Diabetes

  From June to December, 2016, my life changed dramatically.  In June, Pastor Andy Veith left Lighthouse to pastor a church in Fargo, ND.  He hired me.  I loved working for him.  He was the founding and lead pastor for the last 15+ years at our church.  And like that, he was gone.  The church was figuratively left in my hands to lead as the interim senior pastor.  In August our third child was born, James.  He is really the joy of my life.  I love his sweet and comical spirit.  In November I officially became the Lead Pastor at Lighthouse.  Finally, in December, on December 23, I found out I had Type 2 Diabetes.

  In mid December I felt something strange going on.  I felt tired all the time.  I remember waiting at the Toyota Dealership for my car to be worked on, waiting in the large waiting room and almost falling asleep.  I've never fallen asleep in public in my entire life!  I had blurry vision.  Thirsty all the time.  And I had to go to the bathroom all the time.  Looking back, all clear signs that my blood sugar was too high.  

  I made a doctor appointment, my blood sugar was pretty high and my triglycerides were through the roof!  But, it was a holiday weekend and the doctor told me to lay low for the weekend and we'd figure it out after the holidays.  My wife, a nurse, and my mom, a nurse, were not satisfied with that answer at all.  So, on Christmas Eve I checked myself into the ER.  You know it's not a good sign when the nurse checking you in says "woah! Those are high numbers!"  I felt scared, unsure of what was going on, and I cried.  I've never had something like this happen before.  Never broken a bone.  Been pretty healthy all my life.  And then, at 32, to all of a sudden be told I have Type 2 Diabetes, it was scary.  I spent all of Christmas Eve in the ER.  Missed my first Christmas Eve service as a new pastor.  But I went to church and played guitar on Sunday morning!

  Fast forward a couple of years.  I currently take two different medicines for my blood sugar and high triglycerides.  I have to watch my diet and need to exercise.  Both of these are really difficult for me.  I love food.  I love to get late night snacks from Taco Bell or Taco John's.  I love to snack.  And unless I'm running for a Frisbee, I'd rather not run.  But, my wife has been a huge help.  She loves me so much and cooks and buys healthy groceries.  I joined a gym (although as I write this in April of 2020 I can't go to it because of Corona).  And with the help of my coach, Tom Clegg, I was going 4-5x a week.

  Type 2 Diabetes has been a blessing from God.  I have to discipline myself with food and exercise to live and stay healthy.  All of us need discipline in our lives.  All of us need to be healthy and to eat well.  I would still be eating junk food and really unhealthy if it wasn't for the blessing God gave me to stop, think about what I eat, and give me a reason to exercise.  I am far from perfect in this area.  But God has certainly blessed me with a disease that I needed.

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

- James 1:2-4