Phil Parham (18 page)

I recently met a young man who weighed over 400 pounds. He knew he needed to change his life and was making plans to work on his weight. He was funny, sweet, and full of life. He was the kind of guy you would want to be friends with. Three weeks later I got a message from his brother telling me that this young man had died from an enlarged heart.

I was shocked by the news. Although I know that we need to take care of our health so we can live a long life, I had never been touched by the reality of it in this way. This guy was so young and would have had his whole life ahead of him had he started taking care of his health as a child. He will never have the chance to live out his dreams. It's a great loss.

When we eat the wrong foods, don't get any exercise, or carry too much weight on our body, it puts stress on our heart. We can start now to make sure we protect our heart by eating right and exercising regularly. We need to keep our heart healthy. It truly is a matter of life or death.

1. What are some ways to keep your heart healthy?

2. Do you have any people in your life who have or had heart problems?

3. Exercise plays a big part in protecting your heart. Discuss some active things you can do as a family that will help keep your heart healthy.

Jumping rope is a great cardiovascular exercise. Have a jump-rope competition as a family. See which member has the most consecutive jumps. The winner gets to choose what you have for dinner. (Make sure it's healthy!)

A Word from Amy

Have you ever challenged your sister or brother to a race? When you were running, I bet you didn't carry a heavy toy or put on your heaviest coat. I'm sure you had on your best running shoes and you threw off your coat or sweatshirt so nothing would hold you back. You couldn't afford to have extra weight slow you down. You wanted to win!

Did you know we are running a spiritual race? The Bible says in Hebrews 12:1
(NLT)
, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”

What does that mean? I believe some things can hold us back from living the life God wants us to live. Eating junk food and not getting enough exercise could be some of them. So can being disobedient to our parents or mean to someone in our class. We must lay those things aside because those weights can hold us back from winning in life. Just as you wouldn't run a race carrying something heavy, you don't want anything to prevent you from living your best life.

Sometimes our bad choices, bad habits, or bad attitudes can be like weights. Don't let bad choices, habits, or attitudes negatively influence your life. Get rid of them!

1. What kinds of choices can you make that can help you run a good race in life?

2. What kind of choices have you made that are not so good?

3. How can those bad choices weigh you down when you're running your spiritual race?

Tip of the Day

Run a race in the yard with your friends. Try it first carrying something heavy and have your parents record your time. Then run it again without the weights and see how much faster you can run!

A Word from Amy

Have you ever had to carry your book bag when it was full of all your books and papers? Maybe you had a lot of homework that day and had to stuff it to the max and carry it home from school. I bet it sure was heavy. Maybe so heavy that it made your back and shoulders hurt. What a relief when you finally got to take it off!

Now imagine if you had that much extra weight on your body all the time. It would be hard to run around and play. It might even make you tired, cranky, sluggish, or sick. This is why we need to watch the foods we eat and keep our body active. If we just lie around on the sofa, watch television, and eat potato chips all day, before we know it we can put on extra weight (just like stuffing our book bag full). But unlike the book bag, which we can take off instantly, it's much harder to take extra weight off of our bodies.

Extra weight puts pressure on your lungs so it becomes harder to breathe. It puts pressure on your knees and joints so they hurt more. And it makes you tired. Who wants to feel all that? So think about how heavy that book bag feels when you're carrying it, and let it remind you to keep your body healthy.

1. How does it feel when you have to carry around a heavy weight?

2. Name a few things that carrying extra weight can do to your body.

3. What types of activities do you like to do that having extra weight could prevent you from doing as well?

Stuff your book bag full of heavy books. Put it on your back and walk around the house for an hour and see how it makes you feel.

Have you ever pretended you were a great explorer who was going to travel to faraway places? If you did, the first thing you might have done was gather some friends to go with you and look at a map (even if you drew it yourself) to plan the route you were going to take. You probably described to them the treacherous terrain, vicious animals, and evil villains you might encounter along the way. I'm sure you also bagged a lunch and some supplies to take on your journey.

Did you know that life is really a big adventure? It's full of wonder and possibilities and good things that you can do and see. But you have to be prepared. You have to chart your course to help guard against pitfalls that can come. Some of those pitfalls can include eating too many sugary snacks and drinking too much soda. They can make your blood sugar drop and can make you really cranky. They can also be a factor in developing type 2 diabetes, which you know is a serious disease.

Think of poor health as an evil villain you can defeat on your journey by eating more fruit for snacks and drinking water rather than sodas. You don't want to get defeated on your journey, so chart your course for success!

1. What are some things you can do on your journey to make sure your future is healthy?

2. Name some foods that can contribute to diabetes and heart disease. What are some foods that are good for you?

3. Why is taking care of your health one of the things you need to have on your map for your life?

Help your mom pack a healthy picnic basket or your lunch bag for school. Talk about which foods are healthy choices and which foods are unhealthy choices.

A Note from Phil

Something to Think About

Don't you love it when football season comes around? I sure do. I love the chill in the air that signals the beginning of fall, the energy of the crowd in the stadium, and watching the players run down the field in their new uniforms. You can feel the excitement in the air as people cheer for their favorite team to score the touchdown or kick the field goal that wins the game.

It must be really cool to be one of those players on game day and have everyone cheering for you. But in order to play in the game, those players first have to train. Did you know that football players train really hard for many hours a day to get ready for a big game? They run sprints, they lift weights, they participate in drills, and they practice again and again the plays they're going to use in the game. It's hard work!

In order to be a winner, you have to train for it. In order to be an athlete, you need to be willing to do the work. In order to be healthy, you have to focus on the things you can do to be healthy. Often it's not easy, but hard work and training are the difference between being average and being a winner.