No Comparison

By Cami Checketts

My aunt used to tell me, “Honey you’re beautiful, but you’re just big-boned.” As you can imagine for a teenage girl, this sentiment bothered me a bit. But after years of exercising hard, eating right, and taking good care of myself, I’ve come to realize: I will never weigh a hundred pounds. I will never be petite.
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Are You A Christian Cheerleader?

By Cami Checketts

I used to be a rah-rah. Yes, many years ago I donned a too-short skirt and pom-poms and cheered my team on to victory. That was back in the days when cheerleaders wore cheerleading uniforms that covered all their sides. Our group of rah-rahs firmly believed we were supporting our team. We were their good-luck charm. In our minds we were selfless creatures holding up the sidelines for the greater good.

As Christians, we are all called to be Christian cheerleaders. We take upon us the responsibility of lifting and loving everyone in our path. To get you in the spirit of Christian cheerleading, I have a couple of challenges for you today.

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You Really DO Have Self-Control!

By Cami Checketts

I often talk myself into making health-related mistakes. It’s easier to convince myself that I don’t have any self-control rather than make my taste buds suffer. For example, I say that I can’t stop myself from eating that bowl of ice cream. I can’t stop myself from baking another batch of cookies and eating snitches of dough. I can’t stop myself at a party because everything looks so amazing. It’s always nice to say I can’t help it or blame someone else. It’s easy to say it’s not my fault–it’s my innate lack of self-control. Or if all else fails, I can blame it on my mother’s sweet-tooth gene.

I am here to tell you that this is a load of garbage!

From this day forward, I am going to look at things in a different way: Because of Jesus, I’ve got more self-control than I know what to do with! He tells me in John 15 that if I abide in him, he’ll produce spiritual fruit in me. And when I look at the list of spiritual fruit found in Galatians 5, I discover that self-control is right there! That means that if I stay close to Jesus and rely on him, he will produce all of the self-control I need.

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Delayed Gratification

By Cami Checketts

“The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want now.” Zig Ziglar

We live in a society of instant gratification. Need a question answered? Minutes on the internet and you’ll have more information than you could possibly use. Hungry? Wendy’s will have your dinner ready in minutes. Tired? Drink a Red Bull and you’ll feel pep immediately.

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Variety Is The Key

The human body is amazing!  It adapts quickly to stresses placed upon it.  This was a very good characteristic for our ancestors, but not so great for us.

Stuck in a modern society of ease and convenience–with washing machines, fast food, and speedy cars–we also have obesity, heart problems, and many different health challenges that come with inactivity.

Because our bodies are so impressive, we have to work harder and challenge ourselves differently to maintain optimum health and vigor.  When we look at living better and longer, we would be wise to remember what Theodore Roosevelt said: “Nothing worth gaining was ever gained without effort.”  If we want to increase our fitness and health, we have to be willing to push ourselves.  But if we do the same activity over and over again, we will really have to work hard to keep seeing results.

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