Are You Out-Running Old Age or Allowing It to Catch Up with You?

By Julie Morris, R.N. –

I always said that exercising helped me to out-run old age, but now I am beginning to understand why!

News came out recently of a study by Dr. Beth Levine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She is studying the health benefits of exercise on mice and discovered this important fact: exercising increases the body’s ability to get rid of trash.

All of us have trash caused by broken-down cells that needs to be removed. This trash-removal process is called autophagy (aw-TAH-fa-gee). Autophagy may also help protect us against cancer, infection and other diseases.

Just as your car gets dings and the tires wear out, the structures inside of our cells wear out and need to be replaced. Autophagy collects these worn-out pieces and wraps them in a membrane. Then it carries them to a tiny spot inside the cell, called a lysosome, where there are recycled and digested into reusable products. Bottom line: out with the old–on with the new.

Dr. Levine’s studies have concentrated on autophagy in mice, but it’s a good bet that this process is the same in humans. Let’s look at one of her test results.

She discovered that mice that were fed high-fat diets to create diabetes associated with obesity were able to reverse their diabetes when they exercised daily for eight weeks. She found that mice that exercised for 30 minutes on a treadmill increased their autophagy 40-50 percent. Those that ran 80 minutes increased their autophagy 100 percent. Those that didn’t exercise were not able to induce autophagy and were unable to reverse their diabetes.

Dr. Levine and other researchers feel that these results have implications beyond the effect of exercise on diabetes. They speculate that autophagy may represent a cellular mechanism that prolongs life and protects against disease.

If spending 30 minutes or more a day will make me healthier and help me to out-run old age, I’m going to do it! How about you?

Unleashed Imagination

By Jarrod Spencer –

One question every American child is asked sometime during childhood is “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Some will state the occupation of a parent. Others may aspire to be a sports star, an actor/actress, or another type of celebrity. What was your answer when you were a child?

Why didn’t we make it to that goal? I think that part of the problem lies in this quote from William Arthur Ward, “Nothing limits achievement like small thinking; nothing expands possibilities like unleashed imagination.”

At some point, either you or someone very close to you will start to limit your achievement(s) by thinking small. In the movie “Rudy,” there is the transitional scene where the main character, who happens to be the baby of the family, says “Someday, I’m going to play football for Notre Dame.” Laughter and doubt comes forth. “Yeah right” are the thoughts. This small thinking and the many obstacles in life didn’t stop him from making his dream come true. If you saw the movie, you cheered along with him when he accomplished his goal.

What small thinking has limited your possibilities? Financial, doubt, fear, whispers from your conscience, life going in a different direction, jeers, faded passion? Why not determine where you are and reroute your direction so you can still expand the possibilities? Don’t let things stop you, just use the obstacles as opportunities to be re-routed. Imagination is absent of boundaries. Let yourself dream, and then begin to see how you can get from where you are to where you hope to be!

Don’t think small, maybe one day you’ll get to “play for Notre Dame” too!

PRAYER: Father, may I see where Your leading me and not be obstructed by any difficulties that may come my way. You have great plans for me and I look forward to living those plans out as time continues.

“The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy” (Psalm 126:3 NIV).

Are You Holding God Back?

By Jennifer Slattery –

Christian, are you growing cobwebs? Are you spending so much time praying for clarification, you’ve barricaded yourself permanently in your prayer closet?

Be careful not to view divine opportunities through a human lens tinted by human limitations. You see, how we live life is not about our abilities or failings, our strengths or weaknesses. Instead, it is about saying yes to a mighty God who longs to shine powerfully through us.

Here are some people I believed lived with reckless abandon to God, trusting in His power and not limiting their actions based on what they believed they could accomplish.

During the age of rationalism and revivalism, John Wesley traveled over 200,000 miles on horseback to preach 42,000 sermons, wrote 200 books, organized his followers and a Methodist society and built a chapel.

Charles Spurgeon gave enough sermons and wrote enough material to fill 200 large books. And what about the works of CS Lewis, Martin Luther, Tyndale and Wycliffe?

Were these men super Christians? Did they have more of God? God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He created the universe. Honestly, He doesn’t need us and if He chose, He could raise up a stone and make it the world’s greatest orator. For some mysterious reason He has chosen to work through man–not super humans, but ordinary men and women who trust in an extraordinary God to do mighty things through us.

I believe the question is not can we accomplish A or B but will we allow God to accomplish A or B through us.

Stop and think back to some of our heroes of faith. A murder named Moses, standing on the edge of a raging sea. A young boy named David fighting the giant Goliath. The people of Israel marching around the fortified wall of Jericho.

The Red Sea never would have parted had Moses remained in Midian. Goliath never would have been conquered had David remained in the fields, and Jericho never would have collapsed if the Israelites remained in their camp. God called them to take the city. Could they do it? Absolutely, but not in their own strength. But could God do it through them? Piece of cake.

What would our world look like if people started taking God at His word and surrendered their lives completely to Him?

“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6b).

Just Do It

By Lori Freeland –

Remember when the Nike catch phrase—Just Do It–first came out?

Yes, that dates me, but the words have stuck. I think I still have the t-shirt buried in a box of high school memories somewhere.

A lot of life just needs to happen without forethought. Hence the motto—Just Do It. Here are a few things we can do without much pondering.

Send your friends an email telling them how grateful you are to have them in your life. Even if they didn’t come to your ten times removed second cousin’s piano recital.

Reach out to your daughter, love on her, tell her how beautiful she is. Even if she hasn’t combed her hair in a week and a giant ketchup stain mars her shirt—the brand new one you bought that wasn’t on sale.

Corner you son, even if he is now a foot taller than you, and love on him. And even if you can’t see it yet, tell him he’s going to be a great man.

Buy your sister a book on her wish list and mail it with a card that says, “I’m sorry I stole your boyfriend in the seventh grade.” Trust me, she still remembers.

Call your brother, say, “I love you,” then hang up. Because men don’t like to talk on the phone.

Mail your mother a card with a flower on it. Thank her for cooking your meals and making your bed and doing your laundry.

Text your father. Thank him for showing up for all those band and choir concerts. And your three-hour long high school graduation.

Thank your parents—even if they weren’t perfect. They tried. Parenting is hard. The hardest project I’ve ever undertaken—second to marriage.

Which brings me to—

Be grateful for your spouse. God is using your husband or wife to make you a better person. Don’t forget, iron sharpens iron, even if it hurts sometimes.

Hug your husband before he leaves for work. Even if he left his underwear at the foot of the bed and forgot to brush his teeth.

Kiss your wife just because you can—not because you want something else.

Encourage random people today. Even if they’re mean to you in the Starbucks line. It’s easy to be nice when others are nice—not so much when someone irritates the snot out of you. That takes real control.

“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness (Hebrews 3:13 NIV).

Nudge

by Elaine James –

When my Grandma was in the nursing home, others kept saying “you should visit your Grandma every other day.” Everyone had advice about how and when I should visit. I was fretting over the right time to go and how often my schedule could handle this. I finally had it with being “should-ed” by others. So I prayed the following.

“Lord, You know everything; I need a nudge to help me know when to visit my Grandma at the nursing home.”

Days went by with no nudge until I got up one morning and thought ‘you need to go see Grandma.’ I asked God, “Was that from you?” The thought persisted.

On my way to the nursing home, God prompted me again. I heard Him tell me, bring your Grandma her favorite food. I knew exactly what to get. Wendy’s Chili! The chili was a delicacy and the visit was divine. The next day I got a call to come to the home quickly because my Grandma had a stroke. After evaluating her they found her throat to be paralyzed and she would not be able to swallow. God nudged me to help my Grandma have her last solid meal. Thank you God!

Instead of worrying, do you talk to God about the many decisions you have each day?

I read a story recently about a husband who had a sick wife. He had trouble sleeping at night because she would wake up and need to be administered medicine for a life threatening disease. He feared he would not wake up. He prayed “God could You nudge me when I need to be awake and take care of my wife.” He told story after story of how God woke him to help his wife.

Instead of freaking out, trust God to nudge you.

Think about where you should turn first.

PRAYER: Father in heaven I turn to You first not last! Continue to help me to hear Your nudge and trust and act on it! In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
“Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun” (Psalm 37:5-6 NIV).

« Previous Page — Next Page »