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God’s Pharmacy - The Value of Certain Fruits and Veggies

Published by Dale on August 20, 2008 in Faith and Health, Fitness and Health Professionals and God. 0 Comments

I found this listing of the tremendous value of 12 fruits and vegetables. The author is unknown. Thanks to Cathy Morenzie for posting it on her Active Image site. Enjoy!

Then God said, “Let the land burst forth with every sort of grass and seed-bearing plant. And let there be trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. The seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And so it was. Genesis 1:11

Carrots

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye…and YES science now shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Walnut
A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Avocadoes
Eggplant, Avocados and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today’s research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? …. It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs
Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the motility of male sperm and increase the numbers of sperm cells to overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

MyPyramid.gov is one of the better government sites that provides education on the health benefits and nutrients received from eating the right amount of fruits and vegetables.

Eat your fruits and veggies daily! God certainly had a plan and knew what He was doing when He designed them for our health.

View the complete listing at God’s Pharmacy.

Faith and Health Scripture - Stripping Off Weight & Endurance - Hebrews 12:1-3

Published by Dale on August 18, 2008 in Bible, Faith and Fitness, Jesus and Weekly Faith and Health Scripture. 0 Comments

Women’s Eight As we enter into the last week of the 2008 Olympics I thought I’d make another post about the connection between sports, athletic performance and faith.

Hebrews 12 begins, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and protector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured on the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful man, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

This verse reminds me of my competitive distance running days. As I’ve written before on this blog, I used to be very aware of the importance of being as efficient as possible when I would run races. I can recall how I used to trim off the edges of the numbers that I had to pin on my chest. I trimmed off every bit of white paper that was not necessary so that I would be carrying around as little weight as possible during the race.

During these Olympics, I have often looked for how runners or other competitors might be doing something similar to gain as much of an edge as possible during their competitions. Last night, for example, I observed the Women’s Eight rowing competition and noticed that the coxswain in the stern of the boat was wearing a baseball cap. She was facing the direction that they were headed and it seemed to me that less drag would have occurred if she had not been wearing a baseball cap. Nonetheless, the team was able to capture a gold medal for the first time since 1964.

In Hebrews, the writer is reminding us that a lot of people are observing how we live our life. He encourages us to strip off everything that might hinder our life, especially the sin that so easily entangles us. I can only imagine how many millions of people have observed the competitors during these Olympics. It’s a good reminder of how many people are observing me and how I am living my life. This is a great time for each of us to reflect on how we are living our lives and whether or not we are being models for those who were observing us.

Bible As I was watching the Women’s Eight competition, I noticed that the coxswain was shouting into a microphone. A device known as a cox box amplifies what is spoken into the microphone and helps her fellow rowers hear what the coxswain is saying. One way we can be encouraged to”strip off the extra weight” is to regularly read the Bible and to listen carefully to what we hear God speaking to us. Just as words of encouragement are heard by the coxswain through speakers on the boat, if we read the Bible expecting to hear from God, we’ll often be able to hear Him, even as He speaks to us in a still, small voice.

As we watch these last several days of the Olympics, let us be reminded to strip off every thing that weighs us down. Remember, just as millions of people are watching the Olympics and observing the athletes, may people are watching us.

Olympic Athletes of Faith

Published by Dale on August 16, 2008 in Faith and Fitness. 0 Comments

We’re about half way through the Olympics and I don’t know about you but my competitive juices begin to stir up from my old distance running days. I just wish there were more live finals televised of more of the running events.

I’ve come across a few web sites that have listed Olympic athletes who are professing Christians and thought that you’d want to know about them as well. One site is at Christianity Today and another is at Sharing the Victory Magazine.

Weekly Faith and Health Scripture - Exercise, God & Your Heart - Psalm 119:32

Published by Dale on August 14, 2008 in Exercise, Faith and Fitness, Spirit Mind Body Health, Spiritual Exercises and Weekly Faith and Health Scripture. 0 Comments

We all know that exercise is good for the heart. Aerobic exercise, the kind that causes the runner on trail heart rate to rise and stay at an elevated level for a period of time, is most beneficial for the cardiovascular system. I’ve been a runner for over 44 years. During that time my heart and my entire cardiovascular system certainly has benefited from all the running. I am confident that all the time I have spent on the road and treadmill has benefited my physical health.

Psalm 119:32 says “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.” Like the author of this Psalm, I have discovered over the years that as my lifestyle is consistent with God’s commands, I have found more and more freedom deep in my heart. This freedom and joy has given me an even greater desire to follow the principles of God. I want to “run” in the path that He has laid out for me in the Bible.

As much benefit as moderate physical activity like running is for us, the spiritual exercise of obeying God’s commandments has even greater benefits for our hearts. The freedom, joy and inner peace that comes from “running” alongside God is indescribable.

What benefits have you enjoyed from “running” in the path of God’s commands?

Have a terrific day!

Weekly Faith and Health Scripture - Jesus Praying Through Me - Galatians 2:20

Published by Dale on July 30, 2008 in God's Presence, Jesus, Spirit Mind Body Health and Weekly Faith and Health Scripture. 2 Comments

Jesus Praying2 Last week I prayed in a way that I had never prayed before.

My heart has been heavy for an individual for many months. I sensed that person needed a special touch from God from deep within. On many, many occasions I had prayed for him. In my Men’s Bible study we have been looking at how Christ lives His life through us. Paul tells us in Galatians 2:20, “It is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me.” That tells me that a follower of Christ is to allow Christ to be the one who is speaking, behaving and doing all the other things a person does. If we were truly one with Christ, we could step aside and let Him live though us.

Jesus tells us in John 15:4 & 16, “Remain in me and I will remain in you.” “The Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.” To me, this says that if we are so deeply abiding in Jesus that we will actually sense His presence in us. We will know that Jesus actually is living in us. Since that is the case, then we ought to understand that Jesus wants to be the one praying, not us. If we have this awareness and are able to yield to Jesus during our prayers, then in those moments we can be confident that the prayers that are being lifted up to the Father are actually the prayers of Jesus. Wow! That is so very powerful and sacred and holy.

I believe that this is the true essence of abiding in Jesus. When we are able to experience that Jesus is present and the one living through our bodies and the one doing the talking through our lips, then we are “joined” to Him just as He desires us to be. When we are able to be in this place, that’s when much fruit will be produced. (John 15:5) And one of the fruits that most pleases the Father is the fruit of someone entering into His Kingdom.

Why does Jesus want to be able to pray through us to the Father? He wants us to experience the ultimate connection with Him that occurs during that time of prayer. He wants us to have that sweet fellowship with Him. He wants us to experience the confidence and the power that occurs when we are with Him so solidly. He wants us to be instruments of His love as we pray for others. He wants us to really know Him… the kind of knowing Him that is experienced during such intimately prayerful times.

When we are in God’s presence, imagine how quieted our body, mind and emotions are. Such peace is wonderfully conducive to our health. When we are purely connected with God and Jesus it’s a really beautiful thing. Anytime we experience something beautiful, it’s good for our inner being and wellness. Imagine the strong sense of confidence you’d have and a sense of power, not power that comes from self, but power that comes straight from God. We should not be motivated for these reasons, but it’s an extra benefit that comes from such a close and intimate relationship with our Savior!

I have full confidence that God heard that prayer last week. It was Jesus’ prayer to His Father. I also know that God then touched a man’s heart in a special way over the next few days. Thank you Jesus for revealing more of your nature to me.

Sharing This Good News & RSS Feeds with Others

Published by Dale on July 24, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

I’ve been asked to give subscribers to my posts an easy way to share these feeds with others at popular social bookmarking sites like Delicious, Facebook, Mixx, StumbleUpon and Digg to name a few. For those who may have heard about Social Bookmarking but don’t know what it’s all about, read more on Social Bookmarking on Wikipedia.

After doing some research and changing my blog setup, I think I’ve been able to provide a fix. Beginning with this post, you should see links for many sites at the end of the feed. One of them is an Email link - - that makes it easier to send a link for a feed to someone. You can also use all these links to share any page on my site with others. Please let me know if there is a link you need that I may not have included and if it’s available, I’ll add it. Read more about this plug-in to my Word Press software that makes this possible at Sociable.

I appreciate your interest and desire to share my feeds and pages with others! If you have any questions or feedback please add a comment here so others can benefit from the discussion.

Thanks and have an awesome day!

The Spiritual Exercise of Have Faith and Trust in God

Published by Dale on July 22, 2008 in Spiritual Exercises and Trust in God. 0 Comments

This morning I had the good fortune to see two Carolina Wrens make their first flight. Janice, my girlfriend, and I have also had the good fortune of seeing the first flights of eastern bluebirds and chickadees over the last year. It’s a cool thing to witness! I had been observing these wrens poke their heads out of the bluebird box in my back yard over the last few days . As I write his, two fledglings remain in the nest, slowly getting up the nerve to make their inaugural flight.

I imagine the wrens must have had a lot of trust that their wings would carry them to a nearby tree as they launched out of the nest. Trust. It’s an important thing. That’s why I have identified Have Faith and Trust in God as a Spiritual Exercise. Imagine if you lived without the ability to trust. Life would be pretty nerve racking. The opposite of trust is worry and God tells us not to worry. In Matthew 6:25-33, Jesus teaches that His Father will provide food for the birds. Those baby wrens will have all the food they need. He also says that since we are so much more valuable than birds, that God will provide for all our needs. As I wrote in yesterday’s post, worrying over a period of time will likely have negative consequences on our health. I think that is one reason why Jesus told us not to worry. He knew not only that it has health consequences, but that worrying also steals our joy and peace.

God knows all your needs and He’ll give you all you need if you make the Kingdom of God your primary concern. (verse 33) Stay connected to Him. Pray to Him. Keep your thoughts on Him. As God will meet the needs of those little wrens that flew off this morning, He will certainly meet your needs because He loves you so much.

Weekly Faith and Health Scripture: Philippians 4:8 The Spiritual Exercise of Healthy Thinking

Published by Dale on July 21, 2008 in Spirit Mind Body Health, Spiritual Exercises and Weekly Faith and Health Scripture. 0 Comments

Thinking James Allen, author of As a Man Thinketh, once said “You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.”

Our thoughts and emotions are represented in the body as electrochemical reactions. These chemicals are constantly floating around in our bodies and are stored in different places. The research is clear that negative thoughts, and the associated harmful chemicals, have detrimental effects on our health.

You can control the degree to which harmful chemicals float around in your body by adjusting your thinking patterns. Start by making a deliberate decision to change how you’re thinking. Commit to putting a concerted effort into this for a week and see if it doesn’t make a difference in your attitude, emotions and resulting behavior.

Begin to monitor your thinking patterns and identify when you’re thinking or meditating on negative thoughts or thoughts that cause you to be anxious or are connected with some other harmful emotion. Let those thoughts go and replace them with positive thoughts.

Read the Bible and meditate on scriptures. Believe what you read to be true and tuck these truths into your mind and your heart. Identify scriptures that are meaningful to you and create personal affirmations and speak them out loud. Here’s an example using Psalm 63:5. “You satisfy me more than the richest of foods.” When reading and meditating on scripture becomes part of your daily ‘diet,’ you’ll likely see a change in your thinking patterns.

Paul tells us in Philippians 4:8 “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

This spiritual exercise of healthy thinking is all important in living a healthy life. The more effective we can be at thinking as Paul urges us, the more likely we’ll live a full and healthier life.