some progress!

so i'm making some progress! this excites me more than you can possibly understand! woo! here's what's been going on:

physically - alrighty. so amanda and i went to our weight watchers meeting last night. you know, the weigh in is something that i really don't like all that much, but it's actually been kind of fun! the first time i weighed in three weeks ago, i didn't lose anything. BUT, i didn't gain anything either. last week, i lost 2.8 pounds. i was excited about that! then, we go to weigh in last night... i lost 5.8 pounds! during a holiday week, too! YAY! so, that brings my total weight loss to 8.6 pounds!!! it was a good day! my original goal to lose 20 pounds during this whole HHC is probably a bit unrealistic. but, one week in and i've already lost almost six pounds! i think i'll be happy if i just lose 15 instead of 20! still going to go for the 20 though! it could happen!!!

spiritually - been doing better with the one too! i actually got a message on facebook from an old friend (hi caleb!) asking me what he could specifically pray about for me this week/month! what perfect timing! i say perfect for a couple of reasons. one: i was thinking about caleb the other day. wondering how everything was going for him with school and wanting to find out so that i could pray for him during the HHC. two: it gave me a great chance to reconnect with him! i haven't seen him in oh, almost two years i think. :( but i've been praying for caleb the last couple of days, so it's been great! i still need to get my head (and my heart) into some sort of quiet time though. so pray for me in that if you would!

relationally - well, last night, amanda and i went to dinner and then to target after our WW meeting. we haven't done that in like, a year, i think! it was nice to be able to do it! i've also got a coffee date set for Thursday with a good friend that i've kind of lost touch with too. and i've spent a bit more time with my parents the last few days. so relationally, things are going pretty well! and they can only get better from here, i think!

ok friends. so that's it. that's how things are going. anyone else doing the Holiday Health Challenge? how are things going for you?

and away we go!

alrighty... so i've been reading jon acuff's stuff christians like for well over a year. in october, jon was at catalyst. i started up a twitter account during that week and at one point, jon tweeted (is that the correct word? :D) that he was going to be live backstage with Carlos Whittaker and Anne Jackson. so, i stumbled upon Los' blog, Ragamuffin Soul. it's been awesome! i've been encouraged by a lot of things he's said. he's also made me think about a lot of things as well.

this brings me to today. i open up my twitter account and see that Los has begun the Ragamuffin Soul 30 Day Holiday Health Challenge. all i can say about it is YAY! i've already hopped on the whole losing weight thing and i'm trying to be healthier. but i've realized that just losing weight isn't going to make me healthy. i've got to tackle a couple of other things in my life that are lacking discipline: my spiritual life and my relationships. i've been thinking about those other two for a while now, and low and behold, God used los today to push me into doing something about it!

i encourage you to go take a look at los' blog and find out about the HHC. it's going to be awesome!

so, here are the three areas i am working on:

physically ~ trying to lose about 20 additional pounds. i've lost about five since i started weight watchers two weeks ago... i want to get rid of another 20 before Christmas!

spiritually ~ even though i work at a church, my spiritual life is pretty much hosed. i don't talk to God much, unless it's to complain to him about something i think he needs to fix. so, first thing to help with this: talk to God a LOT more. even if it's just to spend two or three minutes each morning asking Him to guide my steps for the day, that will be better than what i've been doing! i also want to spend more time in His word as well. i'll get back to you on what i find to help with that. i've got some devotionals and such at home that might help with that.

relationally ~ i have some absolutely AMAZING people in my life. i am thankful for each of them and i want to take more time to really nurture my relationships with them. i want to spend more time with them; quality time where i can really get to know them. not too sure what step i'll take in that direction, but maybe just having coffee with one or two of them each week is a start.

so here goes. i'll be blogging about this at least twice each week. hopefully more!

say some prayers and let's do this!!!

asaff