It's Faith AND WORKS!

Last Monday (February 22nd) I went to the monthly "Lap-banders" meeting and met Jana Sifuentes. She was at the original meeting I attended two years ago and learned that all the sensors that tell you that you are full are at the top of the your stomach and that the lap-band enables those sensors to be activated. It was an "AHA" moment I will never forget. So when Jana came up to me, it was very nostalgic. Jana had her lap-band in January 2009, a year earlier but due to two surgeries had sort of not been able to keep active and had lost only 50-60 pounds. To me she looked great and looked like she had lost a lot more. We talked about the monthly meetings and she said what they really should do is hook up an experienced lap-bander with a newbie. I turned to her and said, "Will you be my mentor?" And so together we are sending each other daily reports on our calorie intake and outgo and for this past week. With the daily return and report, I have had another epiphany.

Despite what I knew and had heard, I was hoping that the lap-band would be the final answer to a lifetime of being overweight. And in many ways it is. It is somewhat like the gift of the atonement of Jesus Christ. It is a free gift that enables us to change, repent, and become as He is. But for many Christians, the idea is that all you have to do is believe in Christ and you will be saved. Well, that's what I sort of hoped the lap-band would be. All I needed to do was to have it installed and it would keep me on the straight and narrow. But in the first few weeks after my first fill, I was still comfortable having butter on my Brussell sprouts and cream on my fish sauce. So when Jana and I decided to do Fitday.com every day, it brought me up to reality. I realized that I was eating a lot more calories than I should be eating and that I would need to work to stop letting these extra sins, extra calories, aka extra peccadilloes creep in the way. It was amazing. This week I have lost three pounds and can really see that my eating was inhibiting my weight loss. I realized that I need to aim for under 1200 calories a day and with the lap band that is not only a possibility it is a reality, but it takes work. You just can’t say, “I believe” and not keep the commandments. You have to conform to the program. You have to do your part and that is one thing I have learned. However, before it seemed overwhelming to fight not only the voice but also my natural inclination to want to “fill my plate.” Now, I think, I need to keep my calories down, so I will have strawberries instead of fried potatoes, I will choose the broiled fish instead of the fish in cream sauce. I still can only eat a small amount, but the calories have come down and with it, so has my weight. It is true. In order for the lapband to be effective, you have to work. It is only a tool. Likewise, in order to become perfected, you have to work and work hard. We are saved by grace after all we can do, but God expects us to do—He expects us to work! And losing weight is not just a matter of making your stomach smaller it is also a matter of making correct choices, just as in the game of life.