Episode 4
S3 E4: Let's Get Physical: Talking Health, Habits & Hustle
How caring for your body helps you show up for your life, your family, and your mission.
Is physical health just about looking good—or is it part of living on mission for God? In this episode, Becky, Zer, and special guests Tony and Carlos dive into the surprising connection between physical fitness and spiritual formation. They unpack the joys and challenges of stewarding the body God gave you—through sleep, diet, and exercise—with honesty, humility, and humor.
They tackle practical questions 👇👇
- Is physical health a response to the gospel?
- How do you treat your body as a temple and a vessel to be used for God's kingdom?
- Why is being "healthy" a big deal?
- How to talk about fitness with your spouse?
- Is meal prepping a spiritual discipline?
- How do you break free from the shame, idolatry, or laziness that holds you back?
With biblical truth and real-life stories, they challenge listeners to view health not through a lens of vanity, but as a form of worship. Whether you're a gym rat, a couch critic, or just trying to drink more water, this episode will help you rethink how you care for your body in light of the gospel.
📖 Scriptures Mentioned:
- 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 – “You are not your own…glorify God in your body.”
- Romans 12:1 – “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice…”
- Hebrews 12:11 – “No discipline seems pleasant at the time… but it produces a harvest of righteousness.”
- 1 Timothy 4:8 – “Physical training is of some value…”
- Galatians 5:22–23 – Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit
💡 Practical Takeaways:
- Steward your sleep like it’s sacred
- Think of food as fuel, not just comfort
- Find a rhythm of rest, movement, and Sabbath
- Don’t let shame—or pride—drive your health decisions
- Let your health journey flow from your identity in Christ
- You don’t have to have it all together to start—just take the next faithful step.
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube
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Transcript
What's up, everybody? It's Becky here with the Fielder podcast. I have Zur, as always. And we have two very, very special guests.
Tony:Number one, one more special than the other, let's be clear.
Becky:Maybe to me, but I'm also biased in this. But we have Carlos, who's my husband here, the North Arlington Gambuster. And then we also have Tony, who's also very special.
He was actually four years ago, he baptized me at the Grand Prairie Pass. Maybe I'll send the picture so we can blow it up on the screen for you guys.
Tony:One of my favorite memories that comes up on my phone is the picture of your baptism. So it's so fun.
Becky:Grand Prairie campus pastor and also director of campuses here at Fielder. And we have a very special topic today. Today we're talking about physical fitness. And so I almost like. Yeah, literally. Yeah.
I thought about naming it like, let's get physical after that song. Like let's get physical. I thought about that song like gym bros, working out, meal prepping, all the works.
And so I just have a question to kind of kick us off and anybody can jump into it. Is physical health a response to the gospel? It's a loaded question, but I just love yalls insight.
Tony:Well, let's throw it to our guest.
Becky:Yeah, yeah.
Tony:Let's throw it to the fittest man here.
Zer:Let's do it. Yes.
Tony:I just want to make that clear. We're all guests on this one for him.
Zer:Pastor Tony, why I just called you Pastor Tony. Pastor.
Tony:Pastor. Thank you for the clarification.
Zer:For those that are listening to the podcast, they're not getting to see the YouTube version. I want you to describe pastor Carlos de Sierra to them.
Tony:Carlos Deceta is the fittest man I know. If I had a prototype of just who I would like to physically look like, it would be him. Oh, yeah. He is a Brazilian style stud is what I would call it.
Zer:Specimen.
Tony:A specimen.
Becky:He hates this.
Tony:Like when God created man. This bunny, dude.
Zer:This was the blueprint right here.
Tony:This is the blueprint. Back to the question. That's it. I like Zur's question, though.
Zer:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Becky:So.
Tony:So how now, now that all the light is on you, Carlos, it again, how is that?
Becky:Is it a physical or is physical health a response to the gospel?
Carlos:Huh? Well, I really.
I think that anything that has to do with stewarding the things that the Lord gives us, you know, stewards are never owners, but they are given the privilege of managing something that does not belong to them.
So I Think anything that has to do with stewardship is a response to the gospel because God is ultimately Lord over all and he is king over everything, and we don't own it. Right. We have the privilege of managing and enjoying and really leveraging these gifts and blessings for his glory and for our good.
Tony:Well, and you think about it. There's two ways that I like to think about it as a response to the gospel.
So the answer to your question would be, yes, it is an obvious response to the gospel. And I'll tell you why. Everything that Carlos just said is so true. I go to First Corinthians 6, 19, 20.
It says, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God. You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
You think about what it looks like for us to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells us like the Holy Spirit is the one.
Like, we become the vehicles by which people get to see the work of the Holy Spirit, which to me is mind boggling. And until I like started seeing it like that, I couldn't really understand how to put effort towards my physical fitness. Yeah.
And so you think about that. You think about the living sacrifice in Romans 12 and how we have to offer up our bodies as a living sacrifice.
We can't do that if our bodies don't have the health to actually support the work that wants to be done by the Holy Spirit in our lives. So that's huge.
Becky:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Zer:I love that verse that you just said.
Becky:Yeah, I have it up too.
Zer:Yeah, yeah.
Becky:I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Zer:Yeah. And it just goes back to like, man, how can I offer God my body.
Carlos:Yeah.
Zer:If I'm not even taking care of it? Like, that is a. Oof. That's a.
Tony:It's hard.
Zer:It's hard.
Carlos:Yeah.
Tony:Well, because a lot of times we like to distance the relationship between our physical habits and our relationship with the Lord.
Becky:Yeah.
Tony:Yet they. They are intertwined.
Becky:Yeah.
Tony:Even think about posture. And we talk about this a lot here at Fielder, about the posture of which you take prayer and repentance and all these things matter.
And so making sure that your body can actually take those postures matters as well.
Carlos:Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think it's very easy to compartmentalize and think that, you know, again, that God is Lord over a certain area of our lives.
And then, you know, we don't. We don't talk about that when it comes to financial generosity.
We don't say, hey, you give your offering and your tithe, and then you can do whatever you want with the rest. You know, we don't say that. We say, God owns everything, and it's the same with our bodies. We don't.
Can we really say that we're doing things as unto the Lord? You know, are we eating unto the Lord the same way that we want to give unto the Lord and love unto the Lord? So as Tony.
As Tony was saying, I think it's very much intertwined, and sometimes we make it to. We compartmentalize too much and. And don't realize that we. We present ourselves to. To God as. As a whole. As, you know, we.
We present our spirits and we present our bodies, and we present our minds and all that we are.
Tony:I had never thought about it the way that you just said. I didn't either. I'm like, dang, this is why he's on the podcast.
Zer:Yeah, that's right.
Tony:It's because of this. This idea of stewardship is honestly revealing to me as we talk about it right now.
I had never thought about my physical health as a way for me to steward what God gave me. Makes total sense. Should have thought about it before.
Becky:Yeah, absolutely.
Tony:But, man, great insight.
Becky:I love that, man. Yeah.
And I think I kind of want to go back to what Tony said earlier about how it's like, is my body able to do the things that the Lord has called me to? So, like, for example, I went on a mission trip two years ago to Southeast Asia. Incredible experience. Loved it going back. But the first year, the.
The. The leaders of the trip, they've been leading it for, like, almost 15 years probably at this point.
And they were talking about it, and they were like, yeah, we're, like, really being sure to get our cardio in and stuff. And I was just really surprised by that.
Tony:I was like, how do you get ready for a mission trip by doing cardio?
Becky:It's like, okay. And I just kind of asked, like, so what? Why? Like, what's the point?
And she was like, well, like, our physically, like, our bodies can't do it, like, unless we prepare ahead of time.
And so just like, even thinking about, if the Lord were to call you to drop everything and the ends of the earth, like, physically, could your body complete the mission that the Lord has sent before you? Because he came back, I think of the parable about the vine dressers and just how they were responsible for that.
And he came back and was like, hey, just checking in. If the Lord were to assign you something, and then he leaves and then comes back and is like, hey, are you ready to go? Let's go.
And you just can't physically do it because of your responsibilities and choices that you've made up to this point. Like, it's just like that's. That's sobering to think about.
Zer:Yeah.
Carlos:Yeah. And, you know, we. We can only control what we control.
Becky:Yeah.
Carlos:And there are so many unexpected circumstances that come up and maybe they may end up hindering our ability to. To respond to an assignment the way we would like.
Tony:Yeah.
Carlos:But there are things that the Lord has allowed us to. To do. Right. We. We have a level of responsibility.
Becky:Yeah.
Carlos:And so sometimes I. I guess we can get. Get lost in the nuance, but there are things that we can do.
Becky:Yeah.
Carlos:You know, for the things that we can't control. We can't control being, you know, I don't know, sickness or unexpected circumstances.
Becky:Yeah.
Carlos:But there are things in our daily lives that. That we can very much do that could be super helpful.
Tony:What are those things?
Becky:I was literally, same thing. I was like, what are personal, like, choices that you guys have made as a response to.
Zer:Maybe a helpful thing. Because I like to categorize things.
Carlos:Yeah.
Zer:And I know generally with physical fitness, Right. You have sleep, what you eat.
Becky:That wasn't it.
Zer:And then fitness, you know, like those kind of three categories. So maybe we can just break it down by those things. Like, let's tackle that first one, like, sleep. What does that look like for you guys?
Becky:Not even on my radar up until.
Tony:You just said, yeah, I feel attacked. Personally attacked for your coming from my sleep.
Becky:Yeah. Literally.
Tony:Wrong.
Becky:Well, I guess, like, I. So, you know, a couple last season, we talked about this.
We did an episode about suffering, and I opened up a lot about, like, my physical health, what had just kind of been deteriorating at that point. Update. It's going a lot better now. So. Yeah. You know, for medical intervention and just his. His kindness and that. And so feeling a lot better.
But there was a period of time where we got. We got with a gastro doctor. I can never pronounce it actually correctly, but gastro doctor is what I call her.
And we like on a zoom call with her because she was getting.
Zer:Sorry, I'm just curious, what is that exactly?
Becky:I don't know.
Tony:Look it up. Look it up.
Carlos:It's a gastroenterologist.
Becky:That's what it is.
Tony:That's why he's on this podcast.
Becky:She's just a gastro doctor to me. But we did a zoom call with her and it was like a two hour zoom call, just like giving her all the preliminary information before she could start.
Just treatment plans and stuff. And one of the. I was thinking, like, she's going to ask about, like, what do you eat? Like, you know, how does your tummy feel after you eat?
Like, stuff like that? But she started with my sleep hygiene. And she was like, so what does your sleep hygiene look like? And I was just like, why is that relevant?
Like, I was so. And you can literally ask Carlos. Like, I was just, like, so confused. I was like, why are you asking about that?
And she explained, like, whenever you're. Whenever you're sleep deprived or whenever your body's just like, over exhausted, like, it's, it's.
It's sending the energy that you do have to, like that the things that you have to have. And so, like, walking and like doing all these things.
But, like, if my stomach isn't getting the energy that it needs because it's so sleep deprived and it's sending what I do have to, like, the other things, it just can kind of cause, like, or just kind of hurts it even more than it already has been. And I was just so surprised by that. Like, I was really confused. And then another thing that she talked about was like, how do you handle stress?
And like, and, you know, like, it was just really interesting.
And so a lot of times, like, sleep apart, people do tend to have more stress because they're also, like, so exhausted that they're just, like, overreacting to certain. Yeah, they're irritable. Overreacting to certain things. And so I think that's something I've learned recently. Carlos is a little bit more.
He's a little better at it than I am.
Zer:He's seasoned.
Becky:Yeah, he's seasoned veteran. Because, like, you know, I used to just be on my phone in bed, like, waiting for myself to, like, get tired.
But she explained, like, that the light going into your eyes is, like convincing your brain that it's still daytime and so your body isn't producing the hormones that help you go to sleep.
Tony:Powerful.
Becky:And so I was like, I had no idea that was a thing. And so she was like, no screen time an hour before bed so your body can start getting tired.
Tony:No screen time an hour before.
Becky:And that was like, part of the treatment plan. That was part of the treatment plan.
Tony:You know, there is like, that's not me.
Becky:That's what I'm saying.
So it's something that I'm learning, like, and, like, I still, like, even last night, I was, like, laying in bed, like, texting or something, and Carlos just, like, came over. Like, he's like, phone. Like, are you done with it? I was like, oh, yeah.
Zer:Okay. But maybe more practical. Just very, very out there. How many hours of sleep, average, do you get a night?
Tony:Let me check. My bone says. I mean, I've never really thought about how it impacts my health, though I know that sleep is important. So really, it's been more.
It's interesting because what I'm about to share is more of a spiritual journey for me. Like, my sleep rhythm has been more of me knowing, okay, God, I need to honor you in the morning.
And I know that I win the morning battle by fighting it at night.
Zer:That's good.
Tony:And so if I know that I want to spend time with God in the morning and I want to spend time being spiritually healthy and then go and work out and be physically healthy, I win that battle at night. So for years, I've been establishing different rhythms of health for myself.
Like, there was a season where I would put my phone in my closet so that I wouldn't be tempted to turn it on right before I go to bed. For many years, we just made sure there was no TV in the bedroom and that kind of thing.
And so we tried a lot of different ways of ensuring that we were sleeping well.
Zer:Yeah.
Tony:But on average, I would say that I get about six and a half to seven hours of sleep. Don't come for me if that's not enough. I'm just being honest, and that's just the reality of where I'm at. And so let's see.
Zer:I was gonna say, I'm not making that face because, like, bro, that's a lot to me.
Tony:I've had to build up to that. Well, yeah. You seem to have two hours.
Zer:No, no, I. Average maybe like five and a half, six.
Tony:Like five and a half? Or is it five and a half, six?
Zer:It depends. Well, it depends on, like, how often ozzy wakes up.
Tony:Okay. You can't bring kids into. That's a whole lot of things.
Zer:But, I mean, generally. But it's also kind of like what you're saying. I don't win the night because I stay up. You have late.
Tony:Yeah.
Zer:And. But here's the thing. I still win the morning because I am very, like, if I get up, I can't go back to sleep. So if I wake up at five.
Tony:I can't tell me you don't snooze when that alarm comes on?
Zer:I do if I'm really, really tired. So that's. That's the problem. Right. Like, my body will get to a place where I'm so tired that I don't wake up. But generally, once my alarm goes up or.
Yeah, something goes. I'm just. I'm.
Becky:He's the same way. I can't do it. Like, I said 15. 15 times.
Tony:Let's go.
Becky:I literally, like. I'm like.
Tony:I can make it. I. I overanalyze and I'm like, if I, like, schedule out what I have to do, I got time. I could get another three minutes in.
As if three minutes worth of any benefit.
Becky:I'm the same way. I'm like. I smooth, like, 15, five times, like, @ minimum. But. And then. Yeah, yeah.
Carlos:I'm like, sir, if I'm up, I'm up.
Becky:And it's also a process for me to wake up. Like, Carlos wakes up, like, you know, like Mushu from Milan or he's like. That's how Carlos wakes up.
Like, he's up, and I'm like, I need, like, 15 minutes, like, to, like.
Tony:Slowly, like, I sit on the edge of the bed, I breathe in, literally the same way.
Becky:I like it.
Tony:See?
Zer:No, I can't do that. I don't know.
Carlos:Yeah, I love it.
Becky:Yeah. So sleep hygiene, clearly something that people don't necessarily process as part of, like, physical fitness. What was the second one that you said?
You said sleep hygiene.
Zer:Yeah, like food diet. I'm badass. It's.
Becky:I have nothing to say.
Zer:I mean, I. Meal prep.
Becky:Yes.
Zer:But is my meal prep. Well, one, I gotta take it, and I actually gotta eat it. But the second thing is, bro, you.
Tony:Meal prep and you don't eat it sometimes. Well, dude, if I put in the effort, there's no. I'm, like, eating it because especially at.
Becky:The office, like, if people are like, hey, do you want to go get some track in the box? Like, you know, it's like, oh, like, yeah. I think that for tomorrow, you know, like, that kind of stuff. I feel like that.
I feel like that comes up a lot.
Carlos:Yeah.
Becky:Yeah.
Tony:Tell us about meal preference. What's. Please tell us your take.
Carlos:Well, I think I. I've heard something maybe was my guy, Craig Rochelle, talking about pre. Deciding. Just thinking ahead, and I think meal prepping comes into that.
It's. It's trying to plan out your day. Plan out your week for the interruptions because you know you're going to be interrupted.
Tony:Yeah.
Carlos:And so I, I know if I don't, if I don't plan out my day, something is going to come up. Someone is gonna, is gonna say, hey, let's go out to lunch. And sometimes I'll do that. But I try to, I, I, I try to planet.
So I know what I, I think the journey for me has been seeing food as a fuel for my body and not something that I go for comfort or for a level of comfort that it was never intended to give.
Zer:Sure.
Carlos:So there is, it's, it is, it is a gift, you know, like, it is a gift and you do get comfort from it. But what kind of level of comfort am I trying to get from it? Is it, is it the same level that the Lord intended for me to have?
Tony:There's a few layers to this, right.
Because we're talking about this right now as a church, talking about how food can be a way for you to communicate the gospel and for you to meet people that don't know Jesus. And so you have to balance that. Right.
Because you can easily set, you can easily justify, well, I'm going to eat this, I'm going to go eat pizza because my neighbor likes pizza. And not that pizza is bad, but if all you eat is pizza and there's an issue. Right?
Becky:Yeah.
Tony:Yeah.
And so for me, all of my physical fitness journey, talking about, I talked about it during sleep, but even during meals and dieting and all that, it's a spiritual, it's been a spiritual journey.
Like, for me personally, there was a time in my life where it was early in our marriage, I really had no thought about physical health, didn't think about food as fuel, only thought about food as pleasure. And it was evident I had ballooned up to an unhealthy weight.
And my doctor said if you don't lose some weight, if you don't get physically fit, or at least if you don't get healthy, you're going to be diabetic by the age of 30. And I started thinking about, man, we don't have kids yet. We're just the beginning of our marriage, all these kind of things.
So there began a journey for me of trying to have the right perspective on health, which I think can be very dangerous for you to have the wrong perspective.
I hope, I know we might jump into that, might be jumping ahead here, but when it comes to meal prepping and your schedule and being busy and all that, it's intimately tied with your relationship with the spirit. Because for anything that you can, plan ahead, and I agree with you, make those decisions. Plan ahead.
Be sure to know what you're going to eat and have an idea of how to do that. Don't respond to hunger, but plan for hunger, because that's how.
Becky:That's good.
Tony:Yeah. Well, that's how you know that it's no longer pleasure, but now it's fuel.
But when you do that, the spirit might come back and tell you, hey, this person who just asked you to lunch, they actually really need to talk to you. And unless you're in tune with the spirit, unless you're following what the spirit is telling you, you won't know what the priority is.
Is a priority for me to say, no, I meal prepped. I'm not going to go out and just hang out. I'm going to eat what I plan to eat.
Or it might be a spiritual moment where you're saying, okay, I need to sacrifice this plan that I made and go out and eat and still make.
Becky:A good choice while you're out there, for sure.
Tony:And so it's all intertwined, man. That's been so important for me is to understand how my spiritual journey is intertwined with my health and in the eating choices, y' all.
I don't know. We're in the middle of Lent, and I didn't, you know, gave up sweets for Lent.
And there was a big, beautiful plate of my favorite type of cookie, which is chocolate chip cookies. As soon as I walk in the.
Becky:Office, it was there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Tony:Not great, because my first instinct is like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna grab one of those. Because it's pleasure first. Right. That's what our bodies naturally tend to.
But because we're doing this intentional, like, time of drawing close to the Lord.
Zer:Yeah.
Tony:I felt like the spirit reminded me. It's like, nope, it's not just. Yeah, it's. But it's not just. No. It's like, you want that turn your desire towards me.
And in that moment, I was able to be like, that does not fuel me. I am fueled. Trust me. I make sure that I leave the house fueled, ready to go. I. I did. I didn't.
Becky:I don't skip no breakfast.
Zer:No.
Carlos:You got you a fair life.
Zer:Yes.
Tony:And so it. It was a spiritual moment.
Becky:Yeah.
Zer:Yeah.
Tony:And I think that people way too often. We talked about this earlier. Just compartmentalize.
Becky:Yeah.
Tony:I mean, it's not healthy.
Becky:Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I also think it's like, it's more I think meal prepping, to me, is. Just requires so much more effort.
Tony:100%.
Becky:It's like. It's more intentional because it's like, I'm planning for my days at work. I'm playing, if you're a snacker, plan for your snacks, man.
I'm a snacker all the time, and so, like, I bring my own snacks. And so it's like, I.
Because there's always going to be stuff around you, and most of the time, it's not going to be things that are necessarily healthy. And so, like, I plan for my snacks, I plan for my lunch, but I. I don't always plan for my dinner.
And I feel like that's something that we've been working on as a family. Just like, you know, you have this for lunch, you have this for your snack. Okay, what are you gonna do for dinner?
Are you just gonna get home and, like, just eat whatever's available or in front of you, or are you gonna have the munchies, like, on the way from home or from work to home and then pick something up, you know, Like. And so I think you have to, like, really understand yourself and your psychology. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.
Like, if you have certain tendencies, you don't necessarily have to, like, shame yourself or guilt yourself into, like, removing those. Just plan for them. Like, like, plan for them in a way that you can.
You know, you can, if you're a snacker, snack in a way that's sanctifying, you know, like. Like have those things available at your desk or whatever. I bring, like, 75 cuties to the office every day, and I bring carrots and grapes.
Like, whatever. Like, I. If I. Yeah, I plan for those things.
And I feel like that's really helped me because with my physical health stuff, like, I think I was able to realize that a lot of it was things that were out of my control, but there were certain things that I was doing that weren't helping.
And so it was, like, making an already difficult situation so much worse because I was just, like, eating the things that I wanted, using 5, 7 chick fil a sauces per meal. You know, like, just the things that are unnecessary. Yeah. And I just didn't necessarily plan for them. And I.
I didn't realize the effect that it had until I stopped doing those decisions. And then I was able to realize, like, oh, my gosh, I feel so much better. Oh, my gosh, I'm not cramping all the time. Oh, my gosh.
Like, you know, like, all these Things were able to. I was able to be enlightened because of that.
Tony:And, like, the emotions that are tied to all of those.
Becky:Oh, 100%. Yeah. 100. I agree. Yeah.
Tony:I deserve this. Or why. Why is this bad?
Becky:I had a bad day.
Zer:I.
Becky:Like. Like, I need it. Yes, yes, 100. And not that those things are inherently bad, but, like, don, your.
Your decisions for your physical health, be a response to your emotions, because your emotions are always going to be all over the place, like, depending on how your week is.
Carlos:Yeah.
Becky:But, you know, it's okay to, like, you know, once a week on my Sabbath, I'm going to treat myself. I'm going to have something really delicious. Okay, then do that. Plan for that. But let your.
The rest of your week reflect that decision that you've already made, you know?
Carlos:Yeah. Because I think what matters is what we do consistently, not what we do sporadically. Yeah. And so when we.
When we do something consistently, we make room for the. For the spontaneity and for the interruptions and for.
For the spirit to say, hey, I'm asking you to lay this down right now and, you know, just scratch your plans for. For the sake of something that I have for you. But if. If the rhythms will help us discern and they will help us.
I feel like a lot of times what we're hearing is, hey, it's okay to indulge. You know, it's okay to be true to yourself, whether it's in your relationships or when it comes to food, whatever it is, just follow your feelings.
And as followers of Jesus, we're called to live in a. In a countercultural way.
Tony:Yeah.
Carlos:I think that's where the challenge is.
Becky:Yeah.
Tony:I have a question specifically for Zur.
Zer:Okay.
Tony:Yeah. Well, you know, it's just. I know that there are people out there.
We're talking about planning and we're talking about the importance of planning, and I agree with you guys a thousand percent. Plan the snacks, plan hope forward, even.
What you were talking about, this culture of indulgence, and I should allow myself to do that rather than, like, discipline. I think that the counterpart to indulgence is discipline.
Zer:Yeah.
Tony:And discipline has been a huge journey that I've been on recently. Like, God's been wanting me to do that. But I just want to speak this before I forget. How do you plan with kids?
Zer:That's a really good question.
Tony: feel like I do. My wife does:Well, both our wives do much better jobs than you and I do. That's probably the better way to say it.
Zer:And then I've. I'm undisciplined by not eating the food she's eating. No, I. I love you fair.
Becky:Love you fair.
Zer:Now, that's a really good question. I.
So, okay, I grew up in a home where everything was like, you eat what's given to you, and if you don't eat it, it's leftovers, and you eat the leftovers. And, like, that's something that, man, honestly, I struggled with when it came to food. Food and my relationship with food.
And specifically, like, my thought was like, oh, I'm the dad. I'm the. The kind of like, the dumpster for all of the kids foods. Like, we don't waste it. We got to be respectful. Like, there's hungry.
Tony:None of this. You got to be sorry. Well, you just want to eat their food because you don't want it to go to waste.
Zer:I mean, but there's both. You know, it's like, I want it, but at the same time, it's almost like that guilt. Like, I hear that thing from my dad.
Like, man, there's hungry kids in the Philippines. You got to eat. So there's, like, guilt, there's shame. There's, like, almost all those things. But when it comes to planning, that's where it was.
Like, man, I had to really lean into Farah and talk about, like, okay, here's our plan for the week. Here's the meals that we're going to get when we go to Costco and we make our meal prep and all these things.
But then also, what I had to learn was grace. Like, yeah. Grace for myself in that sometimes the kids aren't going to eat their meal, and it might mean, hey, I don't eat what we had planned.
I'm just going to eat.
Tony:Not.
Zer:Not just to be resourceful.
Tony:Yeah, yeah.
Zer:Also with our money.
Tony:Stewardship.
Zer:Stewardship. And so it's like, okay, I'm just going to eat what the kids didn't eat to be wise for even the future. It's just. It's very nuanced.
I think, like, that's kind of my answer would be. But it is like planning. Well, with my spouse on here's our intention. And if things go off the rail, then let's regroup again and plan.
Tony:But then, practically speaking, what you're saying is that you guys plan out your meals.
Zer:We do.
Becky:Together as a family.
Tony:Together. Yeah. Elizabeth and I had to Go through that as well. It was becoming a lot of stress to, like, what are we cooking tonight?
And to be honest, Elizabeth, you're amazing because you cook 99.9% of all the food that's made in our household. Thank you. I need that. Praise Jesus. Yes. But I just noticed that that was causing a lot of stress for her. So where can I step in and support.
And for us, it was a little bit different.
It wasn't just planning out different meals for the week, but it had to do with, like, what's our bank of meals that you feel comfortable eating, that you feel comfortable cooking, that the kids eat. Well, that's healthy. And so we came up with like, maybe around seven to 10 general meals.
That push comes to shove, there's no decision energy because there's a lot of decision fatigue in planning meals. And I think that with meal planning, that's the difficult part. So we found what is our general list.
And there's about five to seven of them that we have. And those are just regular rhythms of our household.
And now we know that it's going to be one of these, and then maybe there'll be some special stuff that we put out there for Sunday, Sabbath or stuff like that, or a special occasion. But generally we had to find what worked for us. And that's really what I wanted to kind of like, I love that. Bring to the table.
Was we in the journey of meal prepping or meal planning or anything like that? There's so many nuances to it, which you said, find what works for you.
Zer:Yeah, yeah, I love that.
Becky:I agree. And I think there's some people, like, I think we talk about meal meal prepping.
Not only is it like, you know, you have control over what's in your food, like, you know, what kind of seasonings and like, you know, there's no MSG in my. My eggs, you know, like, that kind of stuff. Like.
But it's also financially, you know, depending on your situation, like, it could be financially the best decision for your family, you know, like, because eating out, you know, it's like 45 for a family of three to go out to eat, you know, and so, like, that kind of stuff. But if you are, you know, a single person that you do have the resources to eat out every day, that doesn't necessarily mean you can't do that.
Just make wise decisions while you're out, you know, like, if, if, like, if you don't necessarily have to meal prep, you don't have to. Like, that's not what we're saying. We're not saying meal prepping is more godly than eating out, but just, like, just take those decisions.
Like, take. Like, regardless of what. How my day looks today, I'm going to choose to treat my body as a temple of the Lord. You know what I'm saying?
Like, regardless of what. How. How your emotions feel. Because I treat food, like, kind of like you said, I don't. I never saw it as fuel.
And, like, even to this day, like, I still kind of, like, lean more on, like, a. But it's delicious. Like, how am I gonna eat something that's not delicious? You know?
And then there's been times where, like, I get so frustrated that the food that, like, I have access to isn't what I want, that I'll just go to sleep. Like, I'm like, you know what? Forget this. I'm not gonna eat dinner. Like, I got so. Yeah, right. Like, Carlos's face, like, dead serious. Like, I just.
I can't, like, because I'm just like, what do you mean? I had to eat something that I don't like. You know, I just, like, have a childish stomach like that.
And so it's been something that I've worked on and had to really use. Like, allow the Lord to, like, speak into me, and then also, like, allow us as a family to kind of make these decisions together.
So, yeah, like, if you don't have to meal prep, that's not a bad thing. Just, like, make those decisions wisely.
Zer:Make wise decisions.
Carlos:Yeah.
Zer:And I love that you're just talking about. It is a journey.
Tony:Yeah, right.
Zer:Everybody's on a journey. Or a journey with sleep getting better sleep. There's a journey getting better with eating habits.
And then the last one that we were going to talk about was, like, physical fitness, exercise. What are you guys. Practices rhythms for that.
Tony:I'm gonna lean to Carlos for this one. I have some. Don't get me wrong. But, you know, I'll just let the specimen talk.
Zer:That's right. The blueprint.
Tony:The blueprint. No, that's a better one.
Carlos:Honestly, I think for me, it started when I was probably still in high school, just going with friends, going to the gym, because it was. It was what we did, right? And we knew it was good. It was. It was healthy. It was also a way to just decompress.
But I think as time went by, you know, you're. You're just influenced by so much, and I. I definitely lean more towards the. The idolatrous part of it.
And so I was at the gym seven days a week, because it never felt. It never felt like a bad thing, you know, And. And I.
I used to find myself frustrated whenever something would come up, you know, or we would have someone over and then I couldn't go. And even I feel like early into our marriage when whenever something would come up and. And my plans would get disrupted and I would.
And the Lord started just, like, allowing those things to come to light and say, hey, you're trading something really good into something completely idolatrous and so.
Tony:So dangerous, too.
Carlos:Yeah. And so I think one of the first. One of the first steps that the Lord helped me take was saying, hey, on your Sabbath, don't exercise.
Zer:Wow.
Carlos:And for me, I. I just kept.
Tony:I'm looking forward for that, and that's a sacrifice for him. Oh, my goodness.
Carlos:Whoa. No, I was. In my mind, I was. I was justifying and rationalizing and saying. It just. It doesn't feel like work to me. It's not heavy. It's delight for me.
Tony:You can't relate, you know? Yeah, can't really.
Becky:It's terrible for me every time because.
Tony:I want to go with work.
Carlos:It's. It's my alone time. I have my podcasts on, and it's just. I'm in a zone, and it's great. And honestly, sometimes I just go for the consistency.
I'm there for 25 minutes or 30 minutes, and then I leave. So it's not like I'm there for two hours. And I just kept, like, going back to the Lord with it.
And now I've reduced how many times a week ago to the gym. Now the Lord has brought me to a point where I'm more okay if something comes up, and I'm more aware of my idolatrous tendencies.
And so now I'm like, lord, please correct me and expose my sin, because I don't want to turn something that is a gift and a privilege from you into something that is detrimental to my spiritual walk.
Tony:That's good. This is so much. This is crazy, because for me, my physical side of, like, exercise is the complete opposite of you.
Like, it wasn't about idolatrous, or I found I was. It was laziness.
Zer:Yeah.
Tony:I just didn't want to do it. It was too much discipline, literally.
Becky:I'm like, I don't want to go. I'm relaxed. I don't.
Tony:Well. And it seemed unattainable as a teenager.
I was just overweight, and I didn't feel like I didn't want to even start because I felt like I was an imposer. You were defeated before. I was defeated before I even went there. I didn't have those friends that went to the gym and found it exciting.
For me, it was a complete opposite. Only the. It sounds silly, but, like, the popular ones, the jocks, all them, like, they're the ones who make it out there, not me.
I'm the geek, I'm the nerd. I'm the goody two shoes. So I'm not. That's not my scene. So I'm not going to get there.
And God, going back to that moment where that doctor confronted me and said, this is what's going to happen if you don't get it right, I had to change my perspective. And to me, it was leaving away laziness and picking up discipline.
Yeah, discipline as an act of worship and as a way for me to be obedient to the spirit in my life. And when I started seeing it that way, that's what completely changed. And so I don't think you actually gave it. What's your physical routine?
Because you talked to us about, like, kind of your spiritual journey. But just real quick, what's. What's a normal week for you when it comes to your physical workout routine?
Carlos:Yeah. So it's usually five days a week. I don't do Wednesdays, and I don't do Sundays Wednesdays because they're typically fasting. It's a longer day, too.
And if I do Wednesdays, then I sacrifice my time with the Lord. And so I try to do it in a way that allows me to still protect my time with the Lord in the mornings.
But I usually go for 30, 45 minutes, maybe cardio once a week. I like being outside and moving. And so even if I don't go to the gym, I like going on a walk or. Yeah.
Tony:The name of the game for me has been find what works. Right? And so find how you can actually establish that discipline.
Because I was really rigid back in the day, and being rigid did not help me, but I equated discipline with being rigid. And that's not it. Discipline is just consistency. Right.
And being intentional with everything that you're doing, which is even something that I've learned with you, Carlos, as I've gotten a chance to grow in relationship with you, is just that consistency, that intentionality. So currently, for me, there was a season where I was doing a lot of running outside. Zerg, you got me into that. You got the whole.
Zer:That was the closest guy.
Tony:That was beautiful. And, you know, my Knees. Thank you for it. And so it was.
Becky:Thank you for it.
Tony:And we have a friend whose name shall not be mentioned, who is very disciplined and loves to run and loves to galvanize people to do things with him and who should. Who would we be talking about?
Becky:Who could he be talking about?
Tony:So he got us on a like, hey, let's do a race. And every year is a little bit more.
And that, that helped me, having the community, having the people around me who are, like, doing something with me. So I'm thankful for this friend of ours that honestly galvanized us towards something good and towards many other things that he led us towards.
Becky:I agree.
Tony:And so I was grateful for that.
But I was working for some time, and there was some time where I legitimately started getting hurt because I'm just getting older in life and it's the reality. And I wasn't very physically fit back in the day. So trying to be physically fit now, my body's kind of reacting to that. So I try to keep it simple.
I found that a group fitness class works for me. So I do a group fitness class early in the morning. I wake up early enough to have my quiet time.
Then I go to the fitness class and then I come home and it's time with family. And then I come to the office. I do that three times a week. And then I find two other times where I can do some light cardio.
So I have found that I love and enjoy pickleball. Let's go. So love it. Great sport to jump into. So I try to do that one to two times a week as my, like, cardio, mid level to light cardio.
And it's super fun. It brings people together. It's about community. But to me, what was important where you said, man, it's my alone time, it's my time to decompress.
When I find it's the opposite for me, when I find community, I'm more disciplined. Like, I think of the people that are there that I want to go see.
People that don't know Jesus that I'm, like, praying for, or people that are brothers and sisters in Christ that I get to enjoy and grow in deeper relationship with. Because I'm beating them at pickleball.
Zer:Yeah.
Tony:Hey, so those are the kind of things that have helped me is finding what works, finding what drives you, finding what helps you be consistent has been really important. I think that's very unique to every individual.
Becky:I agree. Not every journey is the same. And I think the things that work for some I think we, we Sometimes you get so over and I speak from for myself.
Like sometimes I would get so overwhelmed by other people's. Like, I'm doing this and it helps me.
I'm doing this and this and you just get so overwhelmed that you're like, I'm, I like you accept defeat before you even take a step because you're like, I can't do, I can't run. I hate running. I can't, I can't play pickleball. I don't, my hand eye coordination is terrible. Like, I can't do that.
Like, and that's actually legitimately we should go play together as a ball's right here. And I'm like over here.
Tony:Like, we'll have a follow up podcast to talk about her pickleball journey. No, no.
Becky:But yeah, it's so just like, just don't, don't I just speak for. I'm speaking to myself but also like everybody else. Like you don't. Your journey doesn't have to be the same as everybody else's.
Like, find what works for you. Like, I love that, that that's like the premise. Like find what works for you. And even if you're going to the gym, like if your victory is.
I went to the gym once this week, praise God, like celebrate that, you know, like, it's not going to be, I think people have the bad habit of like, okay, I'm going to like new December 31st rolls around and they're like, I'm not going to have fast food at all next year. Like, I'm never going to eat it at all. I'm going to cut off soda. I'm never going to drink soda.
I'm going to get my this, you know, $150 gym membership and I'm going to go every day. Like, and they make all these like grandiose plans and I'm like, just be practical. Like when you're starting out in your journey, like, be practical.
Like make those small decisions that are going to have that you like that's you're building the first the foundation of the building and then you're, and then you're going to come back and put up the drywall and then you're going to come back and do that. Like, you know, just make those small steps, like make it something attainable.
Like I, I, I love fast food and it's, it was like a big journey for us in our marriage, like starting. Yeah, it was, I love it. It was such a, yeah, it a was such Such a journey, like, at first. And so. Because I just love it.
It's so delicious, and it's comforting and it's warm, and I didn't have to. I don't have to do any dishes afterwards.
Like, you know, it's like all these amazing things, but, like, ultimately, it was having a negative effect on my body. And I think you. I think another thing is just try and separate the negative effects from just how your body looks. Because if you're completely.
Like, there's way more negative effects to fast food and processed foods and candies and sodas. Like, there's so many more negative effects to those things besides just the effects.
Like, besides the fact that it goes to your hips or besides the fact that it's gonna make you look a little bloated. Like, there's so many more things to consider. And so something that I had to do is, like, I had to kind of desensitize myself to, like, my weight.
Like, I was like, okay, like, I'm gonna weigh myself today, and I'm not gonna have a panic attack about it. Like, and then just like, it's like, every day. It's just something that. And I don't even do it every day anymore.
But there was a period of time where I had to desensitize myself to it, because every time I did it, it was like, oh, my gosh, like, just, like, freak out mode. But in reality, it's just like, okay, like, that's a. That's a metric that I can take into consideration, but it's not. It doesn't define me.
Like, you know, and so I think for. For those that listen, that are listening, that you're like, oh, my gosh, like, these people are all talking about this. No, like, it's attainable.
It's a daily decision that you can make. And just, like, it's not about how you look. It's not about.
It's about whether or not your body is, you know, able to do the things that the Lord is asking you to do.
Carlos:Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we. Yeah, man. I. I think we don't. We don't want to put the wrong fuel in our cars. You know, they're just cars.
And we belong to Jesus, and he had given us. And.
Zer:Right.
Carlos:Like, he has given us an assignment.
Zer:No. Yeah.
Carlos:Has a mission. And so we can either. Like, we eat so many times a day. Like, we can either poison ourselves or help build something that worth doing. And so.
And I agree with Becky. I think it's about consistency in the right Direction.
Zer:Yeah.
Carlos:It's so easy for us to. The comparison game is so subtle and so, so dangerous because I, I can always look at someone that, you know, looks like they have it all together.
They, they, Oh, I think they look better than me. They're stronger than me. They play pickleball better than me or whatever it is.
Zer:The one thing you found, the one.
Tony:Thing I do better than you. Let's go bench press. Let's go do some squats. Let's. Yeah, let's go do some pull ups.
Zer:Let's see who wins.
Tony:But not me.
Carlos:But you, you get the point. It's, it's, it's not about that comparison.
Becky:He's like, he's like dissociate. He's like, he's trying to dissolve.
The reason why I started laughing when you were talking about, like, you don't put the wrong fuel in your car is I was remembering this, you know, exactly where you were going.
Tony:So I lost eyes with you.
Becky:We have a friend that we love so much, and she's the best. And one time, it was when I was at GPC at our Grand Prairie campus and she was late to service or something and we were like, what the heck happened?
And she was like, well, I put diesel in my. And it was, I was about to.
Tony:Interject when he said, you don't want to put, you know, fuel like diesel in a regular engine. We love you.
Becky:We love you.
Tony:You're awesome.
Becky:But it was just. Yeah, anyways, so that's my bad. But yes, no, I agree 100 with you. So what are all that being said? Like, what are some sticky parts of stewardship?
Like, what are some tricky parts to it? Like, we talked a little bit about idolatry. We talked a little bit, like, laziness or lack of motivation.
Like, what are some other parts in yalls journeys y' all have wrestled with?
Zer:No, for me, I'm very much what Tony was talking about. Like, I operate in extremes and I do well in extremes. But then it's the lack of consistency after the extreme that I fall into.
So, for example, running, I set out, I was like, hey, I'm gonna run 300 miles in this year, invite people to it.
Becky:That is psycho.
Zer:As soon as I hit 300, you're like, I'm done. I, I, I, you know, I, I slowly tapered off. And then I just didn't run it cold turkey.
And then, and then I fell in this cycle where it was like, it was, I was comparing myself to where I was and where I am now. And it was harder to run a mile. I was like, I'm just not even gonna run anymore. And I just. I do well in, like, dieting. I'd go hard for a season.
Oh, if there's a challenge, bro, we're gonna. My brother, bro. And my other brother. Am I gonna get into this right now?
I'm just saying, man, there was a lot of money on the table, and you did great.
Tony:And you did great.
Zer:I did great. And as soon as I didn't get paid, I indulged a lot of food to cover. Like, you know what?
Becky:Forget this.
Zer:But it's like, I do well in extremes, but it's the, like, you're saying, like, consistency in the right direction that I find hard. But it's.
Becky:I'm sorry. It really got me. They paid me to be physically fit. Quit looking at those actors and celebrities. They are paid to look like that, man.
If you paid me to do it, you better. You best believe I'd be doing it.
Zer:Maybe that's what I needed. Well, Zara was.0.
Tony:Was supposed to get paid because you. You did great. And which is this challenge that we.
Even you and I have been on some of these journeys, and there have been moments where we've done challenges together, and they've been really good. But we always talk about the post challenge.
Zer:Yeah.
Tony:And so I think that the challenges are good for, like, a good injection. But what I learned is that if a challenge worked temporarily and I developed no consistent habits from that challenge, then it was a waste of time.
Yeah, it wasn't good.
Becky:Yeah.
Tony:And so going back to what you're saying, like, what are some sticky parts? It's thinking that the one big effort, I will do this, and I'll be okay for the rest of my life. No.
Fitness is a lifelong journey, and you have to find. You talked about earlier, those small steps that you can be consistent in. Which is why I talked about find what works for you, what you enjoy.
Because I tried a ton of different fads, and some of them worked temporarily and some of them didn't. But to go from the weight that I was at.
Zer:Yeah.
Tony:Being able to. To lose and come to a place of health.
To lose all that weight and come to a place of health, the only way I was able to keep it was by finding what worked for me. Finding what was consistent for me. Yeah.
And so a sticky part is not developing habits during certain, like, efforts or intentional efforts that you make. Yeah. That's good.
Becky:Yeah. Which is. And I. I agree, like, I think that's why I disagree really strongly with fad diets, having been on some myself.
Like, I think if your only goal is to lose weight and like, you're going to lose the weight, you're going to gain it all back. Like, if you don't have like those, like, those decisions in place of, like, if you don't attain and then also like, that.
I feel like your motivation for pursuing physical health and fitness is so important.
Like, if your motivation is coming from a place of like, I need to lose weight so I can increase my value as a person, or I need to lose weight so I can, like, exactly. Like, there is a level of narcissism there that is not a good foundation for anything in your life. It's dangerous.
And it's a dangerous mentality because at that point you're at, like, you're telling yourself that you're only worth as much as your body looks in the mirror. And that's not, it's not, it's not godly. That's not a good thing to look for. And so I think if your motivation is like, I'm gonna, I.
I care about my health. And I think, like, I was thinking about this, like, one of the conversations that me and Carlos had.
Like, like in my journey with, like, before, you know, getting to the gastro doctor, but like, just like really having a hard time with my body. And then I was like, I already feel like crap, so I'm gonna eat whatever I want and then make it worse, but I don't even care.
Like, you know, just like kind of like that cycle. And one thing that really helped was Carlos was like, becky, you're my only wife.
Like, I, like, I want to, like, I'm not telling you these things because I want you to look a certain way. Like, I'm asking you to, like, take this seriously because, like, I want you to run for our kids. Like, I want you to run for our marriage.
And just like that, like that long term mentality, that's good even if you're not married.
Like, if there's things that you feel like the Lord has called you to do and you haven't, like, been able to step into that obedience yet, take it seriously. Like, you know, the Lord is like this, this body of mine is like a gift that I'm stewarding.
And so, like, how can I make these decisions to impact, like, the future generations or the future kingdom impact that you're gonna be making, but if you're not around to do it or if, like, your health is failing you because of decisions that you hadn't been able to make. And again, like, I think that I'm so glad that you brought it up earlier.
Like, there's people that have like legitimate health issues that they, that there are legitimate boundaries that they have.
But I just think of that verse, like as much as it depends on you, kind of like, like, like that was talking about be at peace with everybody, but I think the same thing would apply.
Tony:It's like a principle.
Becky:Yes, like a principle. Like as much as it depends on you, like where, where your decisions are impacting you. Like make the right ones.
Zer:That's good.
Carlos:Yeah.
Becky:So, yeah.
Carlos:And I think that something that I've, we've heard from Pastor Jason that has deeply impacted me is allow your decisions to be based on who you are.
Becky:Yeah.
Carlos:And so because we belong to Jesus, then, you know, sometimes I say, hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go to the gym today. Guess what? I don't wanna go, but I'm an athlete, so let's do this kind of thing, you know.
And so it's, it's, it's trying to teach my heart that I, I'm on a journey to become someone that looks more like Jesus in every way. And so again, it's not about trying to get from point A to point B and achieve a certain way and look a certain way, but it's, it's.
Man, I, I want to become like Jesus and I want my, my life to be surrendered to him in every way.
Zer:That's good.
Carlos:Whatever that may look like for you, you know, again, find what works out for you. Find the things that are fun. Love playing volleyball.
If I could play volleyball every day and not go to the gym, I probably would, you know, because that would be a lot more life giving, but.
Tony:Sounds like fun.
Carlos:Yeah. Let's play volleyball.
Zer:We should play volleyball.
Tony:Let's do it, man. We'll have a follow up podcast pick after the proposal.
Carlos:No, but yeah, just try to make those decisions based on your identity and yeah, don't, don't attach it to the results and the outcome. Yeah. Because then it's, it's just downhill from there.
Becky:Yeah, yeah, I agree. I agree. I also think something is control issues.
Like, is that like I, I feel like we've talked about this before, but I think even like, I think sometimes people think of control issues as like they want to have control of everything. And even though that's true, I think there's also like, in my case, I tend to be on the opposite side. I don't necessarily care for control.
I just, like, in fact, I don't want to have any control. Like, I'm like. Like, I would much rather people make the decisions for me and not have to do anything, like, for it. And so, like.
And it's very counterculture to, like, who I am as a person, how I operate, because I've been, like, I have grown in that. But, like, my default is I would just love to not have to make any decisions ever. Like, and that was. And, like, the wedding season.
Oh, my gosh, like, that was so much stress because I had to make so many decisions. Like, we had to make so many decisions, and I was, like, exhausted all the time.
So I think it's revealed to me, like, a lack of desire for ownership in my health journey. Like, I'm like, if Carlos could plan all of my meals and if Carlos could plan all these things, like, then, okay, great, I'll do it.
But there's a lack of ownership there that I don't. And so I guess, like, it's. To me, it's revealed my control issues in that sense. Like, that I just.
I have a hard time accepting ownership of my body and, like, my physical health journey. But have you all wrestled with anything like that?
Carlos:That was a lot. That was so deep.
Tony:Oh, it was. It was. You know, I'm just still kind of processing what you said about there being a control issue, to not want to be in control. But you hit it.
You hit the nail on the head with ownership, and it goes back to you saying, okay, God, what have you given me to work with and how can I steward that?
Well, and if I am not making intentional decisions to follow the spirit in my health journey, because that's something that I want to make sure that, like, is we keep, you know, beating that drum. Like, the health journey has to be tied with your spiritual journey, because that's how you can find that balance.
What is control and what is being led by the spirit? And how do you find that balance in between? Yeah.
So this idea of ownership, I would also say, is, like, intentionality, and it's just pursuing God in it to develop those areas of vacancy that we have inside us, those areas of weakness that we have inside us. And that's where you will identify what is a true control issue. I think control issue is a human thing.
Becky:Yeah, 100%.
Tony:And if we can find the areas that we want to control in our lives and how they affect our spiritual health and our physical health, I think we're trending in the right Direction.
Becky:Yeah, I agree. Yeah.
Zer:This is.
Maybe this is a little bit shifting of thing, but I was just listening to you guys talk about it, and, like, I'm picking nuggets and wisdom and like, oh, I can do this and I can do that, and I can do this. I think my temptation is like, brahma. Do it all at once. Like, now I got the. Now I got the answer, and I got. You're all in, baby. I'm all in.
You know, all right. You know, go.
But, like, then, yeah, honestly, just listening to you guys talk about stewardship, about discipline, it's like, I don't have to be there tomorrow.
Carlos:Yeah.
Zer:No, it is a journey. And, like, I can pick sleep. Maybe I'll start there.
Becky:Yeah.
Zer:Own my evenings.
Becky:Yes.
Zer:And just work on that for a season and then go on to the next thing, because, I don't know, my brain just is like, those are all good things.
Tony:Let's do it.
Zer:Let's do it now. It'll affect me tomorrow. I'll be the best person ever. You know, it's like, no, it's developing.
Tony:Those rhythms in life.
Becky:Yeah, Yeah, I agree.
Tony:And the more you lean into the spirit of God, the more you'll hear him say, this is the focus I want for you right now.
Carlos:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Becky:No, I agree. There's a. There's a really good quote that Scott Giles, one of. He was on staff for a long time, and he said, like, the best time to plant.
And he was quoting something.
I don't know who he originally said it, but he was saying, like, the best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago, but the second best time to plant a tree is today. And so, like, even if you're like, shoot, I've been like, I'm in this rut, and I have all the. Like, all the interest accumulated on my bad decisions.
But, like, you can make. Start making good decisions today. Like, and even if it's like, you know, I'm not.
And I want to say this, like, and this is because I've learned this personally. Switching to Coke Zero instead of drinking Coke is not the same thing. Like, it is. Like, yeah, sure. It doesn't have calories. I know.
And I had to, like, I would. I was drinking a Coke Zero a day day. And, like, not even joking. And it was like, the mini cans. So I was justifying.
I was like, oh, it's like a little sippy sip of Coke Zero. Like, I'm fine. At least it's color, but it's chemicals, man. Like, it's Straight up chemicals.
And it wasn't until, like, I stopped drinking it that I realized, like, oh, my gosh.
And so, like, by good decisions, I'm not necessarily saying, like, switch to all diet drinks instead of, like, your sodas, but, like, just try and see what decisions and, like, look at the ingredients, man. I didn't start looking at the ingredients until I married Carlos because he's so, like, particular about it.
Like, he'd get a tea and be like, look, this has, like, 45 added grams of sugar. And I was like, what does that even mean? Like, I just. I've never. I never processed things. I never looked at the ingredients.
Tony:What I hear you saying is that we order. Okay, What I hear you say is that we all need a Carlos in our lives.
Zer:Yes.
Carlos:No, they got apps for that.
Zer:Carlos. AI.
Tony:Sounds nice.
Becky:We would make. We would make millions. That's what I'm saying. Like, grab the ingredients.
Zer:Hey, Carlos, how many grams of sugar is in this thing in our skin?
Becky:Like, look at the ingredients. Like, try and, like, truly, the goal is not, like, diet. Like, the goal is not necessarily those things.
It's like those good decisions that are going to have that are going to set you up for success in the long term. Because it's already a habit. Like, build a new habit today.
Carlos:Yeah.
Becky:Is what I'm saying.
Carlos:Yeah. And I think the. The beautiful thing about that sometimes we. We have conversations about wanting to go get fast food because we just.
Becky:I'm tired.
Carlos:We just. Yeah, we're just tired.
Becky:That was me.
Carlos:And, you know, and we have these conversations about how we can only feast, you know, when we make room for it.
Tony:We.
Carlos:We can't. If we feast every day and if we just go for the things that we want all the time, then it kind of loses the value. Yeah.
You know, but you don't know what.
Becky:Feasting is at that point because you're always. Yeah, yeah.
Carlos:But, like, if there is an anticipation and a preparation for it, then it's. It's. It's so much more sweeter. You know, you enjoy it so much more.
Tony:So what you're saying is that. No, no, I'm trying. I'm trying to. No, no, I kind of. No, I'm trying to be serious. Why are you looking at me like that?
Becky:Mischievous. Face up.
Tony:No, it wasn't mischievous. I was trying to be legit. What you're saying is that it's. It's not bad to enjoy food.
Zer:Yeah.
Carlos:I think it's a good thing.
Tony:Yes.
Becky:Jesus.
Tony:But there is. There is what I hear you also saying is that there's. There's a balance. And I love this idea of fasting and feasting. Right.
And what do you abstain from so that you can really and truly enjoy? And it goes back to the rhythm of Sabbath, which we've talked about here before. And so it's good.
Carlos:Yeah, man.
Tony:It's important.
Carlos:I had pizza last night.
Tony:Yeah.
Carlos:Some carrot cake.
Zer:There you go.
Tony:Pizza. No carrot cake. My carrot.
Becky:Even his cake is a mess.
Tony:You know what I'm saying? Come on, man. Not pizza and ice cream. Pizza and a Coke. Like pizza and Paris.
Carlos:I was given. It wasn't. You know, I didn't pick the flavor anyway.
Tony:We love you, brother. Yeah.
Becky:Another question that I have or that Marty has actually is just the thought. And it's not a question, really, but just a statement that I'd like us to talk about because I think it's important.
And ultimately it's like, it summarizes most of this. But, like, when you're healthy, do you agree that you can minister to the Gospel better? Like, yeah, yeah.
Tony:100.
Zer:100, right.
Becky:Yeah. Why? Why is that?
Zer:I think it's. I mean, it. It just goes back to, I think, just stewardship. It goes back to obedience. It goes back to what you mentioned, Romans 12:1 2.
I have to offer my physical body to the Holy Spirit and allow him to do what he wants to do through me.
I am a vessel, and so it is stewardship of my physical body in order to proclaim the Gospel, to go to the ends of the earth, to do the ministry that he has entrusted me to do.
Tony:Yeah.
So no spirit of God, being the disembodied member of the Trinity and how we find in Scripture that we are called to allow him to overtake us and overtake our bodies, to be able to bring glory to the Father and to accomplish his will. There's a lot of humility in that. There's a lot of humility in fitness.
Like, okay, I'm not getting these goals, but I'm going to get to where I can get today.
Maybe it's not the ultimate thing, but if I find this win today, and that's a step of humility in saying, I'm going to allow myself to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, to be transformed by the Spirit of God in me.
And so you become a better minister of the Gospel and you become a better believer in Jesus and disciple of Jesus when you're willing to let the Spirit lead you to. In your spiritual health and in your physical health.
Becky:Yeah, I agree. I agree.
Carlos:Yeah.
And something I do want to say is that, you know, maybe someone listening, they'll say, I'm just in a really hard season with my health right now, and I feel like everything is just so debilitating. I. I also want to encourage you and say the Lord can use even that.
Tony:Yeah.
Carlos:You know, he is not. He is. He is powerful to use you regardless of the season. So going back to what we're talking about, it's. It's as much as it depends on you.
Becky:Yeah.
Carlos:Right. Certain things we just can't control. That's not what we're trying to. To address here. But I agree with you guys.
I think I heard this quote or someone say, I don't want my body to give out before my calling is over.
Zer:Yeah.
Carlos:You know, so if. If the Lord has given us an assignment, we want to give our bodies to him and say, lord, it's yours for you to use and do whatever you want.
But as Tony was saying, the spirit is the disembodied member of the Trinity, and he lives in bodies. Right. So we are bodily. We're spiritual beings that have bodies, too. And that matters.
You know, going back to how some, like, Gnostics would look at the separation between body and spirit, and it's like, the matter doesn't really. That hasn't any value. But that's not what we see in the Bible. All of it matters. And so I agree with you guys. If we.
If we're in a place to give our bodies to the Lord and say, lord, this is. This is our best offering to you. We're doing our best here to honor you. I think he will be glorified by that.
Becky:Yeah, I agree. I agree.
And I think I'm going to butcher this quote because I can't remember it exactly, but Pastor Levi Lesko, who, like, digitally mentored me before I found a church, he was talking about kind of physical health. And one thing that he said is, like, if you're always looking for pleasure, then you're chained to the highest bidder, ultimately.
And so it was just kind of confirming it. So if I'm looking to food only to make me feel good, then I'm always gonna find it.
But there's always a bunch of fine print with that that I'm not gonna know until after. And then. And same thing with going to the gym. My doctor told me, you can't work out for, like, a couple weeks. And I was like, okay, great.
And then she released, and I Was like, you don't have to tell me twice. I got it, like perfect. Yeah, yeah. And then I finally had my follow up appointment. She was like, okay, you can start working on now.
And I was like, I kind of.
Tony:Like what was going on.
Becky:But ultimately, like, that's just me giving in to like my flesh. Like my flesh is just a spoiled child that gets whatever it wants. And so it's like, if I don't want to go to the gym, I'm not gonna go regardless.
And so it's just kind of like, like self control is a fruit of the spirit. And so ultimately just going back to that and just not looking, like not everything has to make you feel good for it to be good for you.
Does that make sense?
Tony:And you think of you just said something that our bodies are just selfish beings.
Becky:Yeah.
Tony:And part of physical health and fitness and all this kind of stuff is like submitting your bodies to the obedience of Christ. Right. You think of what Jesus did. Like, I don't think Jesus's body, like, I don't think that on the human side of him, he wanted to go to the cross.
Becky:Right, right, right.
Tony:And can you imagine if he didn't do that? Can you imagine if he just let himself be driven by his pleasures or by the desires of his, of his physical body?
Like the Bible talks about how Jesus was fully God and fully man. Yes, true.
So he had the same kind of pullings of the, like, physical gratification and he was able to submit them to Christ because he was, you know, the spirit was with him. And somehow in his grace, he says, go out there and do the same that I did. Yeah.
And it just seems impossible, but it's not when you have the right perspective.
Becky:Yes, I agree.
Tony:That matters a ton in the way that we approach it. And even going back to the question about the gospel, like there would be no gospel if Jesus did not submit his body to obedience of God the Father.
So I'm just grateful that there is.
Becky:Yes. Yeah. Praise the God. Praise the Lord.
Tony:Praise the Lord.
Carlos:That's good.
Becky:Well, does any of you guys have any final thoughts or any Bible verses you want to leave us with? Anything like that?
Zer:I feel like we wrapped it all up. I think it's a really good conversation. I think maybe because I don't want to give any closing thoughts. I got nothing. I've learned enough.
Tony:And I'm like, you started talking already.
Zer:But I just, I do want to ask like, if there's.
Do you guys have any encouragement to somebody who like, maybe they're hearing this right now, and maybe they are just feeling a little discouraged because life is kind of crazy right now, or they feel maybe they are playing the comparison game and they're. They're struggling with idolatry of it, or they're struggling with the, like, lack of self worth or something.
You know, like, if you could just encourage somebody with words today that's hearing this podcast, what would you tell them?
Carlos:Man, I think I'd say I. I firmly believe that it is. It is God's heart for us, that we would surrender to him in every area.
Zer:Yeah.
Carlos:And we can in. In a lot of different ways. We face discouragement and disappointment along the way. But I think my encouragement would be he will be with you.
You know, he is with you even now, regardless of how defeated you may feel in your body or how comparison may have crept up in your heart. And you just feel completely disappointed at the, you know, after making attempts or just not even being able to take the first step.
But God will be with you.
Becky:Yeah.
Carlos:You know, I believe there's more of Jesus on the other side. When we choose discipline, we're also identifying with the cries who, you know, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross.
And so I think my word would be there's joy on the other side and there is joy along the way because Jesus will be with you as you choose obedience every day.
Zer:That's good.
Carlos:Yeah.
Tony:I don't know that I could add much more to that, but going back, I am trying to imagine the person who's listening through this and struggling with all the things that you just mentioned, self doubt, comparison, all these different things that you mentioned, I just want to tell that person, you're not alone.
Becky:Yeah.
Tony:You're not the only one who struggles through that. And Jesus empathizes with what you're going through. And just like Carlos said, he is with you every step of the way.
And if you have to sacrifice or if you have to let go, if you have to submit something to the obedience of Christ, then the reward is always greater on the other side of that obedience. Because what you get is not just physical fitness or healthier body or all of this, my hope would be that you get more of him.
Because that's the greatest gift, is to have more of Him.
And if somehow this physical health journey gets you more of him, any sacrifice that came with it, whether it be your own pride or whether it be a physical sacrifice of saying no to certain foods or saying yes to certain exercise or whatever it is Any sacrifice is worth it when you get more of him.
Becky:I agree. I agree. I agree. And I think any encouragement that I can. And I guess I'll just end with this is just. There's grace. There's so much like, there's.
And I would just recommend. And speaking to myself and a younger version of myself is just choose kindness to yourself along the way, too.
Tony:Yes.
Becky:Because you're not going to be perfect at it. You're going to feel awkward if you go to the gym and you've never been, like, you're like, I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know how to do it.
That's okay. Choose kindness for yourself along the journey. And choose grace and not shame from the enemy, because shame is not from the Lord. And so just. I would.
That would be my recommendation for you guys if you're starting the journey or if this encouraged you or inspired you. Like, you're like, I don't think I can go to the gym, but maybe I'll go on a walk outside today.
Or, like, maybe I'll go play pickleball or volleyball with my friends. Like, you know, just choose, like, choose activity or something that.
Because I believe that there is blessing in that there is health, and that there is joy to be found in that. So, yeah.
Tony:Yeah.
Becky:Thank you guys for coming. This is.
Tony:I'm just happy to be here. I just sitting next to this guy.
Carlos:I'm ready to go get some protein shake.
Tony:Yeah, let's do it.
Becky:All right, guys. Well, thank you so much for listening. We love you guys so much, and we'll see you next time. Peace.
Carlos:See you guys.
