Second Week – December

The Winter Trip to Piedras Negras is scheduled for the second week of December.

We will leave on Saturday – 12/05/2009 and return on Friday – 12/11/2009.  If this sounds like something you want to do, let us know at no1likhim@yahoo.com.

We have room for 4 to tag along with us. If you have never been on a mission trip, this will be a good first time experience for you. We will be working with the children at 3 orphanages, and also some seniors as well!

Blessings!

Mike-n-Vicki

Distant Rumblings

Yes, I hear the sound of distant rumblings. No, I speak not of thunder, or of my stomach. I’m hearing the rumblings of excitement as we begin our push for the winter trip to Piedras Negras. A good reminder of how fast that trip is approaching is what will take place on October 3rd. The 3rd annual Diaper Run for bikers will take place. Every year we strap huge packs of diapers onto motorcycles and head north of Montgomery to Adullam House.

You should be there when the bikes roll in, and the kids are jumping up and down. I have to note that God is blessing this venture, as the number of bikes each year grows.  This year should be no exception.

With the fall of the year here, we are finally getting a reprieve from the summer heat. War is being waged in college football stadiums across the country. Days are getting shorter. Plenty of things abound to capture our imaginations.

But the heart of LTCM hears the  rumblings of the mission field calling. This year we will have room for 4 travelers with us in the minivan. Perhaps it is your turn to go with us!  Pray and see what God says. We would love to have you along!

Blessings on your week!

Mike

New Pics

Chelsea McCray (LTCM Team Member) recently had a little photo shoot with us.  Here is one of our favorites.

India

LTCM now supports a good work in India, called From India With Love. Brother Don Wood went to India on business, and while there saw the plight of the children. His heart was pricked and he sold all and moved to India, outside Mumbai and now supports children there, housing several in his home.

I have known Don for over a year now, and hopefully one day Vicki and I will be able to travel there to see this work firsthand.  God’s richest blessings for all who continue to give monthly so that we can support kids like these!

All New and Shiny

Here is the “Raul” video with the NEW intro and tag ending added. See what you think.

Go Ahead And Cry

When you hurt the worst, go to your secret prayer closet and weep out all your bitterness. Jesus wept. Peter carried with him the hurt of denying the very Son of God and he wept bitterly! He walked alone on the mountains, weeping in sorrow. Those bitter tears worked a sweet miracle in him and he came back to shake the kingdom of Satan .

Years ago a woman who had endured a mastectomy wrote a book entitled First You Cry. How true! Recently I talked with a friend who was just informed he had terminal cancer. “The first thing you do,” he said, “is cry until there are no more tears left. Then you begin to move closer to Jesus, until you know his arms are holding you tight.”

Jesus never looks away from a crying heart. He said, “A broken heart will I not despise” (see Psalm 51:17). Not once will the Lord say, “Get hold of yourself! Stand up and take your medicine! Grit your teeth and dry your tears.” No! Jesus bottles every tear in his eternal container.

Do you hurt? Then go ahead and cry. And keep on crying until the tears stop flowing. But let those tears originate only from hurt, not from unbelief or self-pity.

Encourage yourself in the Lord. When the fog surrounds you and you can’t see any way out of your dilemma, lie back in the arms of Jesus and simply trust him. He has to do it all! He wants your faith, your confidence. He wants you to cry aloud, “Jesus loves me! He is with me! He will not fail me! He is working it all out, right now! I will not be cast down! I will not be defeated! I will not become a victim of Satan! I will not lose my mind or my direction! God is on my side! I love him and he loves me!”

New Intro

This is the new intro for future videos that I worked up today.  Original music on my Korg.

The Small Plate

I found this very interesting:

Alex Bogusky doesn’t think bigger is better. He believes we should think small—especially if we want to stay trim. The idea that if you eat less, you weigh less is hardly a new concept, but it’s one that Alex has packaged into a tidy little eating plan and book, The 9-Inch Diet, that hits stores this week.

His “eureka” moment came after buying a 1940s lake house. The co-chairman of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, an ad agency, discovered the old kitchen cabinets wouldn’t fit his dinner plates. So he did some research and found out that in the past 30 years, plates have gone from 8.5 inches in diameter to 12 inches.

Those plates get piled high with food in homes across the country and that, Alex says, is the reason why so many of us are packing on the pounds. His remedy is simple: It doesn’t matter what you eat, just eat 9 inches of it—not 12. And when it comes to snacks, Alex says, stick to healthy ones and don’t eat too many.

Eating off a nine inch plate. Hmmmmmmm, maybe I need to get a 6″ plate?

The Challenge Progress

This post will be continually updated with the progress reports.

7/16/09 – Visit with my Doctor. Weighed in a 332.8 pounds. That is 333 pounds! I have never weighed that much. My visit was twofold.

1. My ankles have been swollen for a long time. Doc said that I was retaining fluid and ordered bloodwork, EKG, and urine tests. He said that probably 15 pounds of my weight was water retention.  Prescribed a diuretic and told me to come back in 3 weeks.

________________________________________________________________________________

7/18/09 – for the first time in almost a year, my ankles look like they did years ago. My scale here at home, although it is digital and a nice scale, will not read past 299. So I will have to wait until I check in 3 weeks from now to actually get a weight. (unless by some miracle, I lose 34 pounds before then – but I dont see that happening.

No fancy diets here – just simply cutting back and cutting out. No seconds. No 12″ plates. A 9″ plate will hold all the food I need.

_________________________________________________________________

7/20/09 – Good day today. Ate little portions of everything spaced out.

Lifestyle Challenge

LTCM Presents

Your Lifestyle Challenge

This all began a few months back as I stood in front of the mirror and began to say to myself “Self, how did you get in this bad of shape?” But before I could get that question finished self began to say to me “It was easy, you opened your mouth and your hand put the food in there.”

Nothing else in this world like confession. Confession is good for a person, so right now I am treating myself to a dose of goodness. It actually feels good to be doing so, even though I have resisted for so long.

I have a Lifestyle Change that I have worked on for some time now, and it’s ready to be put out for others to follow, if they care to. I tested it once a few months back and found it to be easier to follow than I thought, so after a few additions and tweaks, I offer it to you. Now please, do as I am doing and show this to your doctor, and get his approval before entering into the change.

But the main thrust of this entire project is two-fold:

1. To get me and anyone else who wants to – back in a sensible shape. (Something other than a large pear shape with two legs, two arms and a head)
2. 2. To raise funds for the children that LTCM ministers to.

Between now and the end of the year, I am pledging to pay LTCM $1.00 per pound for every pound that I lose. I feel that is a conservative amount and most anyone could pledge that along with me. I have already pre-tested this idea with a few people to get feedback on it and one of those has already pledged $5.00 per pound!  I asked her what would she do if I lost 100 pounds – had she thought of that? She replied that it would be worth it.

So, let the pledges roll in. Remember, you are pledging on how much weight I lose.  And if you want to do the Lifestyle Change with me – please do! Just check it out with your doctor first, and don’t go off the deep end saying that Mike or LTCM is somehow responsible for your health. (Read the disclaimer at the bottom)

One aspect of this plan that I like is the fact that you can be so creative with it. For instance, let’s say you’re going out for lunch and want to get something quick. You want to eat small so you order a kid’s meal at a fast food restaurant. Now you have cut your intake of what you would normally eat in half, AND you also have a toy to give to a kid!!!!  Vicki and I have already begun that part. We are collecting the toys and finding kids to give them to.

Isn’t that exciting knowing that you are fitting your meal into the plan, and also helping a kid somewhere!!! You don’t have to save the toys for us – find some kids where you are and bless them with the toy!

Simply email me and I will send you the PDF of the Lifestyle Change. You can print it, or save it to your PDA, Smartphone or whatever device that you use. Specify if you want it in WORD or PDF. I can email either.

Also, let me know if you are pledging, so that we can keep track of that. I am going next week to the doctor and have a physical and official weigh-in, (and probably get fussed at). I will be posting a beginning picture, and weight. (Remember the part about confession being good?)

God’s Greatest Blessings!

Mike-n-Vicki

Disclaimer: Neither LTCM, nor its affiliates assume any responsibility for health related issues arising from any individual or group who undertakes the LTCM Lifestyle Change Plan.   We advise seeking the opinion of a doctor before starting this, or any other plan that contributes to weight loss.  We make no claims of weight loss, or of any other health related issue surrounding this plan.