Funerals and memorial services always make me thoughtful and introspective.

Today I attended a service honoring a good and godly man who died about a week ago. I didn’t know him very well, but we went to the memorial service to honor his family and to give God glory for his life. It was very inspiring to hear and see how many lives he touched, and what God had done through him.

A pastor I know often says: “I hate performing weddings. Nobody listens to your homily, and it doesn’t seem to make any difference. Funerals, now, there’s where you have a chance to get people’s attention.”

I was very reflective on the drive home. The man who died was about 12 years older than me, and I thought about how easily it could have been me, especially considering my bout with kidney cancer about 18 months ago. I think it is very good for a man to be reminded of his mortality.

Our church was founded in the early 1920s, but one portion of it was added-on in 1965. Apparently someone thought that was worth remembering, because they stamped the date in concrete. You can find it at the foot of the stairs, at one of the corners of the building. Since then, thousands of souls have worshiped in that building and have benefited from the use of it, in body, heart, mind and soul.

A good year for a church building.

Coincidentally, I was born in 1965, and I wonder what difference I have made to the world or to God’s kingdom in those years? Have I been a useful building in the Church, or am I more like a shed that stores obsolete lawn equipment and forgotten tools? There are a handful of souls that I helped to cross from death into life, but I admit I am greedy for more. How can I be more faithful to God? How can I get out of the way for His faithfulness to shine through my life?

One theme that I noticed in the memorial service is that the man who died was one who deeply sought to know God. Interestingly enough, that was a major part of our discussion in Sunday School today — do I seek God for His blessings, or do I seek a deeper knowledge of Him, and how to please Him? It can get tangled, because as we seek God and know more of Him, we start to act in ways that are more pleasing to Him, and then He blesses us (since many of His blessings are conditional). But which is first in my heart, the love for God’s blessings, or my love for Him?

Being reminded of death makes me thoughtful, but not necessarily any wiser.

Project 365, Day 137
Tim

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When I was a few weeks out of Basic Training, I weighed 163 pounds. The rest of my time in the Army, I weighed about 185 pounds (the limit for my height). When I graduated from college, I weighed 215 pounds. About two years ago, when I was discharged from the hospital after appendicitis and kidney surgery, I weighed 209 pounds.

Other than that, I’ve pretty much spent my adult life between 230 and 250, overweight by at least 50 pounds by any reasonable measure. I’ve tried lots of diets and exercise plans, with limited success. Before Christmas, I had worked my way down to 228, but I gained almost ten pounds by the time January rolled around.

Lately, I’ve been doing this crazy thing, ‘counting calories’, they call it. I use My Fitness Pal to accomplish this — it is a pretty decent (and free) app with some really nice features.

A great app for calorie counting

My favorite thing about it is that, as you complete each day, it gives you a projection, based on your calorie consumption for that day. For example, today I consumed about 100 calories less than my allotment, so they are fairly hopeful:

If every day were like today… You’d weigh 224.1 lbs in 5 weeks

I actually sort of like this calorie counting thing, although I can see how it will get old, quickly. I am just now finished with my second week of following this plan, and I like the freedom it gives me to eat the things I really enjoy.

For example, a cup of cookies and cream ice cream ‘costs’ me about 260 calories, worth it every time.

Kathy and I have also been using RunKeeper on our phones — we linked it to My Fitness Pal so it carries the calories from our exercise over and adds it to our allotment. So if you eat too much for supper, and you don’t have enough calories for ice cream, you can go for a quick walk and earn the calories you need. I speak hypothetically, of course.

So far, I’ve lost about 6 pounds — not bad for two weeks of being mostly careful (except for the donuts and deep-fried seafood I had with David during our weekend away).

Somehow, I don’t mind being hungry during the day if there is ice cream waiting for me in the evening. I’ll do nearly anything to get ice cream. Let’s have another look at tonight’s treat, which is waiting for me, as soon as I finish this blog post:

I’ve gotten pretty adept at packing it into the metal measuring cup with my hydraulic press.

On the left side of our blog, we continue to track our weight loss challenge for this summer. Sarah is right behind me … I’d better watch my step, or I’ll fall to last place again.

Project 365, Day 131
Tim

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