EXERCISE

 

     As a kid I loved sports and loved playing hockey, football, baseball, basketball and playing tennis. I loved riding my bike as well. Like any normal kid growing up on Long Island, I dreamed of hitting homeruns like Reggie Jackson, throwing a touchdown pass in the Super Bowl like Kenny Stabler, making a save as a goalie in the Stanley Cup Finals like Eddie Giacomin or scoring a basket like Walt Frazier. I even had the dream of being a professional tennis player but my dreams were shot when I tried out for the High School Tennis team and got cut. The reason? My tennis racquet broke! How embarrassing! If my Dad bought me a Wilson racquet instead of the K-Mart one maybe I would be a Wimbledon Champion? Well…let’s just go with definitely not! However, I learned at a young age the importance of exercise and taking care of your body, even though I was always a tall, skinny kid!

      In the past eight years, I have become a big proponent of exercise. It started for me in the spring of 2011. With my busy schedule as a pastor and trying to support my family, I didn’t even know what a gym looked like. The extent of my exercise was shooting baskets with the preteens on Wednesday nights, playing indoor soccer with them and my favorite, playing hockey. The rest of the week I did absolutely zero. My biggest weakness was drinking soda. My favorite beverage besides coffee was a Pepsi. I would make frequent stops to the SCS Teachers lounge for my daily dose of Pepsi Cola. This once skinny kid was starting to gain weight! I got up to 244 lbs! It wasn’t until someone who I respected called me "Big Daddy" that I had my wake up call. Although they were trying to be funny, I didn’t take it that way so I decided to do something about it. Never in a million years did I ever think I would have a weight problem (especially those of you who knew me before 1992). It was time for me to get exercise! But how? When would I have time to run to a gym? It then dawned on me that my best bet was to go running. But where? How long? Was I insane?

      It all began for me on a beautiful June morning. I decided to wake up at 5:30 a.m. before the kids were up and were getting ready for school that I went for my first run. I ran from my back yard through the church parking lot and around the baseball field once then back home. I thought I was going to die! When I made it to my back deck I thought I was going to pass out. I realized I had to start somewhere! As motivation on my laptop I created an exercise file I called "Big Daddy" as motivation. I was determined to lose weight! One day at church I mentioned to a guy named Andy about my new running fascination. He and a guy from Island Christian Church who was also a fellow children’s pastor named Phil joined me. After a few years of running I was up to running a little under 7 miles! Of course I was always in the rear when we finished since Andy and Phil are much younger than I am. I was able to get my weight down to 215 lbs. It felt great and running gave me a lot of energy during the day. We even ran in the winter! One time it was 10°!

      After I resigned from Smithtown Gospel Tabernacle I went into a depression and worked crazy hours so for about 2 years I did very little by way of exercise and trust me, I felt the distance. When I worked for TruGreen in 2015, we were required to knock on doors so I walked about three miles a day! Again, being very busy I was not able to join any gym. As a prize, because our TruGreen Company in Yaphank, NY won the sales competition, I won a bicycle! When I moved to Port Jefferson Station later that year, I started riding my bike. I also joined a gym, Planet Fitness. Today, I try to exercise as much as I can. Although I don’t go for runs much, I do go for walks along with going to the gym, I occasionally ride my bike and I also purchased a Simply fit board.

      I believe we should all take care of the bodies God gave us. I am a huge fan of exercise. I realize that I am certainly not an amazing athlete and I don’t plan on looking anything like Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime. I do feel that exercise gives us energy every single day. There are some days after working a gazillion hours that the last thing I want to do is either go for a walk or go to the gym. But I realize that I do need to take care of the body God gave me.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE!!