NURTURED IN GRACE

Remember a time that you were really hungry? It probably grew and grew on you until eventually, you were "hangry," right? If you still didn't get food though, you might have gotten almost a second wind. You wouldn't have been as hungry. See, when you really don't eat a lot, you stop getting as hungry.

Well, I want to tell a story about hunger. I'm going to start with physical hunger because it's what we're used to, but I want to use it to demonstrate a greater hunger.

Here we go:

Two weeks ago, I starved myself into the hospital. Yep. Totally unintentionally, but it happened. My blood pressure and heart rate were high, and I couldn't stop shaking.  I nearly passed out just getting onto the stretcher. I stabilized quickly after they put an IV in me, but I'd be lying if I said I was in good health two weeks ago.

It happened unexpectedly. I was throwing a medicine ball to my work-out-partner when I got really out of breath, started shaking, and even started feeling sick to my stomach. All of a sudden, I was telling my friend, "I don't think I can do this anymore, man." Lying down in the middle of the gym floor, I got worse and worse. Feeling like I was going to throw up, he put my arm over his shoulder and helped me stumble out of the gym. 

Soon, EMS were taking my blood sugar, blood pressure, and heart rate. 2/3 were off. So, in another five minutes, I found myself in the back of an ambulance.

The bright side was I'd never ridden in an ambulance before; the downside was I felt like a wimp. Who enters the gym ready to work out and leaves in an ambulance? Clearly, I was doing something wrong. 

Sure enough, I was. After doing my blood work and taking a picture of my heart, the doctor told me I'm actually fit. The problem was I'd been starving myself. My body ran out of fuel during my workout and actually started eating itself. 

I decided there was no way to avoid admitting I had a major problem.

My options were eating more or becoming very familiar with the doctors and EMS people here in Charleston.

So, when I got home I called my brother. He's the guy I always go-to if I need any major life changes. After discussing my problem and the morning's events on the phone, we came up with a game plan for me to feed myself. 

I was so embarrassed. I was three years into college and still not self-feeding. How do you forget to feed yourself? When I thought deeper, though, I knew. Up until college, my Mom had always fed me. For the first two years of college, I went to a school where we weren't allowed to cook in our homes, so of course, I relied on the cafeteria for all my meals each day. Once I moved to Charleston, I had never learned how to feed myself.

Knowing this, I relentlessly followed my brother and I's new feeding plan. After a week, I felt way healthier and happier. I had much more energy. It turns out, your diet is linked to more than you'd think. You can fix a lot of life's problems with a little nutrition. 

Here's the deal, though: I've grown up in church and I'm 5 years into being a Christian, but for the last year and a half I was also starving myself spiritually.

Last Friday, I was talking with my friend Joe, who has a lot of wise things to say.

As we talked, I described to Joe my trip to the hospital and my new perspective on how important eating breakfast and getting the right nutrition is. I remember admitting I just didn't see the importance of it before my trip to the hospital! 

We had a great discussion on food after this, but as the conversation went on, we began to talk about my walk with the Lord. I began to admit to him that for the last year and a half, I haven't really been reading my Bible as much. Why? Well, it had just grown boring to me. 

I've taken survey classes on the Old and New Testaments, and I've taken lots of theology classes. I've read all of it, so I felt like I didn't need to read it as often anymore. 

It was at this point that Joe related, but then told me body builders don't drink protein shakes every day for the taste. They drink them for the nutrition. Every day. Because they need them every day, no matter how big they are.  It's not about a new experience, it's about nutrition.

Christianity, like much of life, is easy to make an experiential thing. Go to the new church, read the new book, or post the most original caption. This may work for a while, especially when we are new believers. When we are new to the faith, everything is a new experience. The problem is that once we are a year, two, or more in, these experiences become more far-between, and we become bored. 

We miss out on Jesus for the sake of originality.

The Bible says, "man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Mathew 4:4).

It turns out that just like a breakfast before working out, reading the Bible every day can change a lot. It doesn't matter how many protein shakes you've had if you haven't had one today. Body builders don't drink protein shakes for the taste, or the experience.

I'm nearly two weeks away from my ride in the ambulance and doing much better now. It helps a lot not being hangry all day! I'm still stretching my stomach back out to normal size, but I've begun telling all my friends about my new and improved life-style, despite the embarrassing back-story.

I've also been in the word every day, and I can't tell you how much happier, focused on Jesus' grace, and ready for my daily mission in Charleston I've been.

Are you hungry?