Recently, a surprising news report about the future of United States military forces caught my attention. In a nutshell, the conclusion of these experts was that the safety of the nation (and the free world) would ultimately be in jeopardy because the general physical condition of today’s youth has been continually declining. Reasons for this downward trend included poor diet choices and lack of exercise. In the minds of some, we’re producing a generation that in time will be too fat to fight.
My friend, Larry, knew all about the limitations of being overweight. When he was seventeen, he weighed 750 pounds.
Gaining weight had been easy for Larry all through his childhood and by the time he was a teenager, food had become the dominant force in his life. He had lived to eat, loved to eat and was eating himself into an early grave. Doctors were afraid his extreme weight would tear his vital organs out of place, ultimately bringing death.
Larry had been confined to bed for three months when he came to a life changing decision. His bedroom had now become his world. All he could do now was look up and pray.
And pray he did!
“Lord, I’m impossible,” he prayed, adding: “Make me possible.”
Larry told me he knew immediately that he would lose all the weight he needed to lose and this brought a new birth of faith and confidence. He’d tried different diets before with little lasting success. Weight loss programs had let him down.
There had been a few short lived experiences of achieving his longed for goals.
During his sophomore year in high school, Larry had lost one hundred pounds, but nothing he tried seemed to work for long. Pounds lost were soon replaced and more added. Seemed like a losing battle.
Finally, at the end of himself, this discouraged one was ready to reach out to God and seek His help to solve this life and death problem that had plagued him for so long.
And, like many others with their own special problems, Larry discovered all things are possible with God.
During the next eighteen months, Larry lost six hundred pounds.
When the news of Larry’s incredible weight loss success became known, many radio and television interviewers were eager to have him share his story with their audiences. As a result, he was able to tell millions about the miracle that had taken place in his life that provided him with the discipline he needed to win a battle he had been unable to win.
Are you defeated by some appetite that controls you? Do you have a temper out of control? Are you addicted to alcohol, drugs, pornography or other reading materials that violate your moral standards?
The God of the impossible loves you.
Respond in faith to His love and be free.
And your new disciplined life may enable you to help keep others free too.
Roger Campbell was an author, a broadcaster and columnist who was a pastor for 22 years. Contact us at rcministry@ameritech.net.
