Backyard Baptismal

Last night at ComChurch was one of those night's that I am not going to soon forget. We don't baptize people very often in our church, not because we don't believe in the need for it, but because we like doing it outside, and sometimes it just takes some effort to get the entire church to a pool. Yes we often do baptisms in someone's backyard pool. I thought it was weird at first, but after experiencing a few of these backyard baptisms, it becomes a really beautiful thing. For those of you who are used to seeing this occur behind the podium on a Sunday morning, I'd certainly encourage you to break from that mold at least once in your life and see what it's like outside. The water's fine.

The night was good for reasons other than just the baptism as well. We got to swim after the ceremony (is that the right word for what a baptism is supposed to be) was finished. I take t the water very quickly, since most of my childhood was spent in or by a pool. The pool we swam in last night was great too because they had a diving board.

Now for a bit of insight into what it's like to be a big man: you can't jump off of a diving board without the fear of hearing a very large pencil like crack. You just can't do it. Who wants to be the guy that broke the board? Kids would cry. The owner of the board would be pissed that you wasted their money and now they have to go out a purchase a new board. And on top of all that, your embarassed that you were the guy that broke the diving board.

So for the majority of my adult life I've opted to stay away. Erring on the side of caution, and just jumping off the side of the pool and having fun doing that. What a waste of time that was. Diving boards are a lot of fun! You can make large splashes in the water, and kids love that. I feel like a lot of the time that when I'm with my church and around the kids (at our church there are kids EVERYWHERE, like there are always three or four women pregnant at all times!) there are college aged girls always wanting to steal their attention away. I don't usually get angry, because I realize that them and the kids are often closer to each other, babysitting and all, but playing with them is a lot of fun now and then. Cue the pool time. There is no one cooler in a swimming pool than a 20 something guy. Think about it, when you weighed in at a whopping 43 pounds, you could be thrown half way across the pool and swim back to ask for more. I'm more than happy to oblige for the kids, for a time, but after a while it gets boring/tiresome. So for 15 to 20 minutes each time I go swimming I play the part of 'Pool Hero', and enjoy every moment of it.

Weight Loss Update:
This morning I am down to 254 pounds. That's 116 pounds since I started at my estimated weight of 370 pounds. I'm working on a cool visual to really demonstrate how significant this much weight really is, more on that in a later post.

Other exciting news. I've talked for a while now about getting a tummy tuck/skin cut-off operation to take care of all the excess me that is just sort of hanging out right now and being really annoying. Ross asked me how much I thought something like that might cost. And said that if he has the chance, he'll kick some money my way to get started on that fund. This made me feel really really good about not only what I mean to these people, but about what they mean to me.

The fact that I go to church with someone who can understand the significance of having lots of excess skin cut off, makes me realize that backyard baptismals can wash away all sorts of things.

There's Always Something New

I've lived with a bunch of guys throughout my time in college. Freshman year it was Michael Steele. We were friends back home and decided to live together while at A&M our freshman year. I'll admit that I was nervous about this at first, mainly because I wanted to meet new people, and I didn't know exactly how well we were going to get along in the long run. That year I also lived with Ben Love and Aaron Griffin (two of the most ridiculous people you'll ever put in a dorm room together). I learned a lot from those guys, and had more dorm room wars/dance parties than you could count with three peoples hands.

I also lived in a house with 8 guys at one point. It was disgusting. I think it's because at some point you think, "Oh well, someone else can take care of that bowl I just used." That's not a huge deal when there are only four of you in a place, but when there's 8 trying to live under one roof, the problems are magnified 8x, and the bowls eventually run out.

This year is my most mature living situation by far. Not to say that the people I've lived with in the past have all been immature dorks or anything, it's just that we've pretty much all graduated, so gone are most of the things that houses full of college guys would typically do. Now however, we've replaced that, with the young professional* type of living.

To the point. Getting to know someone when you live with them can be very significant. Being friends is one thing, sharing a kitchen, bathroom and living space is completely different. Something happens to me when you start sharing my sink that I'm not sure can be completely expressed in just going to a movie, or meeting for coffee. I see you at your grosest (sp?) moments, your most vulnerable, and your highest highs. In those times I also feel like I'm able to begin to fully appreciate the talents of those whom I am closest to. For instance, Aaron is able to truly love a person (no matter how aggrevating he may seem at times) when they need it the most. He's always there to listen. Britt is extremely intelligent. And Jared can just hang out and be there when you need him the most. Each one of those people means something significant, and I hope I've meant something to them as well.

So Michael and Ben's band, Clairmont, just released their second album this past week. Stength Like Lions is a great accomplishment for them. They've grown in their music and in their faith, its a wonderful CD that you should all listen to (all four of you). It makes me proud to brag about their accomplishments, and to see them following who they are, and where God has them right now.

Justin on the other hand showed me a bit of his talent this morning. He walked in and showed me his youtube video (he say's the word 'damn', so be careful if that offends your ears):



Wow.

I wonder what living with a wife will be like one day? Hopefully she's as funny and insightful as all of these guys that have meant so much to me over the last five years. Only one thing that should really be different, I know she's going to be way better looking than all of them.

*Categorized by trying to live well above your current means. Coming to grips with the fact that staying up all night drinking is no longer a good idea. And girls probably shouldn't be treated as buddies any longer--let the futre wife tryouts begin. Just kidding, sort of.

Circumstances Dictating Joy?

I really have a problem in letting my circumstances dictate my attitude. Sports is a big one of these in my everyday life. Aggie sports in particular. If the football team wins a game, I feel great for the rest of the day, my joy is dictated by the fact that my favorite football team won a game (silly huh?). If we lose... my day is pretty much shot. I have to stay away from certain websites, one of which I work for because i know I'll just get more pissed from reading what other pissed off people are writing about. In addition to that, I spend the entire next week convincing myself that it's going to be OK, the season isn't totally shot, and (most importantly) it is just a game.

My weight, same story different verse. For a long time I was the guy who was really good at losing weight. It was like someone walked up to me, hooked a faucet up to my gut, and turned it on full bore. For nine months or so the fat just fell off of my body. Every week someone was telling me how good I looked, or wow, this is a good week for you dude. I let the fact that I was good at losing weight define who I was as a person. Just like I had let the fact that I was really fat for a long time define who I was (albeit in a much more negative light). Getting over this is tough on me, hence the reason I'm writing this blog, another thing I'm trying to help myself get through this rough patch of weight loss.

New of the day, I'm down to 260.8 pounds. That's big for me, since i havent really been down below 265 since, well... I don't really know when. I remember being in high school my junior year, and getting down to about 275, and I remember being a freshman and weighing in during football practice at 236, but those are really the last weights I have to go by. This puts me at a weight that I haven't seen since the awkward times of post-freshman-year in high school, through my junior year. That is a long time, but a really short time to put on something like 40+ pounds of fat.

I know that I made mention of the fact that i wanted to quantify how i was feeling with more than just weight lost each week. That means that when i lose weight i want myself to feel good about more than just dropping a few pounds, and when i gain weight, i dont want that terrible feeling to ruin my entire day. Right now I have quite a bit to be excited about:

• In a week we're heading to Arkansas for a back country trip down the Buffalo River


• All three of my roommates are graduating this coming Friday/Saturday


• Work is fun right now, and we have some big stuff getting ready to roll out in the very near future.

These things, coupled with the fact that I have actual weight loss (not just water loss) mean that I'm feeling pretty good about these new meals I'm trying out. Plus the workout this morning was insane, below, in picture form, what we had to do...

200 Squats at 175 lbs.(this seems about right)

200 Sumo Squats with 53 lb. Kettle Bell

100 Row to Narrow Push up w/ 40 lb. Dumbbell

All in all I got my butt kicked this morning, but I was more than willing to take it, since I had lost weight for the first time in a while. But there has to be more, I'm just not sure I can see all of that right now.