If My Body is a Temple, Then I was a Megachurch

by Scott Davis

  When I was big I thought to myself a million times, “All I’ve got to do is not put food in my mouth. Just DON’T DO IT.” But I’d do it anyway, moth to the flame. I had to remind myself of my eating woes when it came to Donna’s depression. “I have no clue what’s going on here,” I finally admitted, “and I don’t know how to handle this depression stuff. But I’m here for you.”

  We’re both grateful her weight loss and healthy eating regimen balanced her body chemistry. She’s in the maintenance program now, and when you’re in maintenance you don’t always follow the plan’s strictest prescriptions. You can try other foods, sometimes just because you miss them. I can see attitudes change when we haven’t eaten the right foods. I can see more irritability in both of us. This is when it dawned on me the food-to-chemistry matrix is as dynamic as the QWLCA folks claimed.

  Time to Sweat

  I have lauded the QWLCA plan for helping me losing 132 pounds without exercising. While it is true I was so overweight I could not exercise when I started the plan, I would be unwise not to take advantage of my new body through exercise.

  I actually want to work out now.

  Donna and I saved up and invested in two nice bicycles. Our grandson, Dylan, is seven now. His dad bought him a yard sale bicycle to use at our house. We decided to buy cruising bikes so we could go on rides with Dylan and also exercise when he’s not visiting. We ride about every other day. Panola Mountain State Park is near our home, and the state of Georgia has paved about thirty miles of connected bike trails from Panola to Stonecrest Mall. Our goal is to be able to ride the entire distance.

  Of course, Donna is as detailed as ever. She spent a month researching all things bicycling. At the bike store, she stared at the serious bicyclists clip-clopping around in their special riding shoes with the pedal clips.

  “They ain’t messing around,” she said. “Do they have to wear those funny clothes—those Speedo-looking things?”

  “I’d look good in that now,” I said.

  She snapped her head around. “Trust me. No, you won’t.”

  Yep. Depression’s gone. She’s her old self again.

  Instead of my reading coupons for Wendy’s and Burger King, I pore over the new bike magazine and read all about cycling. Even my reading habits have changed from food to exercise. I’m getting into it and enjoying it, but having somebody along for the ride helps.

  I looked in my closet and found the old Ab Lounge device I bought off of QVC. Now I use it for the purpose it was designed instead of taking naps on it. I have a 300-pound set of Olympic weights with a bench and rack along with pushup grips and a pullup bar, and I’ve started using my equipment again. I could hardly sit up at all a few years ago, and now I can exercise.

  Mark Lowry can’t tease me like he used to. He used to tell me I did one situp a day—half in the morning when I got out of bed and half at night when I went back to bed.

  Life is different. I’m blessed to have another chance to take better care of what God gave me.

  I look back at the long afternoons full of “errands” and all the clandestine late-night hamburger runs and want to weep at the wasted time and the sheer debauchery of it all. As easy as it seems to stigmatize people for the damage drug and alcohol addiction causes and the victims it creates, I’ve learned to be less judgmental. Their chemical dependence is simply a different formulation than mine. Granted, food isn’t illegal and doesn’t leave you drunk or high, but isn’t it just as big a crime to allow food to incapacitate your life, your zeal, your effectiveness?

  I’m on this planet for a reason, and I’m quite sure it has nothing to do with satisfying my gut. My soft underside brought hard lessons from a hard recovery, a kind of rehab I never envisioned I’d need.

  I bow my head and thank my God, my Jesus, the One who makes all things new, for granting me a new beginning.

  I hope He always reminds me of why He did this. It wasn’t just so I could live longer. It wasn’t just so I could feel better or even feel better about myself. It wasn’t so I could write a book. It was because, as He said in the first beginning, I have a purpose wherever I go and in whatever I do. I’m supposed to enjoy a relationship with Him and to love Him, honor Him, and obey Him. I’m supposed to glorify Him. And now I can look in an unfogged mirror without hesitation and know something else He said in the first beginning.

  I’m also supposed to look like Him.

  “So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them. … God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” - Genesis 1:27, 31

  May we always give Him reason to see Himself in us. May He always be able to look at us and say it is very good.

  I heard about a gentleman who smoked for decades before finally quitting. He said it took him five years of not smoking before he no longer had cravings for a cigarette. Five years. He didn’t smoke during that entire five-year span, but he struggled with the pangs of wanting something in his hands or in his mouth, something with smoke to blow.

  Donna says he should’ve hung around me for a while. I can blow smoke with the best of ’em.

  But think about battling that urge for five years. I believe I face a similar challenge. It’s going to take time to rid myself of the drive to eat whatever pops into my mind. I anticipate a long process. I know I’m still ascending the front range.

  You hold one of my primary motivations for staying the course. I don’t want to blow up again after writing a book. I told somebody I was writing a book about my weight loss and they shook their heads and smiled.

  “Wait five years and then write a book if you’re still thin.”

  I see the wisdom in that. But I welcome the pressure of staying true to my word. I’ll use anything at my disposal never to go back. Once I say it I’d better live up to it, and it’s going to be tough because I do love food. I love fattening food.

  I’ve come full circle. I had to make up my mind to start this eating plan and new lifestyle, and now I have to make up my mind to stick with it. I’m convinced I’ll remain in a healthy cycle if I continue to do the opposite of my time-tested Golden Nuggets.

  I admit it’s been difficult to maintain good eating habits. In fact, it may be harder to make up your mind to stick with it than to make up your mind to start it. I love food so much it’s hard to ignore some foods forever.

  My church recently had a cookout. Chef Darren Hughes presided. Darren is the sound technician for all of Casting Crowns’ tours, but he’s also a grillmaster. He grilled ribs, hamburgers, hotdogs, and turkey sausage. I skipped most of those without a second glance.

  My problem came when he rolled out the Fried Oreos. He literally batters Oreo cookies and drops them in a deep fryer. I’m convinced they’ll be on the banquet table in heaven. Lord have mercy, they’re unreal.

  Somebody had to stop me on the way back to my table. I had about four of them on a plate.

  “No, no, no, no,” my friend said. “Put those back.”

  “They’re for Donna,” I said, mostly serious. I wound up trying one. Later, that friend told Donna the Fried Oreo story.

  “I know. He really struggles with food,” she said. “He’ll stop by Krispy Kreme and bring home a dozen doughnuts. I’ll say, ‘Why did you get the doughnuts?’ He’ll say, ‘For you.’ He loves to watch me eat. He enjoys it vicariously. That’s his love language.”

  I guess I’ll have to stay stuck in the last chapter of this book, constantly grabbing Fried Oreos and Krispy Kreme doughnuts and having to take them to the Lord.

  It helps to hear the reactions of people who see my weight loss, however. I know I’m not supposed to base my sense of self-worth on what others think or say, but the truth is I get a boost when people notice the big difference in me.

  I’ve actually had someone say, “Oh, you look good. You’re the same guy?”

  A young lady on my staff once worked as a church secretary. While she still worked at her church, I accompanied Billy Lord when he appea
red as a guest singer there. We chatted with the young lady in a back room as we waited for Billy to go onstage.

  The subject of my Get Real conferences came up. I conduct these conferences on evangelism and spiritual revival at Christian schools, and Billy helps me. The young lady recognized Billy from one of the conferences she had attended a few years earlier. I was quite large when the woman saw me onstage at the conference.

  She raved about the conference to Billy. I sat there listening to her but she had no idea who I was. Billy said, “Well, you know, this is the guy who started the whole thing and does most of it.”

  “That’s the guy?” She looked stunned because I don’t look like the same man. That moment has happened several times in different contexts. It’s a bit disconcerting—a mix of embarrassment, relief, good pride, and male ego awash in one.

  One of the tellers at my bank couldn’t get over my change.

  “You’ve lost weight, haven’t you? You look good.” She went on and on about my appearance, and I said, “Well, thank you.”

  “No, you look really good. I mean, you look good.” For a second, I thought she wanted to give me her number.

  I guess that’s better than the old days when I wouldn’t have gotten hit on by a walrus in heat.

  In my first few months on the QWLCA plan I lost forty pounds and not a soul noticed. I grew a little discouraged even in the middle of tremendous personal success. Guess whom I called? My buddy, Mark Lowry. I suppose I’m a glutton for food and punishment.

  “Man, I’m frustrated,” I said. “I’ve lost forty pounds and no one notices.”

  He went into that thick Southern drawl and said, “Keep it up until it shoooows.”

  After I lost all my weight, I talked to Mark again. I let him know I had kept it up until it shows. He congratulated me, of course, but Mark is Mark. He couldn’t just leave it at that.

  “Do you have skin hanging everywhere?” he said.

  “No, it’s drawing up.”

  “Good,” he said. “People need to lose weight when they’re twenty, not when they’re older. Skin doesn’t draw up as much when you’re older. Lose weight while you’re young.”

  I sag here and there, but at least I feel young. The good news is I lost weight at age forty-seven, meaning anyone can do it.

  This has been my third most meaningful life-changing moment. The first occurred when I became a follower of Jesus Christ. The second came when I married Donna. So the third spot has some gravity. Losing 132 pounds is one of the biggest life-changing events a person could claim.

  Mark was right when he said I was on my way to dying early and digging my grave with a fork. Unless I get hit by a bus or die in a plane crash I’ve probably added ten to fifteen years to my life. That’s huge. I haven’t added dire, pitiful days and years but good days and years. Healthy, active, productive days and years.

  Abundant life has nothing to do with huge portion sizes. In all things, it helps to be content with what God has for us.

  All kidding aside, I do ask one favor. I look at how far I’ve come and cast a hopeful eye at what is ahead. I’m excited and scared at the same time. I trust Jesus but don’t trust myself fully. Not yet. I need all the help I can get.

  Pray for me.

  BEFORE: Scott poses with Donna outside the entrance of his alma mater just two weeks before embarking on his weight loss plan.

  AFTER: Scott points to his wife Donna, who Scott gives a huge amount of credit for sticking with the plan.

  BEFORE: (Above left) Scott at one of his heavier weights before beginning his breakthrough lifestyle transformation. AFTER: (Above right) Scott after descending to a healthier weight.

  AFTER: Above, Scott poses with the QWLCA team that assisted him, which included (from left) Diann Roberts, Scott, Tina Couch, and Amanda Littlefield.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  To Tim Luke for working to bring this vision to the printed page. There is no way I could have done this without him. Not only a great writer but a great friend.

  To Jason Chatraw and Ampelon Publishing for believing in this project and for all his hard work to get it to the world. Also to Jennifer Wolf—her excellent editing skills make me sound much smarter than I really am.

  To my personal weight loss coaches at QWLCA: Tina Couch, Amanda Littlefield, Diann Roberts, and Erica Taylor. These ladies were the best and kept me in line. It's always good to have accountability partners. It didn't hurt that they loved to laugh and have fun, too.

  To Billy Lord and Mark Lowry, two of my best friends. They both observed firsthand my journey to heavy city and the return trip to where I am today. I thank them both for being true, sometimes brutally honest, friends.

  To my pastor Tim Dowdy and my entire church family at Eagle's Landing First Baptist Church for being there and feeding me all the good spiritual food.

  And finally, to my wonderful wife Donna for walking side by side with me during this journey. Most of my humor comes after fighting with her! She loves it. It pays the bills.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Scott Davis is a comedian, singer and entertainer. He received Christ at the age of sixteen on July 10, 1979. He graduated from Liberty University where he attended on a full scholarship for traveling with the Light Singers. While working toward his degree in cross-cultural studies, Scott traveled across the U.S. and to ten foreign countries.

  Scott’s ministry has continued in the U.S. and abroad since his graduation in 1984. He has appeared on Mark Lowry’s videos and has written comedy for Mark while under contract with Word Records. For a year, Scott appeared weekly on the national television show, “The Mark & Kathy Show,” with Mark Lowry and Kathy Troccoli. Along with his weekly appearances, he has been a guest on numerous religious and secular radio and television broadcasts, including an appearance with comedian Dennis Swanberg on “Swan’s Place.”

  Today, Scott conducts “GET REAL” national conferences with the nation’s top speakers and musicians. He also presents music and comedy concert events.

  To connect with Scott, visit his website at www.ScottDavis.com and follow him on Twitter @sdministry.

  Ampelon Publishing publishes works that challenge and inspire Christiansto discover the heart of Christ in new and fresh ways

  If My Body is a Temple, Then I Was a Megachurch

  Copyright ©2011 by Scott Davis

  Published by Ampelon Publishing

  P.O. Box 140675, Boise, ID 83714

  www.AmpelonPublishing.com

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the Ampelon Publishing, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

  Unless otherwise indicated, Bible quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  Cover design: Jared Swafford — SwingFromTheRafters.com

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-9823286-1-3

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2011913060