https://headhearthand.org/blog/2014/01/10/check-out-509/  Informing Minds. Moving Hearts. Directing Hands. Mon, 23 Feb 2026 18:08:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.41 https://headhearthand.org/blog/2014/01/10/check-out-509/#comment-42523 Fri, 10 Jan 2014 22:33:15 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=16182#comment-42523 From my first year in seminary I started gaining weight. During the first 7-8 years of church planting I still gained weight. By the time I was 34 I weighed 235 pounds. I listened to Al Martin talk about obese pastors and was deeply convicted. But at age 34 I realized, like Thom did with his grandkids, that I would not be able to play basketball with sons or rigorously hunt with them in the mountains of Nevada. I started exercising and eating right. Thanks to God’s grace, I lost 50 pounds and now 12 years later it is still off. But I still struggle with keeping it off. My heart broke as I read Thom’s “Confessions.” Overweight people know they are overweight. Most of them hate it. If they are pastors, they know they are a bad example. I am going to pray for Thom and I trust if your pastor struggles with his weight that you will pray and encourage him. This is a besetting sin which all can see. May we be loving, encouraging and supportive of those who struggle.

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