Note to Self: Pay the Gym Bill

Does that sound as crazy to you as it does to me? Why on Earth would anyone pay good money to do something they hate? Don't get me wrong. I don't mind hard work. I'll take a group of folks tomorrow to Edwin Hodges Ministry where we will spend five or six hours loading and unloading boxes filled with literature to be sent around the world. I've sat eight hours in a hospital waiting room (now that's hard work) ministering to families in crisis. I don't mind the working -- it's the working out that bothers me. I spend 45 minutes on an "elliptical" machine burning 500 calories and sweating like a pig, use the "equipment" to tone my muscles and still weigh 200 pounds. Yes, I weigh 200 pounds. Sonya says it's solid muscle, but that's another story. You work and you work and you work, and as you get older, you work harder just to stay where you are. Why? I'll tell you why. Because when I'm 97 years old, I want to be able to take care of my wonderful wife. I want to still be able to body slam my darling daughters (inside joke). I want to continue to annoy my super sons-in-law by having to put up with the constant comparisons to their fabulous father-in-law (just kidding, sort of). I want to bounce my grandkids on my knee -- if I ever have any. And, most importantly, I want to continue to stand behind the pulpit and preach the gospel with the same energy and enthusiasm as I do today at 46. Now tell me. Could there possibly be any better reason than that to pay the gym bill?