Why the name Faithful Fit Dad?

Earlier this year I was unhappy, despite putting on a smile there were several things that I was unhappy about. One of those things I covered in a past post, another was my weight and how out of shape I was. I mean seriously guys, I got winded running 2 feet after my youngest son. Yes, I am getting older (but I am still young at heart), but that's not an excuse to be in the shape that I was in.

Running a full time small business (literally just me for the most part) that eats up many many hours each day, I was tired, stretched thin, irritable, unable to 100% focus. Part of that was due to the distraction that my addiction created in my mind, part of it was the amount of time put in working, part was trying to balance family time, and a good bit of it was the fact that I was at my heaviest weight (which caused a lack in energy and overall focus). It is amazing how our physical fitness can have such an affect on our overall well-being, our ability to focus on our families, and feeling like we just can't handle anymore but the waves just keep coming. I personally felt very disconnected because I lacked the energy to really play with my kids, and because of that disconnect, I literally sank deeper and deeper into my recliner and hunkered down to watch more TV, which wasted more precious time that I could have been spending with my kids.

Back in April of this year (2019) my wife began her own fitness journey, and as I watched her becoming more healthy and fit, I thought to myself, "There's no way I'm going to let her get skinny and I am going to stay the way I am".  Matter of fact guys, I told her that, straight faced no lie. So in June I started to make the time to work on my physical fitness. Now here's the thing, studies say that it takes 66 days to make a new habit automatic, 66 DAYS. That's 66 days of getting up and committing to yourself that you are going to choose to work out, you are going to do something better for not only yourself but for your family. Here I am today, 4 months of making the concentrated effort to become healthier so that I can be my best self for my kids. It wasn't easy, and I am still not where I want to be and I still slip up on the choices I make with the foods that I put into my body, but I FEEL so much better and one of the best parts? I can keep up with my kids without feeling winded.

Now when I was starting this blog I was thinking of what I could name it.  I realized that my journey into becoming a better Disciple, Husband, and Father is also a thing of fitness. Yes, it is not physical, but spiritual fitness, and that was when Faithful Fit Dad popped into my head. As with my physical fitness at the beginning of this year, my spiritual fitness was severely lacking, I had not been spending time in God's Word, and honestly we hadn't stepped foot into a Church until April when the campus we now attend opened it's doors. I was emaciated spiritually, I was not reading the Bible, I was entangled in habitual sin, and I definitely was not being a leader for my wife and kids.

One thing that I have found in becoming physically fit is that I have found loads more focus that I can use to read the Bible and other books that are written by fellow Christians. I have been able, recently, to use the discipline from my fitness journey to reprioritize other aspects of my life, and have more of a laser focus on the things that I should focus on. As I said about my physical fitness, I am not where I want to be yet, but daily I am moving closer and growing more towards the man that God has called me to be.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified."
Paul tells us that we should run with focus, discipline our bodies so that we may keep them under control. He calls us to be stewards of both our bodies and spirit so that we may obtain the prize. What things need to change in your life? Where do you need to put your focus? What things do you need to do to train yourself for this race and get yourself ready to win the ultimate prize?