P A U L T I L L E Y . N E T

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I’v always been a the larger side. My mum used to say that it was just puppy fat but when I got married and hit my 30s I couldn’t use the puppy fat excuse any more.

Then about a year ago I was playing on the net and did one of the see how overweight chart things, a six foot guy who is 18st (252 pounds) = GROSSLY OBESE!  I was less then a happy bunny.

Now the other thing to happen was listening to one of the most life changing talks I have ever listened to. It was a talk by Tim Keller called Doing Justice. The talk focused a lot on the idea of Shalom and its holistic transformation of committees and self, this he call; Shalom.  Later I came across this quote from Plantinga:

‘The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfilment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophet’s call shalom. We call it peace, but it means far more than mere peace of mind or a cease-fire between enemies. In the Bible shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight—as rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts are fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Saviour opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be.’ (Plantinga, N (1995). Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.)

The way things ought to be!

Now the idea of Shalom has greatly affected my theology over the last 2-3 years and from it I have started to ask the question… is this the way things ought to be, from a Kingdom/heaven point of view..should it really be like this? When you really start to look at things in this way it can really mess with your head.  So on top of this I started to look at my gut my GROSSLY OBESE body and ask is this the way I should be?  Well doh…no.

Read this from NetDoctor.co.uk

Common physical problems from being obese are:

• difficulties breathing
  
• difficulties walking or running
  
• increased sweating
  
• pain in the knees and back
  
• skin conditions such as acne
  
• gallstones.

The following medical conditions are also more common in obese people than in those of normal weight:

• high blood pressure
  
• high cholesterol
  
• diseases related to hardening of the arteries such as heart attack and stroke (cardiovascular disease).
  
• Type 2 diabetes
  
• some types of cancer.

Is that someone who is in shalom with themselves?  Is it the way I should be?

So I took up running, at first I did the typical, run-like-hell-and-hope-to-survive thing, then my sister-in-law, who is a runner, put me onto the best was starting to run, the run-walk way. To try to keep a long story short, I now can run for about a hour were before I struggled with 1min.  I am now starting to train for an 1/2 marathon in October.  The best of all, I feel the most in Shalom with my myself then I have ever done in my life. I may actually live to see my grand kids, be better example to the young people I work with and I currently have lost 2 1/2 stone (37.8 pounds)

This is me after my first race, The Chagford 2 Hills:

Technorati Tags diet, Fat, holistic, keller, Obese, Running, Shalom, Theology