And So It Begins...

Regular readers to this blog may remember that on January 1 I blogged about some goals I had set for myself for this year. If you would like a refresher you can click here. Now is the time to update and initiate a new blog feature. Here are a few highlights concerning the goals which have quantitative results:

• I am a little behind on my book reading. As of today. I have only read 3 of the 20.
• We are going pretty well in the baptism department. After a month and a half on the new job, Easter Sunday we will baptize students numbers 2 and 3 with whom I have had the blessed opportunity of sharing Christ and seeing them follow Him in believers baptism.
• "Confessionally"-speaking, I have fallen into the minister's Bible trap. That is reading the Bible "informationally" rather than "transformationally." This is not an excuse, but my schedule has been a bit unwieldy. I have been working 50+ hour weeks trying to get everything in my new ministry lined up and attending all the meetings and services I have needed to attend. My devotional walk through the Bible is behind schedule.

That brings us to the last quantitative goal: Losing 50 lbs. Over the past 20 months or so life has been pretty stressful, personally and professionally. With that has come an additional 25 lbs or so. But now that I am getting everything dialed back in, it is time to attack my waistline. The great news is that I am going to have a lot of support from my other church staff. Pastor Roc (our senior pastor), his wife Mrs. Jeralyn (our children's minister), my Uncle Fred and I have officially begun the NutriSystem Advanced Plan. I figure if it is good enough for Dan Marino and Mike Golic, it is good enough for me.

My 28-week (plus one free week) supply of food arrived yesterday. Help me Lord Jesus! They are serious about portion control! I have little doubt that I could wade through about 3 weeks of this stuff at one sitting. Having that support system around me will really help. I officially started today. My starting weight: 299 lbs. I would not be surprised if I am really a few pounds heavier, but I will weigh consistently on my scales so it should be okay. I am adding a Weight Loss Tracker to the left margin and I will update it each week. My hope is that my blog will help me be accountable.

Perhaps you would like to join me in this effort. I would love to hear from you if you do. We can all do it together.