Good morning. That's like a delayed response.
There we go. Good morning. There we go. We got
a little song back. I love it. This morning,
the two minutes for one question was, if you
could only eat at one restaurant the rest of
your life, where would you eat? So I'd love to
hear some answers. Pizza Ranch. I like it because
you get a good variety. Yeah, I heard, what was
that? Oh, Machine Shed. Yes, they've got a pretty
big menu as well. So that goes along with that
idea. One joke answer I thought of was Cheesecake
Factory because they always have that 20 -page
menu. So they've got the long menu. How about
one more? Lagos? Oh. And what's your maiden name,
please? Lago Marcino. I love it, which is just
an amazing name by itself. I love that name.
I'm adjusting right now, and I'll share that
because I... Recently had an eye procedure so
that I had contacts implanted into my eyes. My
retinas were too thin for LASIK. Thin retinas
is something I live with. I never knew I had
it the first 38 years of my life, but now that
I do know, I'm going to ride that out. So one
thing about it is that when there's a bright
light, there's a ring. like around the contact
that I see. And so as I'm sitting up here today,
there's a big ring in my eye for every single
light pointing at me. So there's like six rings
surrounding me right now, which I'll adapt to,
but it is something to adapt to for sure. This
morning, we've been talking about, thank you,
that does help a lot. This morning, In this series,
we've been talking about desire paths. And I
love this visual. And I've been thinking about
it a lot, even when I'm not at church. And what
it shows, if you follow the three times four
is 12. The paths, the first one shows a straight
path going through like a park. And then the
next one shows that. People create a path themselves
to get to the path from the corner a little bit
shorter. A lot of times you'll see a little side
path that comes through. And then you can see
that someone put in a bench to try to avoid people
from taking that side path. But then people just
took a path around the bench. And then a few
of them are blocked there in the middle. But
we can see down there in the bottom row. Then
they put in a hedge. And people walked through
the hedge. And so then they put in another sidewalk
to try to say, okay, we'll just go with it. We'll
put another sidewalk in. And then what do people
start doing in the last one? They start making
a little path from one side of the corner to
the other side of the corner so that they could
cut through there. So we do that with our own
desires. There are different paths that are set
in place, but we tend to work around the paths.
that are set in place to make our own paths.
And we're reminded through this series that the
paths that sometimes we make for ourselves aren't
the best paths to take. Is that fair, Pastor
Greg, by summarizing that well enough? All right.
Did you create that graphic? Kind of? Okay. Okay,
yeah, Pastor Greg does a lot of our graphics,
and I think he does an awesome job. They really
tie together our series and things. All right,
everybody take a drink break. I have quite a
bit of dry mouth, too. So I take lots of drink
breaks. Thin retinas, dry mouth, these are the
things I live with. My answer for the two minutes
to one question. And as we're looking at that
this morning, food, food is the desire path that
we're talking about. And this is somewhat of
a confession that for me, they just put in a
Panda Express on 53rd Street. And so in Davenport,
which is very close, it's three miles from my
house. I just coincidentally know that. And so
as I was preparing to preach about desire paths
and food, they opened up a Panda Express. It's
been open about 14 days. I haven't been there
in the double digits yet, but I'm getting close.
By the time it reaches 20 days, I probably will
have been. So I really enjoy it. So that's to
say I come to you humbly today. to talk about
desire paths and food. But nonetheless, it's
an important topic. And as we look at it, there's
a couple of things I want to point out is that
our relationship with food is not defined by
our body type. There are some of us who, I know
this is true for me, when I was in my early 20s,
I ate everything and anything that I wanted and
was a very skinny guy. I could get away with
anything. So just because I was a very skinny
guy doesn't mean that I had a healthy relationship
with food or that I followed good desire paths.
It just meant that my metabolism was really high.
As I've gotten older and as my body's changed,
my relationship with food has changed a lot.
with the exception of Panda Express. And that
I don't eat the same way I used to. I'm not able
to eat the same way I used to. But my body doesn't
still look the same way that it did in its 20s.
And I also feel like I'm grateful sometimes for
being a quadriplegic, for how that helps me to
approach messages differently. There are ways
that no matter what my relationship with food
is, there are parts of my body I can't control.
They're going to look ways differently than what
I want them to because I'm paralyzed from here
down atrophy sets in. So my ability to do sit
-ups is quite limited. My ability to do pull
-ups is quite limited. So it's important for
me to take care of my health and to exercise.
But I certainly recognize that preaching about
food and different things like that, it can often
be adapted right away to what do we look like?
What does the mirror remind us of? And that's
not the important connection for today. With
that being said, the title that we're looking
at is you don't have to be full to be happy.
We don't have to be full of food in order to
be happy. And the first place that I'm going
to look at for that is the Apostle Paul, who
wrote quite a bit of the New Testament. This
is the same Paul that you may have heard of that
saw a bright light and came to know Jesus in
that way. And on his way, the reason that he
was traveling is because he had a warrant to
arrest Christians. And so we start in Philippians
today. Chapter four, verses 12 through 13. I
believe I'm looking at the NIV. I didn't look
too closely. There are Bibles on your table,
probably. There are also blue Bibles in the wood
case in the front that you see when you walk
in. If you'd like to take one home with you.
A lot of us also have Bibles in our apps on our
phones. So you can look at those as well. And
again, we're looking at Philippians 4, 12 through
13. I'm going to read that for you now. And this
is after Paul, who used to arrest Christians,
is now getting used to being arrested for being
a Christian. And he wrote a letter and he said
this to his friends that he visited. He said,
I know what it is to be in need and I know what
it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret
of being content in any and every situation,
whether well fed or hungry, whether living in
plenty or in want. I can do all this through
him who gives me strength. So he's just not he's
not just talking about food here, but he is bringing
up food. is an example of we all know what it's
like to be hungry in different ways, but we've
probably all felt it before, and we've probably
all felt what it is to be full, too. I know what
it is like when I haven't had Panda Express and
what it feels like after, and they're two very
different feelings. But Paul experienced food
in different ways. Paul was a Jew. And there
were feasts throughout the year. So he loved,
he would have had favorite foods at each one
of these feasts where they celebrated by eating
well. He also, as a Jew, would have fasted regularly.
So he also knew what it was to choose not to
eat and to feel hunger. He also knew what it
was to feel hunger when it wasn't a choice. He
had been shipwrecked. He had been a prisoner.
He probably was a prisoner when he was writing
this. And he had also experienced it. And I had
fun thinking about this. There are some cultures
where when you visit, you are welcomed in people's
homes and you are expected to eat at each home
that you visit. And they're going to give you
the very best food that they have. And in some
cultures, this is extremely important. And so
if you were Paul and you were in a community
where you planted a church and poured into people
and you were coming back after you hadn't visited
for a long time, what would people want for you
to come and visit their home? And when you came
and visited their home, what would they want
you to do? Eat. And I'm sure that when Paul realized
I'm going back to Philippi again, he might start
to think about some of the food, about some of
the delicious food that different people made.
Some may have made something like brownies. Some
may have made something like his favorite spaghetti.
Different types of foods that we can imagine
in our minds that he would have enjoyed. He also
went places where he wasn't welcome. He also
went to preach at places he was run out of town.
No one would have been inviting him to come in
and eat. In fact, they may have even been hesitant
to sell him food in the market because he was
known in those places as an agitator, someone
who caused problems in the community. So he knew
what it was to be welcomed. He knew what it was
to not be welcomed. He knew what it was to be
hungry. He knew what it was to be full. Some
of my experiences that I've had, I had an interesting
experience after my injury where because of my
spinal cord injury, I was NPO, which for those
of you in the medical field, know that it means
you're not allowed to take anything by mouth.
You're not allowed to take medications. You're
not allowed to drink. You're not allowed to eat.
Now, if you would have told me before that, that
I would go for months without eating or drinking
anything, I would not have believed you. How
is that even possible? And how could you be happy
if you weren't able to do that? Especially if
you saw people eating and drinking around you.
I had to practice swallows thousands of times
with a speech therapist in my room before they
would even consider giving me a thickened liquid
to drink. And there's no way to have a thickened
liquid with the thickening agent that they use
in hospitals and have it be really good. It's
not especially pleasant stuff. And to even have
a chance to drink a thickened liquid, I had to
swallow barium on an x -ray machine for them
to see how it went down. And barium probably
doesn't sound pleasant. And it's another thing.
There's no chance you're going to drink barium
and it tastes good. So you have to swallow a
thick, chalky, not good tasting thing at all
on an x -ray to be able to even begin to... drink
again, let alone eat. And especially starting
out, my mouth was very dry. I ran fevers a lot
of the time. The only way I could even get someone
to wet my mouth was for them to dip a cube, an
almost spongy cube, in some water and wipe it
around in my mouth. And even then, I had to spit
out the liquid afterward to prove that I wasn't
swallowing it. And because of the orders that
I had, people knew that they could get in trouble
if I choked or aspirated. So if someone put too
much water on that sponge or let me suck too
much of it, it could be their job on the line.
And so it's an interesting relationship, right,
where I'm thirsty, I'm so thirsty, I want something
to drink, but I know and understand that this
person's in the tough situation of where you're
pretty much begging them for something, and they
have to really restrict how much of that you
can have. And your mouth absorbs it so quickly
that there's really not much to spit afterwards.
You kind of have to pretend. So that you're showing
that you're not swallowing it. But there were
those moments. And it's funny things that feel
like you're doing something you're not supposed
to. Where that little tiny bit of liquid in my
mouth. I just couldn't help it. I had to swallow
a little bit. But you could see that look on
the person's face of disappointment. Of knowing
you weren't supposed to do that. So I had to
learn that I could be hungry and still be happy.
I could watch other people eat, but still be
happy and wait and go through that patience.
And there's no doubt that my relationship with
God and the Holy Spirit helped me through that
time. Now, I'll also say it was not a credit
to me that I went through this. Obviously, as
soon as someone told me I could eat or drink,
I did. And everyone else on the floor in that
situation also had to go through that. And you
saw smiles and you saw laughter, which was part
of the beauty. So I don't want a takeaway to
be, wow, you know, it's that it was a tough thing
that different people have had to go through.
And some people, you know, I had to wait longer
than and there are other people that had to wait
a lot longer who might not be able to eat or
drink in the same way for the rest of their lives.
And so that was something that I was aware of
as well. Now, I'd lost 50 pounds throughout that
experience. I was very underweight. And so. Everyone
begged me to eat anything and everything that
I could, and it'd take months. But guess what?
Eventually, I worked my way back, and after losing
50 pounds, I gained 60. However, there were some
differences now from when I was at that weight
before, obviously. I'm not able to exercise the
same. My body doesn't operate the same. So I
had to be careful and I had to learn again, even
when I could eat, that I could be hungry and
still be happy. I didn't have to eat to where
I was full every meal and every time. Just like
Paul had learned and just like we can learn in
our relationship with food. In our relationship
with food and our desire paths with food, when
a lot of times food is accessible to us so often,
we don't have to let that be something that determines
our happiness. Now, I need to pause here to address
a couple things. One is that when we're talking
about food, our relationship with our doctor
or a nutritionist, if we have one or need to
have one, is very important. I'm going to mention
an idea of something that we can do once a week
that will help adapt our desire path with food
and help us to establish a way of participating
each week that could be helpful to us in developing
this discipline and this desire path. But again,
we need to pause and think thoughtfully for a
moment that this will apply to us in different
ways. Although I'm going to talk about food specifically
because I think it's important, we each have
a unique relationship with food. There was a
time... when I was very underweight, that if
I would have told my doctor or my nutritionist
that I'm going to treat food differently and
I'm going to learn that sometimes it's okay to
be hungry and still be happy, they would have
been extremely concerned. And some of us may
have had issues with our body image before or
an eating disorder to where doing something like
this could be dangerous. Or hazardous for you.
It could cause you to fall back into something.
That's been a challenge for you before. So we
each need to be mindful of that. And I'm also
mindful. For friends watching online. Or who
may watch it later. To a wider audience. That
it's really important. To think about that. And
to be mindful of it. And to talk to a pastor.
A doctor. If you're not sure about that. With
that said. For those of us who have the ability
to do that safely, something I would recommend
is to fast from one meal once a week. And that
can help adjust our relationship with food, our
desire path with food. A couple of things about
this are that I recommend a dinner. A dinner
because if we fast from lunch. what are we likely
to do at dinner? Eat a bigger dinner. Or if we
fast from breakfast, we'll eat a bigger lunch.
Or it might affect our energy through the day.
And so I found that fasting from one dinner one
day a week can be something that can be helpful
for me in learning that it's okay to be hungry
and still be happy. And that we don't need to
live in a way where Being full all the time is
something that is required for us as sometimes
in our minds it can be. We also have options
if that doesn't work well for us or if it's something
we need to work to, to where we can choose to
eat certain foods for one evening a week. We
might choose to abstain from certain things or
eat less than we normally do. To help us adjust
our desire paths toward food. We feel OK right
now. OK, I want to make sure we feel OK because
it's a sensitive topic. But sometimes I think
the idea of fasting can be overwhelming. And
sometimes I think we skew away from food because
we can be scared about asking people to fast
from that a little bit. So I really want to.
Try to find this balance. I've thought about
this a lot to make this accessible for folks,
but also to be wise in how we share about it.
Another thing that choosing to allow ourselves
to be hungry can do is to help us to connect
with folks who experience hunger on a regular
basis, and that's outside of their control. When
we had foster kids come and live with us, part
of the training that we had is that a lot of
times when kids are removed from their home due
to neglect or other issues, they would come with
the fear of food scarcity. So that sometimes
kids would get up and take food during the night,
not as a behavior of rebelliousness or something
of that. but out of the fear that if I don't
eat now or if I don't get food now, I don't know
if I'll have it later. So even right here in
our community, people experience hunger that
they're not able to control the circumstances
of. And I think that that can help connect us
to that, remembering that and experiencing that
with others. I found that, especially when we're
choosing to take that path, there's a beauty
and a humility to going to bed hungry. Now, again,
we're talking about one meal a week, one night
a week, not choosing to make that a habit or
a pattern, not allowing pride to set into place,
but being reminded that there are those around
us. who choose to go to bed, who do not choose
to go to bed hungry, but experience that. It
also helps us connect with folks like Paul, who
both by choice and not by choice, chose to or
didn't choose to go through that with intention
to be purposeful about it. It also helps us to
rely on God's strength. And remember that we
can rely on him rather than other things in order
to have that happiness and that peace. I know
that for me and for others, there are times where,
like with other things that we've discussed,
when we celebrate, we want to eat. It's natural.
It's part of our pattern. But it can come to
where food becomes that thing that we fill in
in each part of our life, whatever's happening.
I know, especially for me and for drive -thrus,
especially earlier on, partially because it was
easier for me to access drive -thrus. It's a
little trickier now, which is probably good for
me. But if I was tired, I wanted to eat because
I thought, well, being full, will help me sleep.
But also, if I was feeling sad, going through
a drive -thru was a way to help me feel a little
bit happier. If I was excited about something,
going through the drive -thru and eating something
would help me celebrate that. If I was feeling
lonely, then having something to eat could help
me deal with that. Or if I was hanging out with
a friend. Oftentimes, the first suggestion is,
and again, it's not a negative thing to get something
to eat, to let our desire paths always lead us
toward that. And this idea allows us a chance
where we can find other ways to allow us to have
a chance to connect with one another, to connect
with God, even to connect with ourselves and
not just have us be centered around that thing
each time. We've talked about social media and
how that can be a go to for us. And so we need
to find different paths. We've talked about complaining
and how that can be something that would become
really deeply connected to a go to thing for
us. We've talked about entertainment, all these
different things. So I don't want us to think
of one particular path to be the thing to connect
with shame or guilt. Or fear, but to allow that
to be part of the paths of the other things that
we're talking about that we want to foster health
with and positive spiritual health. OK, I'm ready
to pray. You guys OK to pray? All right, let's
go ahead and pray. Father, I thank you for today.
I thank you for the. Things that you put in our
life that bring us joy, that bring us peace.
I thank you that you provide us with food that
we need. We also pray that our desire paths would
be connected to you more than they are anything
else. And I pray that you would remind us that
we don't have to be full. To be happy. That sometimes
you call us. To go without. To be more deeply
connected with you. In Jesus name. Amen.