure I found excuses I lost site of any future goals. I have no one to blame but myself, sure I found excuses.

January 9, 2015 the reality hit me that in less than 2 years, I will be 50 it will be harder than ever to reach any further goals if I don't start now, its time to take back my life, not only for me but my family and those who love me. Killing myself with food, and poor choices simply wasn't acceptable. I had become disgusted with myself and that's what it took. I passed my certified personal trainer exam through the International Sports Sciences Association, I started working on myself, to lead by example to make those changes, take my life back.

I came across this, the artists rendering of me, Ironically its been 9 years to the day this was created at my first presentation for the American Diabetes Association at the Indiana state fair. I had spoken with the artist just before I was scheduled to present and had planned on going back to sit for my own session between presentations. When I started my presentation there were maybe 10 people around the stage, by the time my 30 minute presentation was over I had gathered well over 300 in the crowd with questions as to when my next presentation was so they could hear the full story. Much to my surprise, the next person to approach me was the artist with a gift, I offered to pay and said I was coming back, I know you hear that often I'm sure but I truly wanted to pay. His response was totally unexpected, after listening to my story he chose to throw away the unhealthy lunch he had before him, make some changes to his life starting that moment. Not that day mind you, that moment forward, he didn't want to wait he explained to me that he felt he owed it to his family, friends and loved ones to be there for them it all started with taking care of himself.first! It's true folks, we can make all the excuses we want, and we can think of it as we are too busy however, if we don't take a moment to put ourselves first, we cannot continue to help others in any capacity.

The greatest satisfaction as a personal trainer is changing and impacting the lives of others. I've spent much of my life capturing memories for others, and that has been great however, changing others quality of life is truly powerful.  Contact me today for solutions to fit your specific needs, I must say changing others quality of life is truly powerful. Contact me today for solutions to fit your specific needs.