A Note From Tom: January 5th, 2012
Hey, everyone!
Happy First Weekly CCC E-news of 2012! (Are we gonna get to call this year “ ’12”? Or do we have to say “2012”?)
If you have any resolutions to keep…how’s it going so far? I just found out that January 1 wasn’t the official “New Years Day” until 1752. Before that it was March 1. It’s kind of a bummer because if the year started on Jan 1 and New Years wasn’t until March 1, it gave you three months to practice on your resolutions and get the flops out of your system before you had to seriously do them. If you had to lose weight, it gave you three months to go ahead and get your weight up to an even number before you had to start losing it!
Anyway, one of the keys to keeping your resolutions is to make some you can keep. Let me give you a few suggestions if it’s not too late to add a few…
Sing more in ‘12! (or in 2012!) It’s easy! It’s cheap! It’s fun! And it’s so good for you! Studies have proven that singing helps strengthen the diaphram, helps fight asthma, and even make your snoring get better! German research proves that it helps you fight diseases! They compared two groups- singers on a stage and their audience. The singers had elevated levels of antibodies to fight off disease and infection, while those who listened to the singing had elevated levels of stress hormone! (Maybe it was the high notes!) So join in with JT when “Carolina On My Mind” comes up on your playlist! Or sing along with the Ol’ Possum (“...he stopped loving heeeerrrrrr today...”) You probably know more Rodgers and Hammerstein than you think! (“You’ll never walk aloooone!”) You’ll sneeze less, and even tho’ your singing may stress your friends more, your snoring will stress your mate less!
Laugh everyday in ’12! Laughing is also very good for you! It’s good for your heart. A study at the University of Maryland found that people with heart disease are 40% less likely to laugh at funny things that other people. One report said that “ Laughter can be a great workout for your diaphragm, abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg, and back muscles. It massages abdominal organs, tones intestinal functioning, and strengthens the muscles that hold the abdominal organs in place. “
Good to know.
Pre-school kids laugh 400 times a day while adults only laugh 17 times!
What happened?
“A mom told her son, ‘Billy, eat your broccoli! It’ll put color in your cheeks!’
‘Who wants green cheeks?!’”
Think that funny? Well, kids do! See the point? (Maybe the point is that kids think stupid jokes are funny and you lose that somewhere along the way)
Let’s see…
Sing more.
Laugh daily.
And…
Join a Community Group and attend it every week! On Sundays, we have what we like to call “Community Groups” during the 9:30 to 10:30 hour. They are sort of like small groups that you would attend during the week, expect they are on Sundays at church (where you’re already planning to be…we’re trying to make it as easy as possible!). Community groups are a super time to be with other people who love Jesus and become better friends. It’s a time to be in the Word and also get to know other people in your church family better! It’s a time to share and encourage!!
And Community Groups are good for your health! They could even save your life! Harvard researchers studied 7000 people over nine years and found that people with terrible health habits like unhealthy eating and smoking but with good friends live a lot longer than people with good habits and no/few friends. “If you belong to no support groups and then join one, you cut your risk of dying over the next year IN HALF!”
The Journal of the American Medical Association found that people with strong emotional connections were four times less likely to get colds, were less susceptible to virus and had significantly less mucous than isolated subjects, proving that “…unfriendly people are literally snottier than friendly people.”
If you don’t come to a community group, why not start in 12”? Other people need you! Your friendship and your encouragement! And it will be good for your health! And you’ll get fewer colds!
If you decide to not come to one, I’ll go ahead and say it. Gesundheit!!