QUESTION: We felt our question of the month is somewhat of a personal nature, so we took the liberty of doing some editing in order not to reveal the name or other particulars of the questioner’s identity.
The question is directly for Rev. Charles Hawkins and comes from a Catholic priest who at times feels that his vocation has been a ‘block’ to training and questions whether he should even continue to try to reach his goals of attaining a certain degree of definition and tone because he is in the ministry.
ANSWER: I can honestly say that my physique has been an aid in my ministry, especially in the early days when I worked with troubled youths in a ‘street’ ministry. The boys and young men most definitely tended to listen to my words in the beginning because of my muscular image.
I feel that the more you take care of your body, the more God can use you. On the other hand, neglecting your body, abusing it, or tearing it down limits the use God can make of you.
If I liken my body to a car…a vehicle for God…then taking good care of it – keeping it well tuned by exercising regularly, putting high quality fuel in it in the form of good, clean food, not abusing it by taking drugs, I can get more mileage out of it and God can get more mileage out of me.
Another way to look at it is that whatever I do, I do for the glory of God, not for Charles Hawkins, so I try to do the best at whatever I lay my hand to. If I do anything less than my best, whether it’s training or preaching a sermon, then I fail to give glory to my creator.
