Thank you for joining the Partners in Health and Wholeness Book Club. You can officially sign-up here. Through it, we hope to engage people of faith in discussions over why our health matters. Our current choice of reading is “Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire” by Jim Cymbala. We are posting updates through the PHW Facebook page, but our PHW blog page has the discussion posts in full with responses from staff. Just look for the apple on top of the book picture among the blog post pictures and you will find past Book Club entries.
Cymbala’s point in this chapter is one that I have wrestled with for a long time to understand: our choice versus temptation and oppression. He points out that there are workings of the flesh, and we have to acknowledge the consequences the power of our choices brings.
When people choose to eat unhealthy foods or engage in unhealthy habits, there are consequences. The power to choose is ours. We are not possessed by the demon of potato chips or the spirit of soft drinks, are we?
It matters what we choose to do with our time, money, resources, and habits we form. The power of choice is ours and is influenced by our environment. Prayer can help us call on a greater power to lead us to make good choices, but still, the choice is ours. The Almighty is full of love and grace and peace that we cannot fathom and has provided a way out. It is important for the health of ourselves and communities that we stop making excuses, and start choosing to live.
I urge you to start choosing healthy habits today, such as drinking only water.
Questions:
1) What healthy habits can you choose to do today?
2) Would you consider drinking only water for 90 days and note what differences you feel?
–Joy Williams, PHW Regional Consultant
Partners in Health and Wholeness is an initiative of the North Carolina Council of Churches. PHW aims to connect health as a faith issue. Please visit our website to sign your personal pledge to be healthier, and to find out about grant opportunities for places of worship in NC.
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