I have written previously about my disdain for a new legalism imposed by some Christians on our health and fitness pursuits, as though anything makes us acceptable before God other than the blood of Christ. My intent was to safeguard the Gospel and free people from thinking that they are lesser if they do not… Read More Pleasing God in Our Fitness, Part 2
Having established that mankind was created “very good,” in the image of God, overflowing out of the infinite joy of the Trinity, we must start to peel back the layers to understand why this does not square with our current experience, why the physical body often does not seem to aid our hedonistic pursuit of… Read More The Fall of Mankind and Consequences for the Physical Life -Toward a Theology of Health and Fitness, Part 5
They were both rich. One had known and kept all the commandments from his youth. The other made his living off of stealing from his neighbors. Jesus asked the “good” one to “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me,” Luke 18:22.… Read More A Scandalous Manger Scene
I binged. I restricted. I binged. I restricted. While this destructive pattern ruled my behavior for so long, there was a far more destructive pattern buried behind all the food and famine. I binged. I restricted His grace. I binged. I restricted His grace. I binged. I restricted His grace. Caught up in a frenzied… Read More Craving Confession
For your reading pleasure as an addendum to the previous post, since the poem “Invictus” is common in fitness circles. Ironically, the author of the poem is dead (Full Stop). Below is a Christian response written by Dorothy Day in the early 1900’s, which may be helpful for Christians trying to make sense of their… Read More “Invictus” vs “Conquered”
Pleasing God in Our Fitness, Part 1 Can we then please God with our health and fitness? My beef is not so much with the fact that we can please God in our bodies, because the New Testament makes it clear that we do indeed please God, which we will get to. My beef is… Read More Pleasing God in our Fitness, Part 1
My hands fall into my lap as I finish playing, “I Surrender All” for the congregational “Hymn of Response”. We would always end the hymn singing the chorus acapella. As my voice joins the congregation, my heart is a mixture of hope and doubt. Why do I continue singing this song throughout my life not… Read More I Surrender All
Hearts long to be home. They yearn to belong. They want to be found. But things tend to get complicated quickly, when our hearts pull us in directions that promise all these things, and yet miserably fail to deliver, and we find ourselves on yet another goose chase. But the goose chase is good. For… Read More An Augustinian Insight on Sheep
She sat upon her pile of toys, like a dragon upon its throne. Dressed in the tattered rags of the daily-worn Rapunzel dress, she looked down with haughty eyes upon the eager, empty, energetic hands of her one-year-old sister; hands held out in the hope of participating in the joys of her sister’s carefully guarded… Read More A Lesson in My Daughter’s Library
The more I read of Christians trying to advocate for physical fitness, the more I am burdened with the need to safeguard the Gospel against developing a new legalistic set of rules to follow. There are various diets advertised as being the most Christian or certain body types or external images put forth consciously or… Read More Thoughts on Legalistic Dieting and Fitness from the Diet of Worms – Toward a Theology of Health and Fitness
Every Square Inch Fitness 