Oh!...You're Obese!!!

There are a variety of reasons that people avoid going to the doctor.  Some people prefer to not be touched in awkward ways.  Others hold strong resentment to robes that cover absolutely nothing on their back 50%.  Still more, prefer to not have to answer difficult questions…of which awkward options are endless.

Personally, my hesitancy rests in my strong resentment to the public weigh in.  “Ryan, the doctor will see you now…right this way…now if you will just step on this scale…Hey everyone! Ryan is about to step on this scale!...Yes this one right here in the middle of the hallway…Hey everyone!  Look!...Wow!...You’ve put on some weight haven’t you?  Time to lay off of the cookies, huh?...Now you can just wait in this room for 45 minutes and think about how many cookies you ate yesterday, and what you will eat when you go home after this appointment…I will be back in a few minutes to ridicule your blood pressure.”

One of my greatest pet peeves is what is known as the BMI (Body Mass Index) chart.  According to this “valuable” data chart…I could weigh 140lbs and stand 6’2 and be healthy.  Really!!?? I don’t think so!

Eleven years ago, my in laws gave our family a Wii, along with it was given Wii Fit.  This was the exercise “game” that was designed to trick you into becoming healthy while playing games on your TV.  Perhaps it was a hint to what I was about to learn on my own.  The family took turns stepping onto the Wii board and allowing it to measure our BMI.  After Sarah and the kids had gone through the process of entering their data…and stepping onto the board…and getting their results…the words, “Dad! It’s your turn!,” echoed between my ears, like a steel bearing in a metal coffee can.

“No…I don’t think so…I’m good.”

“Oh…come on!...You have to!...We all did it…and we all made our own Mii characters too!”  After much coaxing, I reluctantly conceded.  I entered my height…my age…eye color…shoe size…and mother’s maiden name and stepped onto the board.

The machine began talking to me through the TV speakers…“Stand Still…Measuring….Measuring…Measuring…OH!... YOU’RE OBESE!!!”

My little Mii character doubled in size on the screen before my eyes as I rebutted, “Wait! What!!! I’ll show you obese!”  I prepared to throw the new machine through the old TV…thankfully…my frugal nature took over and I went to be alone and sulk.

As embarrassing as that moment was…it served as a wake-up call.  It shook me...it angered me…it got my attention and it was at that moment that I changed.  I changed my activity, and I changed my diet…and I am now significantly lighter than I was then.

Revelation 8 and 9, tend to be a difficult and sorrowful passage to read.  We may even find ourselves afraid as we internalize the great judgments that are to come.  In these pages of the last book of the New Testament we find incredible pain, death and torment…we find hunger, and thirst and earthquakes.  God is literally shaking the earth.  I think that He is trying to get the attention of the world…He STILL wants mankind to turn to Him.  God must act severely to sin…yet, we see the love and grace and yearning for mankind to repent…and give their lives to Jesus.  Sadly, the powerful final verses paint a sorrowful picture.  “The rest of mankind…still did not repent.”

May we be shaken today! May the Lord shake our world…get our attention…and then…MAY WE REPENT!!!