Let me catch everyone up on the last few years of my life. In October 2004, just a few months after my divorce was finalized, I was severely depressed and weighed in at a whooping 287 pounds. This isn’t a bad weight if you are 7’ 2” and play in the N.F.L. It is however bad news if you are 5’9” and could be mistaken for an aspiring sumo wrestler. I couldn’t even slow jog a half mile without stopping to walk, pretty pathetic.

On October 7th something finally clicked in my head and translated into action. I decided enough was enough. A very different New Testament verse would become my constant reminder for the next few months. Different in that the verse deals with sexual lust, but it spoke to me about my depression and morbid obesity. It is found in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members then that your whole body be thrown into hell.” Luke 5: 29 (ESV).

“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members then that your whole body be thrown into hell.”

– Luke 5: 29 (ESV)

If that isn’t radical I don’t know what would be! It hopefully is obvious Jesus wasn’t calling for literal conformity to His words or there should be a whole lot of one eyed men running around. The principle is that all sin has serious consequence and the way to deal with it is to radically forsake it. I had to radically forsake a lifestyle of dealing with stress by stuffing my face with food, and sitting around feeling sorry for myself.

It should be noted that overeating and apathy are sins with serious consequence. I say this because this is part of my story not to put a guilt trip on anyone. So I determined to not back off on change in my life until I saw change in my life. To restate where I was in October 2004.I was divorced, depressed, and morbidly obese. Thank God he can change people if they truly want to change. He has and is changing me.

It’s now coming up on two years latter. Today I weigh 187 pounds. I am no longer the guy who used to run marathons; I am running ultra marathons now. Running has been one of God’s gifts to me to fight stress and depression. I am putting my efforts into founding a ministry (Fit2Endure) that focuses on the link between physical and spiritual fitness. My desire is to tell others that positive change can happen.

My life isn’t perfect by any means but it is dramatically better. Yes I love to run, and I really mean it when I echo a line from Chariots of Fire, “When I run I feel His glory”. If the lessons I am learning from life, scripture, and running can help others then I will feel like I’m fulfilling, in a small way, God’s calling on my life. That is why I started Fit2Endure.

Now let me share with you my most recent running event and I hope you might be ministered to by reading about it.