Oh – That’s Not Good.

180/123. Oh. That’s not good.

That number was my wake up call. It was a blood pressure reading one morning shortly after  my doctor observed that I may have high blood pressure. I did not want that diagnosis because none of the implications are good, mainly: stressed, overweight and out of shape. Pastor’s can’t be stressed. I have heard the message before – what’s to be stressed about, you work one day a week! And no one wants to confront the fact that they are overweight because of poor diet and must exercise because they are grossly out of shape.

But for me – this was more than that. I was less than ten years to the age my grandfather was when he died from a massive heart attack. And that was not a singular event in my family history. Heart disease, high blood pressure, bypass surgeries and more abound.

It was clear I needed to make some life changes regarding health. But time! Where would it fit in? We already ran early in the morning to late at night. Just to find 10 minutes to stand still was an accomplishment let alone 30-40 minutes a day for one more task!

In the end – the choices were obvious. Make no change. Or make sacrifices to things that already existed, to foster better physical health. I truly believed my very life was at stake – and without doubt any shred of good physical health. So I made a decision to dive into an activity that would solve a couple problems for me: hiking.

Hiking would be a way for me to exit the demands of daily life. To step out of the busyness and into God’s creation. To give some regular time to be still and listen to God, or merely find myself in His creation and enjoy His presence. And at the same time – it would offer me a way to exercise.

My initial goals were simple. Hike forty miles the first month, and gradually work my way up to sixty miles a month.

Here, I hope to describe my experiences in corralling physical health. When I exercise – I feel good. I handle stress better. I am more effective as a husband, a father, a pastor. But it remains a challenge that many of us need to fight to get under control.