WEBVTT 00:00:00.110 --> 00:00:05.570 Good morning. That's like a delayed response. 00:00:07.830 --> 00:00:14.589 There we go. Good morning. There we go. We got 00:00:14.589 --> 00:00:17.730 a little song back. I love it. This morning, 00:00:17.769 --> 00:00:20.309 the two minutes for one question was, if you 00:00:20.309 --> 00:00:22.850 could only eat at one restaurant the rest of 00:00:22.850 --> 00:00:25.589 your life, where would you eat? So I'd love to 00:00:25.589 --> 00:00:30.620 hear some answers. Pizza Ranch. I like it because 00:00:30.620 --> 00:00:35.619 you get a good variety. Yeah, I heard, what was 00:00:35.619 --> 00:00:41.460 that? Oh, Machine Shed. Yes, they've got a pretty 00:00:41.460 --> 00:00:44.920 big menu as well. So that goes along with that 00:00:44.920 --> 00:00:49.359 idea. One joke answer I thought of was Cheesecake 00:00:49.359 --> 00:00:52.799 Factory because they always have that 20 -page 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:58.780 menu. So they've got the long menu. How about 00:00:58.780 --> 00:01:08.780 one more? Lagos? Oh. And what's your maiden name, 00:01:08.840 --> 00:01:16.719 please? Lago Marcino. I love it, which is just 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:19.939 an amazing name by itself. I love that name. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:23.900 I'm adjusting right now, and I'll share that 00:01:23.900 --> 00:01:29.250 because I... Recently had an eye procedure so 00:01:29.250 --> 00:01:34.790 that I had contacts implanted into my eyes. My 00:01:34.790 --> 00:01:38.189 retinas were too thin for LASIK. Thin retinas 00:01:38.189 --> 00:01:41.409 is something I live with. I never knew I had 00:01:41.409 --> 00:01:43.810 it the first 38 years of my life, but now that 00:01:43.810 --> 00:01:49.829 I do know, I'm going to ride that out. So one 00:01:49.829 --> 00:01:52.510 thing about it is that when there's a bright 00:01:52.510 --> 00:01:55.769 light, there's a ring. like around the contact 00:01:55.769 --> 00:01:59.890 that I see. And so as I'm sitting up here today, 00:02:00.010 --> 00:02:04.450 there's a big ring in my eye for every single 00:02:04.450 --> 00:02:08.330 light pointing at me. So there's like six rings 00:02:08.330 --> 00:02:12.710 surrounding me right now, which I'll adapt to, 00:02:12.810 --> 00:02:17.169 but it is something to adapt to for sure. This 00:02:17.169 --> 00:02:20.250 morning, we've been talking about, thank you, 00:02:20.270 --> 00:02:24.240 that does help a lot. This morning, In this series, 00:02:24.300 --> 00:02:26.939 we've been talking about desire paths. And I 00:02:26.939 --> 00:02:30.819 love this visual. And I've been thinking about 00:02:30.819 --> 00:02:36.680 it a lot, even when I'm not at church. And what 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:40.319 it shows, if you follow the three times four 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:47.139 is 12. The paths, the first one shows a straight 00:02:47.139 --> 00:02:50.879 path going through like a park. And then the 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:54.620 next one shows that. People create a path themselves 00:02:54.620 --> 00:02:57.879 to get to the path from the corner a little bit 00:02:57.879 --> 00:03:01.879 shorter. A lot of times you'll see a little side 00:03:01.879 --> 00:03:05.520 path that comes through. And then you can see 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:08.900 that someone put in a bench to try to avoid people 00:03:08.900 --> 00:03:12.080 from taking that side path. But then people just 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:15.000 took a path around the bench. And then a few 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:17.300 of them are blocked there in the middle. But 00:03:17.300 --> 00:03:19.659 we can see down there in the bottom row. Then 00:03:19.659 --> 00:03:22.259 they put in a hedge. And people walked through 00:03:22.259 --> 00:03:25.520 the hedge. And so then they put in another sidewalk 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:28.759 to try to say, okay, we'll just go with it. We'll 00:03:28.759 --> 00:03:31.539 put another sidewalk in. And then what do people 00:03:31.539 --> 00:03:34.520 start doing in the last one? They start making 00:03:34.520 --> 00:03:36.800 a little path from one side of the corner to 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:38.699 the other side of the corner so that they could 00:03:38.699 --> 00:03:42.780 cut through there. So we do that with our own 00:03:42.780 --> 00:03:46.060 desires. There are different paths that are set 00:03:46.060 --> 00:03:49.580 in place, but we tend to work around the paths. 00:03:50.169 --> 00:03:53.050 that are set in place to make our own paths. 00:03:53.330 --> 00:03:58.289 And we're reminded through this series that the 00:03:58.289 --> 00:04:01.050 paths that sometimes we make for ourselves aren't 00:04:01.050 --> 00:04:04.370 the best paths to take. Is that fair, Pastor 00:04:04.370 --> 00:04:08.289 Greg, by summarizing that well enough? All right. 00:04:08.330 --> 00:04:18.560 Did you create that graphic? Kind of? Okay. Okay, 00:04:18.660 --> 00:04:20.839 yeah, Pastor Greg does a lot of our graphics, 00:04:20.839 --> 00:04:23.300 and I think he does an awesome job. They really 00:04:23.300 --> 00:04:26.319 tie together our series and things. All right, 00:04:26.360 --> 00:04:37.120 everybody take a drink break. I have quite a 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:40.100 bit of dry mouth, too. So I take lots of drink 00:04:40.100 --> 00:04:44.699 breaks. Thin retinas, dry mouth, these are the 00:04:44.699 --> 00:04:50.160 things I live with. My answer for the two minutes 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:53.819 to one question. And as we're looking at that 00:04:53.819 --> 00:04:57.759 this morning, food, food is the desire path that 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:00.639 we're talking about. And this is somewhat of 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:04.740 a confession that for me, they just put in a 00:05:04.740 --> 00:05:11.500 Panda Express on 53rd Street. And so in Davenport, 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:14.600 which is very close, it's three miles from my 00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:19.610 house. I just coincidentally know that. And so 00:05:19.610 --> 00:05:23.810 as I was preparing to preach about desire paths 00:05:23.810 --> 00:05:30.069 and food, they opened up a Panda Express. It's 00:05:30.069 --> 00:05:33.050 been open about 14 days. I haven't been there 00:05:33.050 --> 00:05:36.610 in the double digits yet, but I'm getting close. 00:05:37.350 --> 00:05:40.930 By the time it reaches 20 days, I probably will 00:05:40.930 --> 00:05:44.410 have been. So I really enjoy it. So that's to 00:05:44.410 --> 00:05:49.470 say I come to you humbly today. to talk about 00:05:49.470 --> 00:05:53.350 desire paths and food. But nonetheless, it's 00:05:53.350 --> 00:05:57.750 an important topic. And as we look at it, there's 00:05:57.750 --> 00:06:00.110 a couple of things I want to point out is that 00:06:00.110 --> 00:06:04.170 our relationship with food is not defined by 00:06:04.170 --> 00:06:09.290 our body type. There are some of us who, I know 00:06:09.290 --> 00:06:12.430 this is true for me, when I was in my early 20s, 00:06:12.939 --> 00:06:16.339 I ate everything and anything that I wanted and 00:06:16.339 --> 00:06:19.480 was a very skinny guy. I could get away with 00:06:19.480 --> 00:06:22.980 anything. So just because I was a very skinny 00:06:22.980 --> 00:06:26.379 guy doesn't mean that I had a healthy relationship 00:06:26.379 --> 00:06:30.740 with food or that I followed good desire paths. 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:34.079 It just meant that my metabolism was really high. 00:06:34.980 --> 00:06:38.740 As I've gotten older and as my body's changed, 00:06:39.060 --> 00:06:42.240 my relationship with food has changed a lot. 00:06:42.670 --> 00:06:47.269 with the exception of Panda Express. And that 00:06:47.269 --> 00:06:50.949 I don't eat the same way I used to. I'm not able 00:06:50.949 --> 00:06:54.910 to eat the same way I used to. But my body doesn't 00:06:54.910 --> 00:06:57.889 still look the same way that it did in its 20s. 00:06:58.129 --> 00:07:03.110 And I also feel like I'm grateful sometimes for 00:07:03.110 --> 00:07:07.430 being a quadriplegic, for how that helps me to 00:07:07.430 --> 00:07:10.439 approach messages differently. There are ways 00:07:10.439 --> 00:07:13.220 that no matter what my relationship with food 00:07:13.220 --> 00:07:16.100 is, there are parts of my body I can't control. 00:07:16.379 --> 00:07:19.579 They're going to look ways differently than what 00:07:19.579 --> 00:07:25.079 I want them to because I'm paralyzed from here 00:07:25.079 --> 00:07:29.259 down atrophy sets in. So my ability to do sit 00:07:29.259 --> 00:07:32.879 -ups is quite limited. My ability to do pull 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:35.379 -ups is quite limited. So it's important for 00:07:35.379 --> 00:07:37.720 me to take care of my health and to exercise. 00:07:38.490 --> 00:07:42.069 But I certainly recognize that preaching about 00:07:42.069 --> 00:07:45.329 food and different things like that, it can often 00:07:45.329 --> 00:07:49.129 be adapted right away to what do we look like? 00:07:49.269 --> 00:07:52.569 What does the mirror remind us of? And that's 00:07:52.569 --> 00:07:56.569 not the important connection for today. With 00:07:56.569 --> 00:08:00.230 that being said, the title that we're looking 00:08:00.230 --> 00:08:05.430 at is you don't have to be full to be happy. 00:08:06.670 --> 00:08:09.050 We don't have to be full of food in order to 00:08:09.050 --> 00:08:11.730 be happy. And the first place that I'm going 00:08:11.730 --> 00:08:15.649 to look at for that is the Apostle Paul, who 00:08:15.649 --> 00:08:18.569 wrote quite a bit of the New Testament. This 00:08:18.569 --> 00:08:21.009 is the same Paul that you may have heard of that 00:08:21.009 --> 00:08:24.649 saw a bright light and came to know Jesus in 00:08:24.649 --> 00:08:28.430 that way. And on his way, the reason that he 00:08:28.430 --> 00:08:31.230 was traveling is because he had a warrant to 00:08:31.230 --> 00:08:35.529 arrest Christians. And so we start in Philippians 00:08:35.529 --> 00:08:40.809 today. Chapter four, verses 12 through 13. I 00:08:40.809 --> 00:08:43.230 believe I'm looking at the NIV. I didn't look 00:08:43.230 --> 00:08:47.529 too closely. There are Bibles on your table, 00:08:47.669 --> 00:08:53.450 probably. There are also blue Bibles in the wood 00:08:53.450 --> 00:08:56.470 case in the front that you see when you walk 00:08:56.470 --> 00:08:59.149 in. If you'd like to take one home with you. 00:08:59.330 --> 00:09:03.070 A lot of us also have Bibles in our apps on our 00:09:03.070 --> 00:09:09.700 phones. So you can look at those as well. And 00:09:09.700 --> 00:09:12.200 again, we're looking at Philippians 4, 12 through 00:09:12.200 --> 00:09:20.700 13. I'm going to read that for you now. And this 00:09:20.700 --> 00:09:23.539 is after Paul, who used to arrest Christians, 00:09:23.799 --> 00:09:27.000 is now getting used to being arrested for being 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:31.059 a Christian. And he wrote a letter and he said 00:09:31.059 --> 00:09:34.149 this to his friends that he visited. He said, 00:09:34.210 --> 00:09:38.009 I know what it is to be in need and I know what 00:09:38.009 --> 00:09:41.169 it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret 00:09:41.169 --> 00:09:44.470 of being content in any and every situation, 00:09:44.769 --> 00:09:49.230 whether well fed or hungry, whether living in 00:09:49.230 --> 00:09:53.690 plenty or in want. I can do all this through 00:09:53.690 --> 00:09:59.110 him who gives me strength. So he's just not he's 00:09:59.110 --> 00:10:02.049 not just talking about food here, but he is bringing 00:10:02.049 --> 00:10:06.450 up food. is an example of we all know what it's 00:10:06.450 --> 00:10:09.889 like to be hungry in different ways, but we've 00:10:09.889 --> 00:10:13.090 probably all felt it before, and we've probably 00:10:13.090 --> 00:10:18.190 all felt what it is to be full, too. I know what 00:10:18.190 --> 00:10:21.389 it is like when I haven't had Panda Express and 00:10:21.389 --> 00:10:23.169 what it feels like after, and they're two very 00:10:23.169 --> 00:10:26.529 different feelings. But Paul experienced food 00:10:26.529 --> 00:10:32.090 in different ways. Paul was a Jew. And there 00:10:32.090 --> 00:10:36.889 were feasts throughout the year. So he loved, 00:10:37.009 --> 00:10:40.230 he would have had favorite foods at each one 00:10:40.230 --> 00:10:43.830 of these feasts where they celebrated by eating 00:10:43.830 --> 00:10:47.950 well. He also, as a Jew, would have fasted regularly. 00:10:48.429 --> 00:10:52.990 So he also knew what it was to choose not to 00:10:52.990 --> 00:10:57.129 eat and to feel hunger. He also knew what it 00:10:57.129 --> 00:11:01.259 was to feel hunger when it wasn't a choice. He 00:11:01.259 --> 00:11:04.320 had been shipwrecked. He had been a prisoner. 00:11:04.679 --> 00:11:08.059 He probably was a prisoner when he was writing 00:11:08.059 --> 00:11:12.639 this. And he had also experienced it. And I had 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:15.539 fun thinking about this. There are some cultures 00:11:15.539 --> 00:11:19.759 where when you visit, you are welcomed in people's 00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:23.720 homes and you are expected to eat at each home 00:11:23.720 --> 00:11:26.000 that you visit. And they're going to give you 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:30.730 the very best food that they have. And in some 00:11:30.730 --> 00:11:33.769 cultures, this is extremely important. And so 00:11:33.769 --> 00:11:36.730 if you were Paul and you were in a community 00:11:36.730 --> 00:11:40.009 where you planted a church and poured into people 00:11:40.009 --> 00:11:43.029 and you were coming back after you hadn't visited 00:11:43.029 --> 00:11:47.289 for a long time, what would people want for you 00:11:47.289 --> 00:11:50.210 to come and visit their home? And when you came 00:11:50.210 --> 00:11:52.710 and visited their home, what would they want 00:11:52.710 --> 00:11:57.009 you to do? Eat. And I'm sure that when Paul realized 00:11:57.009 --> 00:12:00.669 I'm going back to Philippi again, he might start 00:12:00.669 --> 00:12:03.809 to think about some of the food, about some of 00:12:03.809 --> 00:12:05.809 the delicious food that different people made. 00:12:05.950 --> 00:12:10.210 Some may have made something like brownies. Some 00:12:10.210 --> 00:12:13.070 may have made something like his favorite spaghetti. 00:12:13.590 --> 00:12:16.129 Different types of foods that we can imagine 00:12:16.129 --> 00:12:20.389 in our minds that he would have enjoyed. He also 00:12:20.389 --> 00:12:24.730 went places where he wasn't welcome. He also 00:12:24.730 --> 00:12:27.809 went to preach at places he was run out of town. 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:31.639 No one would have been inviting him to come in 00:12:31.639 --> 00:12:35.100 and eat. In fact, they may have even been hesitant 00:12:35.100 --> 00:12:39.539 to sell him food in the market because he was 00:12:39.539 --> 00:12:43.559 known in those places as an agitator, someone 00:12:43.559 --> 00:12:48.059 who caused problems in the community. So he knew 00:12:48.059 --> 00:12:50.960 what it was to be welcomed. He knew what it was 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:53.519 to not be welcomed. He knew what it was to be 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:59.449 hungry. He knew what it was to be full. Some 00:12:59.449 --> 00:13:05.870 of my experiences that I've had, I had an interesting 00:13:05.870 --> 00:13:12.090 experience after my injury where because of my 00:13:12.090 --> 00:13:17.250 spinal cord injury, I was NPO, which for those 00:13:17.250 --> 00:13:21.129 of you in the medical field, know that it means 00:13:21.129 --> 00:13:23.789 you're not allowed to take anything by mouth. 00:13:24.009 --> 00:13:26.809 You're not allowed to take medications. You're 00:13:26.809 --> 00:13:29.559 not allowed to drink. You're not allowed to eat. 00:13:30.100 --> 00:13:34.059 Now, if you would have told me before that, that 00:13:34.059 --> 00:13:38.679 I would go for months without eating or drinking 00:13:38.679 --> 00:13:43.360 anything, I would not have believed you. How 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:46.720 is that even possible? And how could you be happy 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:52.019 if you weren't able to do that? Especially if 00:13:52.019 --> 00:13:55.379 you saw people eating and drinking around you. 00:13:56.559 --> 00:14:00.580 I had to practice swallows thousands of times 00:14:00.580 --> 00:14:06.200 with a speech therapist in my room before they 00:14:06.200 --> 00:14:09.820 would even consider giving me a thickened liquid 00:14:09.820 --> 00:14:14.759 to drink. And there's no way to have a thickened 00:14:14.759 --> 00:14:17.120 liquid with the thickening agent that they use 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:22.139 in hospitals and have it be really good. It's 00:14:22.139 --> 00:14:25.419 not especially pleasant stuff. And to even have 00:14:25.419 --> 00:14:28.440 a chance to drink a thickened liquid, I had to 00:14:28.440 --> 00:14:31.960 swallow barium on an x -ray machine for them 00:14:31.960 --> 00:14:35.440 to see how it went down. And barium probably 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:37.879 doesn't sound pleasant. And it's another thing. 00:14:38.019 --> 00:14:40.419 There's no chance you're going to drink barium 00:14:40.419 --> 00:14:44.679 and it tastes good. So you have to swallow a 00:14:44.679 --> 00:14:48.379 thick, chalky, not good tasting thing at all 00:14:48.379 --> 00:14:53.940 on an x -ray to be able to even begin to... drink 00:14:53.940 --> 00:15:00.220 again, let alone eat. And especially starting 00:15:00.220 --> 00:15:04.259 out, my mouth was very dry. I ran fevers a lot 00:15:04.259 --> 00:15:08.580 of the time. The only way I could even get someone 00:15:08.580 --> 00:15:13.840 to wet my mouth was for them to dip a cube, an 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:18.200 almost spongy cube, in some water and wipe it 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:23.149 around in my mouth. And even then, I had to spit 00:15:23.149 --> 00:15:26.889 out the liquid afterward to prove that I wasn't 00:15:26.889 --> 00:15:32.470 swallowing it. And because of the orders that 00:15:32.470 --> 00:15:36.190 I had, people knew that they could get in trouble 00:15:36.190 --> 00:15:40.990 if I choked or aspirated. So if someone put too 00:15:40.990 --> 00:15:45.389 much water on that sponge or let me suck too 00:15:45.389 --> 00:15:48.490 much of it, it could be their job on the line. 00:15:50.539 --> 00:15:54.559 And so it's an interesting relationship, right, 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:57.399 where I'm thirsty, I'm so thirsty, I want something 00:15:57.399 --> 00:16:00.720 to drink, but I know and understand that this 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:04.559 person's in the tough situation of where you're 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:07.720 pretty much begging them for something, and they 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:10.539 have to really restrict how much of that you 00:16:10.539 --> 00:16:14.500 can have. And your mouth absorbs it so quickly 00:16:14.500 --> 00:16:18.059 that there's really not much to spit afterwards. 00:16:18.059 --> 00:16:21.840 You kind of have to pretend. So that you're showing 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:24.379 that you're not swallowing it. But there were 00:16:24.379 --> 00:16:28.440 those moments. And it's funny things that feel 00:16:28.440 --> 00:16:31.299 like you're doing something you're not supposed 00:16:31.299 --> 00:16:35.620 to. Where that little tiny bit of liquid in my 00:16:35.620 --> 00:16:39.799 mouth. I just couldn't help it. I had to swallow 00:16:39.799 --> 00:16:43.299 a little bit. But you could see that look on 00:16:43.299 --> 00:16:45.379 the person's face of disappointment. Of knowing 00:16:45.379 --> 00:16:49.970 you weren't supposed to do that. So I had to 00:16:49.970 --> 00:16:54.210 learn that I could be hungry and still be happy. 00:16:54.649 --> 00:16:58.490 I could watch other people eat, but still be 00:16:58.490 --> 00:17:01.690 happy and wait and go through that patience. 00:17:02.350 --> 00:17:07.450 And there's no doubt that my relationship with 00:17:07.450 --> 00:17:10.569 God and the Holy Spirit helped me through that 00:17:10.569 --> 00:17:15.130 time. Now, I'll also say it was not a credit 00:17:15.130 --> 00:17:19.380 to me that I went through this. Obviously, as 00:17:19.380 --> 00:17:21.740 soon as someone told me I could eat or drink, 00:17:21.880 --> 00:17:25.759 I did. And everyone else on the floor in that 00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:30.819 situation also had to go through that. And you 00:17:30.819 --> 00:17:34.279 saw smiles and you saw laughter, which was part 00:17:34.279 --> 00:17:39.259 of the beauty. So I don't want a takeaway to 00:17:39.259 --> 00:17:44.640 be, wow, you know, it's that it was a tough thing 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:46.539 that different people have had to go through. 00:17:47.549 --> 00:17:51.509 And some people, you know, I had to wait longer 00:17:51.509 --> 00:17:53.549 than and there are other people that had to wait 00:17:53.549 --> 00:17:56.210 a lot longer who might not be able to eat or 00:17:56.210 --> 00:18:01.450 drink in the same way for the rest of their lives. 00:18:01.950 --> 00:18:04.549 And so that was something that I was aware of 00:18:04.549 --> 00:18:09.950 as well. Now, I'd lost 50 pounds throughout that 00:18:09.950 --> 00:18:14.640 experience. I was very underweight. And so. Everyone 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:17.599 begged me to eat anything and everything that 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:20.700 I could, and it'd take months. But guess what? 00:18:20.759 --> 00:18:25.119 Eventually, I worked my way back, and after losing 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:32.140 50 pounds, I gained 60. However, there were some 00:18:32.140 --> 00:18:35.039 differences now from when I was at that weight 00:18:35.039 --> 00:18:40.079 before, obviously. I'm not able to exercise the 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:43.960 same. My body doesn't operate the same. So I 00:18:43.960 --> 00:18:49.039 had to be careful and I had to learn again, even 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:54.640 when I could eat, that I could be hungry and 00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:59.119 still be happy. I didn't have to eat to where 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:03.740 I was full every meal and every time. Just like 00:19:03.740 --> 00:19:08.319 Paul had learned and just like we can learn in 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:11.980 our relationship with food. In our relationship 00:19:11.980 --> 00:19:14.920 with food and our desire paths with food, when 00:19:14.920 --> 00:19:19.180 a lot of times food is accessible to us so often, 00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:23.460 we don't have to let that be something that determines 00:19:23.460 --> 00:19:41.710 our happiness. Now, I need to pause here to address 00:19:41.710 --> 00:19:46.490 a couple things. One is that when we're talking 00:19:46.490 --> 00:19:49.950 about food, our relationship with our doctor 00:19:49.950 --> 00:19:53.089 or a nutritionist, if we have one or need to 00:19:53.089 --> 00:19:57.529 have one, is very important. I'm going to mention 00:19:57.529 --> 00:20:00.170 an idea of something that we can do once a week 00:20:00.170 --> 00:20:04.309 that will help adapt our desire path with food 00:20:04.309 --> 00:20:12.059 and help us to establish a way of participating 00:20:12.059 --> 00:20:15.819 each week that could be helpful to us in developing 00:20:15.819 --> 00:20:19.279 this discipline and this desire path. But again, 00:20:19.380 --> 00:20:22.539 we need to pause and think thoughtfully for a 00:20:22.539 --> 00:20:26.779 moment that this will apply to us in different 00:20:26.779 --> 00:20:30.619 ways. Although I'm going to talk about food specifically 00:20:30.619 --> 00:20:33.440 because I think it's important, we each have 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:37.480 a unique relationship with food. There was a 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:40.900 time... when I was very underweight, that if 00:20:40.900 --> 00:20:45.039 I would have told my doctor or my nutritionist 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:48.299 that I'm going to treat food differently and 00:20:48.299 --> 00:20:51.619 I'm going to learn that sometimes it's okay to 00:20:51.619 --> 00:20:54.200 be hungry and still be happy, they would have 00:20:54.200 --> 00:20:57.960 been extremely concerned. And some of us may 00:20:57.960 --> 00:21:02.279 have had issues with our body image before or 00:21:02.279 --> 00:21:05.420 an eating disorder to where doing something like 00:21:05.420 --> 00:21:09.029 this could be dangerous. Or hazardous for you. 00:21:09.130 --> 00:21:11.650 It could cause you to fall back into something. 00:21:11.970 --> 00:21:15.309 That's been a challenge for you before. So we 00:21:15.309 --> 00:21:17.990 each need to be mindful of that. And I'm also 00:21:17.990 --> 00:21:21.109 mindful. For friends watching online. Or who 00:21:21.109 --> 00:21:24.670 may watch it later. To a wider audience. That 00:21:24.670 --> 00:21:27.529 it's really important. To think about that. And 00:21:27.529 --> 00:21:30.849 to be mindful of it. And to talk to a pastor. 00:21:30.890 --> 00:21:35.890 A doctor. If you're not sure about that. With 00:21:35.890 --> 00:21:41.059 that said. For those of us who have the ability 00:21:41.059 --> 00:21:43.960 to do that safely, something I would recommend 00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:49.740 is to fast from one meal once a week. And that 00:21:49.740 --> 00:21:52.799 can help adjust our relationship with food, our 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:57.200 desire path with food. A couple of things about 00:21:57.200 --> 00:22:01.279 this are that I recommend a dinner. A dinner 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:07.000 because if we fast from lunch. what are we likely 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:11.839 to do at dinner? Eat a bigger dinner. Or if we 00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:15.119 fast from breakfast, we'll eat a bigger lunch. 00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:17.440 Or it might affect our energy through the day. 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:22.440 And so I found that fasting from one dinner one 00:22:22.440 --> 00:22:25.000 day a week can be something that can be helpful 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:28.700 for me in learning that it's okay to be hungry 00:22:28.700 --> 00:22:33.660 and still be happy. And that we don't need to 00:22:33.660 --> 00:22:37.619 live in a way where Being full all the time is 00:22:37.619 --> 00:22:41.059 something that is required for us as sometimes 00:22:41.059 --> 00:22:46.460 in our minds it can be. We also have options 00:22:46.460 --> 00:22:49.059 if that doesn't work well for us or if it's something 00:22:49.059 --> 00:22:51.720 we need to work to, to where we can choose to 00:22:51.720 --> 00:22:56.680 eat certain foods for one evening a week. We 00:22:56.680 --> 00:22:59.559 might choose to abstain from certain things or 00:22:59.559 --> 00:23:04.029 eat less than we normally do. To help us adjust 00:23:04.029 --> 00:23:09.269 our desire paths toward food. We feel OK right 00:23:09.269 --> 00:23:13.150 now. OK, I want to make sure we feel OK because 00:23:13.150 --> 00:23:17.210 it's a sensitive topic. But sometimes I think 00:23:17.210 --> 00:23:21.349 the idea of fasting can be overwhelming. And 00:23:21.349 --> 00:23:23.750 sometimes I think we skew away from food because 00:23:23.750 --> 00:23:26.049 we can be scared about asking people to fast 00:23:26.049 --> 00:23:28.690 from that a little bit. So I really want to. 00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:31.660 Try to find this balance. I've thought about 00:23:31.660 --> 00:23:35.440 this a lot to make this accessible for folks, 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:38.759 but also to be wise in how we share about it. 00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:45.200 Another thing that choosing to allow ourselves 00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:50.000 to be hungry can do is to help us to connect 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.539 with folks who experience hunger on a regular 00:23:54.539 --> 00:24:00.220 basis, and that's outside of their control. When 00:24:00.220 --> 00:24:03.299 we had foster kids come and live with us, part 00:24:03.299 --> 00:24:05.680 of the training that we had is that a lot of 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:08.980 times when kids are removed from their home due 00:24:08.980 --> 00:24:12.920 to neglect or other issues, they would come with 00:24:12.920 --> 00:24:16.720 the fear of food scarcity. So that sometimes 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:19.799 kids would get up and take food during the night, 00:24:19.880 --> 00:24:24.799 not as a behavior of rebelliousness or something 00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:27.900 of that. but out of the fear that if I don't 00:24:27.900 --> 00:24:31.960 eat now or if I don't get food now, I don't know 00:24:31.960 --> 00:24:36.720 if I'll have it later. So even right here in 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:40.220 our community, people experience hunger that 00:24:40.220 --> 00:24:43.319 they're not able to control the circumstances 00:24:43.319 --> 00:24:48.720 of. And I think that that can help connect us 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:52.380 to that, remembering that and experiencing that 00:24:52.380 --> 00:24:57.640 with others. I found that, especially when we're 00:24:57.640 --> 00:25:01.559 choosing to take that path, there's a beauty 00:25:01.559 --> 00:25:06.519 and a humility to going to bed hungry. Now, again, 00:25:06.599 --> 00:25:11.059 we're talking about one meal a week, one night 00:25:11.059 --> 00:25:15.299 a week, not choosing to make that a habit or 00:25:15.299 --> 00:25:18.859 a pattern, not allowing pride to set into place, 00:25:19.079 --> 00:25:23.359 but being reminded that there are those around 00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:28.059 us. who choose to go to bed, who do not choose 00:25:28.059 --> 00:25:32.859 to go to bed hungry, but experience that. It 00:25:32.859 --> 00:25:37.160 also helps us connect with folks like Paul, who 00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:41.480 both by choice and not by choice, chose to or 00:25:41.480 --> 00:25:44.240 didn't choose to go through that with intention 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:52.009 to be purposeful about it. It also helps us to 00:25:52.009 --> 00:25:57.089 rely on God's strength. And remember that we 00:25:57.089 --> 00:26:03.069 can rely on him rather than other things in order 00:26:03.069 --> 00:26:07.130 to have that happiness and that peace. I know 00:26:07.130 --> 00:26:10.549 that for me and for others, there are times where, 00:26:10.670 --> 00:26:13.529 like with other things that we've discussed, 00:26:13.789 --> 00:26:20.279 when we celebrate, we want to eat. It's natural. 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:22.839 It's part of our pattern. But it can come to 00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:25.599 where food becomes that thing that we fill in 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:28.579 in each part of our life, whatever's happening. 00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:32.500 I know, especially for me and for drive -thrus, 00:26:32.599 --> 00:26:35.779 especially earlier on, partially because it was 00:26:35.779 --> 00:26:37.940 easier for me to access drive -thrus. It's a 00:26:37.940 --> 00:26:42.059 little trickier now, which is probably good for 00:26:42.059 --> 00:26:47.240 me. But if I was tired, I wanted to eat because 00:26:47.240 --> 00:26:50.130 I thought, well, being full, will help me sleep. 00:26:50.910 --> 00:26:56.829 But also, if I was feeling sad, going through 00:26:56.829 --> 00:27:00.470 a drive -thru was a way to help me feel a little 00:27:00.470 --> 00:27:03.869 bit happier. If I was excited about something, 00:27:04.130 --> 00:27:06.950 going through the drive -thru and eating something 00:27:06.950 --> 00:27:10.450 would help me celebrate that. If I was feeling 00:27:10.450 --> 00:27:14.930 lonely, then having something to eat could help 00:27:14.930 --> 00:27:16.990 me deal with that. Or if I was hanging out with 00:27:16.990 --> 00:27:20.980 a friend. Oftentimes, the first suggestion is, 00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:24.099 and again, it's not a negative thing to get something 00:27:24.099 --> 00:27:28.240 to eat, to let our desire paths always lead us 00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:33.839 toward that. And this idea allows us a chance 00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:36.380 where we can find other ways to allow us to have 00:27:36.380 --> 00:27:39.420 a chance to connect with one another, to connect 00:27:39.420 --> 00:27:42.519 with God, even to connect with ourselves and 00:27:42.519 --> 00:27:46.000 not just have us be centered around that thing 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:49.809 each time. We've talked about social media and 00:27:49.809 --> 00:27:53.250 how that can be a go to for us. And so we need 00:27:53.250 --> 00:27:56.970 to find different paths. We've talked about complaining 00:27:56.970 --> 00:27:59.089 and how that can be something that would become 00:27:59.089 --> 00:28:02.769 really deeply connected to a go to thing for 00:28:02.769 --> 00:28:05.849 us. We've talked about entertainment, all these 00:28:05.849 --> 00:28:08.890 different things. So I don't want us to think 00:28:08.890 --> 00:28:13.869 of one particular path to be the thing to connect 00:28:13.869 --> 00:28:18.400 with shame or guilt. Or fear, but to allow that 00:28:18.400 --> 00:28:21.400 to be part of the paths of the other things that 00:28:21.400 --> 00:28:23.859 we're talking about that we want to foster health 00:28:23.859 --> 00:28:30.380 with and positive spiritual health. OK, I'm ready 00:28:30.380 --> 00:28:35.799 to pray. You guys OK to pray? All right, let's 00:28:35.799 --> 00:28:40.400 go ahead and pray. Father, I thank you for today. 00:28:43.019 --> 00:28:47.920 I thank you for the. Things that you put in our 00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:50.839 life that bring us joy, that bring us peace. 00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:58.279 I thank you that you provide us with food that 00:28:58.279 --> 00:29:06.140 we need. We also pray that our desire paths would 00:29:06.140 --> 00:29:09.220 be connected to you more than they are anything 00:29:09.220 --> 00:29:14.160 else. And I pray that you would remind us that 00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:20.170 we don't have to be full. To be happy. That sometimes 00:29:20.170 --> 00:29:25.390 you call us. To go without. To be more deeply 00:29:25.390 --> 00:29:30.109 connected with you. In Jesus name. Amen.