Gaining weight is like building a wall – you stack one brick (pound) on top of another and before long you’ve got something that looks really big and permanent.

Like most guys I like to cook on the grill.  When Jennifer and I got married in May of 1990 (I weighed 180 lbs.) someone gave us a small grill as a wedding gift and I proceeded to hone my skills as a backyard chef.

At the same time I also began the quest for the perfect margarita.  During that first summer of our marriage I probably cooked on the grill and experimented with various margarita recipes 3-4 times a week.  I got pretty good at both – I eventually came up with a formula for margaritas that will, as we say in Texas, “make your tongue slap your brain.”  And I had the expanding girth to prove it.

By the time we celebrated our first anniversary I had gained about 30 lbs. – I told you those margaritas were good – so I bought an exercise bike.  That bike was about the only piece of exercise equipment I ever bought and actually used.  But I didn’t use it nearly enough.

I’d go through spurts of weight gain and loss – I think they call that “yo-yo dieting” – but I never really “dieting” back then because I never changed my bad eating and drinking habits in order to lose weight when I felt my pants getting tighter – I’d just get back on the bike and within a few weeks my waistline wouldn’t be quite as snug.

But as the years went by and I got closer to middle age (I was 29 when we got married) my metabolism became harder and harder to jump start with those occasional spurts of riding the bike.  Especially since I was still eating and drinking like I was in my 20’s.

The bricks (pounds) really started piling up and by the time we moved back to San Antonio (my hometown) in 1999 (I was 38) I weighed about 270 lbs.  I was getting really big and it looked like it was going to be permanent.

About the time we moved back to San Antonio a good friend of mine who I’ve known since the 6^th grade tried the Atkins Diet and lost about 60 lbs.  I couldn’t believe that this guy was eating steak and pork chops and losing weight so I went out and bought the book and read it.

At first I thought Dr. Atkins was smoking crack.  How could you eat a pound of bacon smothered in melted cheddar cheese and dipped in sour cream and lose weight?  The whole approach seemed so counter-intuitive to everything I thought I knew about diet and nutrition.  He basically took the food pyramid and turned it on its head and then laughed all the way to the bank.

But I’ve always been a big meat eater so when my weight was hovering around 290 lbs. a year later I decided to give Atkins a shot.

I did it for a month and lost 30 lbs.  It was too good to be true.  I was eating red meat, bacon, eggs and cheese every day and getting rid of my gut in the process.  Hallelujah, thank you Jesus!

And then I went right back to my old eating and drinking habits.  Within about a year I had gained back what I had lost and started to gain more.  And I was eating more saturated fat than ever.  I have no idea why I didn’t have a heart attack or stroke.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not blaming my bad food choices and weight gain on the Atkins Diet.  My warped thinking and bad habits are what made me continue to get fat.  My morbid obesity was my fault.

I’m convinced that I was doing what a lot of people do with diet plans – we treat them the same way they do the Bible – we pick and choose the parts we like and try to ignore the parts that actually apply to us.  Which is why so many of us are physical and spiritual train wrecks.

If you’re going to get your act together physically and spiritually – care of the body and the soul do not exist in isolation of each other – you can’t approach either as if they’re a cafeteria line!  The Apostle Paul put it this way:

You've all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You're after one that's gold eternally.

I don't know about you, but I'm running hard for the finish line. I'm giving it everything I've got. No sloppy living for me! I'm staying alert and in top condition. I'm not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself.  1Corinthians 9:26-27 (The Message)

For Paul, there was a direct relationship between his physical and spiritual conditioning.  He isn’t using athletics as just an analogy for spiritual growth – that’s what they call Gnosticism.  If he didn’t take care of himself he wasn’t going to be of much use to God or anyone else.  Neither will I.  And neither will you.

As I’ve continued on this journey over the past 7 months and 11 days I continue to be amazed at how my spiritual life has been renewed and revitalized, how much more clearly and lovingly I see family, friends, enemies, myself and God.

That same grace is available to you.  But you’ll never find it in the cafeteria line.   You can tear down those walls.

Tim Adams