So my husband brings home this little paper called Journey to Wellness, take the test of your lifetime. He had been at a 4H pool party with Michael and these papers were passed out there.
It has you start with the number 76, and then you add or subtract from that number based on a page and a half of questions. One question is: If you live in an urban area with a population over 2 million, subtract 2. There are other questions regarding health habits of yourself and family members. Karl bombed on this one because 2 grandfathers died before he was even born. All of my grandparents lived until at least 60 years old. The test also includes driving habits, taking into account whether or not you are likely to die in a car crash.
So, we get to the bottom of the test, and Karl said this thing estimated he would live to be 80 years old and I would live to be 95. All I could say was a sarcastic "Thanks!"
That's 15 years! There is a difference of 15 years between our life expectancies (granted no one but God knows the true number of our days, but this at least gets you thinking). We've been married for 15 years. There have been times of joy and times of sorrow. Frustrations and Elations. Not many people pull their firstborn child out themselves while their husband is driving 70 miles per hour to the hospital. So there are definitely experiences in our marriage these 15 years that I would greatly miss if we had never gotten married. So, I'm thinking how many experiences we would miss in 15 years difference of life expectancies?
Our choices: I can make my health worse (not going to happen on purpose), Karl can improve his health chances (a lot of effort on his part, but doable) or we can just accept the fact that I will outlive him by 15 years.
Repeatedly, the scriptures pound the message of health. God desires us to prosper and be in good health. 80 years of age is nothing to sneeze at, by any means, but I believe God's plan for us is to be as healthy as possible. So, pray for Karl and I as we try to climb the Mt. Everests of his health (his job literally is very hard on his health) that seem impossible. We must remember that with God, all things are possible, even good health!
Friday, August 25, 2006
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3 comments:
I am hoping to take better care of myself this year. It is always on my mind. But it really is a mental thing. Like saying no to sodas and yes to water. No to junk food and yes to fruit.
I know that God uses me best when I abstain from these things and more. Controlling appetite, in my opinion, is directly linked to controlling sin. If we have a hard time controlling our appetite then we are more likely to have a hard time controlling sin in our lives.
nice blog.
NOTHING is worth losing your health for- not even ministry. My husband and I both plunged into severe depression all in the name of doing the Lord's work. We somehow forgot that The Lord's work that we are to do is take care of ourselves and our family first.
So, we have changed our perspective. Stress kills. From here on out, 'The Work' is second to nurturing ourselves, growing our personal relationships with God and loving our children.
Best wishes in your new health challenge. :o)
I agree with Kev. Our appetite is a good indicator of how self-indulgent we are with every other aspect of our character. It will always be a battle, but we need to remember that faith in Jesus is the victory over our appetite. His grace must be allied with our will in order to accomplish victory. Thus, our attention needs to be on Jesus, and the battles in life will be easy.
Sharon, thanks for remembering me on my blog. I've been non-blogging for a while. Its good to read you posts.
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