Anna Fitch Courie - Christ Walk: A 40-Day Spiritual Fitness Program

Christ Walk

Christ Walk

A
40-Day
Spiritual
Fitness
Program

ANNA FITCH COURIE

For Emmanuel Church, Hampton, Virginia

Copyright 2015 by Anna Fitch Courie

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Morehouse Publishing, 4785 Linglestown Road, Suite 101, Harrisburg, PA 17112
Morehouse Publishing, 19 East 34th Street, New York, NY 10016
Morehouse Publishing is an imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated.
www.churchpublishing.org

Cover design by Laurie Klein Westhafer
Interior design and typesetting by Beth Oberholtzer

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Fitch Courie, Anna.

Christ walk : a 40-day spiritual fitness program / Anna Fitch Courie.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-8192-3169-7 (pbk.)ISBN 978-0-8192-3170-3 (ebook) 1. HealthReligious aspectChristianity. 2. WalkingReligious aspectsChristianity. 3. Spiritual life--Christianity. I. Title.

BT732.F58 2014
248.46dc22

2014025395

The idea for Christ Walk began as a forty-day spiritual journey designed for Lent. God planted this seed in my head when I was not sure what I wanted to do with my life. Our church, Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Hampton, Virginia, gave me the opportunity and a church family in which to explore and test this theory for mind, body, and spiritual health through walking. For that, I thank them from the bottom of my heart. I would like to especially thank Father Derek Pringle. When I first approached Father Pringle with the idea of Christ Walk, I was brand new to Emmanuel Church and he was somewhat skeptical of how the program would be received. I am eternally grateful that he took a leap of faith and allowed me to offer Christ Walk. Thank you for your trust and faith! To the members of the first Christ Walk group: Karen, Boyd, Adrian, Chuck, Linda, Jack and Jan, Mary, Andy, Melanie, Becky, Jackie, Joy, Judy, Laura, Ginny, and Janethank you so much for asking me to write this book. I would also like to thank my work colleagues, as they taught me everything I know about health promotion. To my editor, Sharon, thank you. Im so glad you picked Christ Walk for your project! To my informal editors, Jason and Trebthank you. To my family and friends, especially Treb; my children Patton and Merryn, all my thanks and love for your encouragement and the TIME to make this happen. For Caroline who believes in this journey, thank you. For Carrie and Richard who said, Yes, this will be published! (and then recommended me to Church Publishing), thank you! Finally, all my thanks to God for giving me the spiritual guidance and tools to show others that health of the body is as much a gift of God as health of the spirit and mind.

Take a step of faith in Christ. Father Derek Pringle, Emmanuel Episcopal Church

I am an average person. I am average weight, average height, average looks, average intelligence, average Christian, average person. I like to think I am normal, with normal issues as the average person, with the average struggles and the average thoughts, beliefs, doubts, concerns, wants, and needs. I believe that the average person finds it hard to find time for prayers, healthy eating, exercise, time with family, demands of job, and everything else that we should be doing. I believe that Christ-centered living can get us there. A Christ-centered life provides us with forgiveness when we slip up, or when we need extra help, or when we need a friend on the walk of life. Christ helps us transcend the average and ordinary, to reach the extraordinary. Since Christ lives in all of us, average is a misleading description. I believe that all of us have opportunities to improve our health and transform ourselves through Christ to the amazing and extraordinary. Christ Walk is a program towards a healthy, Christ-centered life. We use the grace of God and the strength of Jesus to improve our health: mind, body, and spirit.

Christ Walk began in 2006 at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Hampton, Virginia. I remember walking into the priests office just as bold as you please and telling him that I was going to run a walking program during the six weeks of Lent for the parishioners. Father Derek was either bowled over or incredibly trusting as he gave me the go-ahead to implement my program. That began an odyssey of implementing Christ Walk for multiple churches. I will always be incredibly thankful to Emmanuel for the gift of testing the Christ Walk Program with me. I pray that they received as much out of Christ Walk as I received in sharing it.

A registered nurse by training, I am married to an Army officer; my professional life has taken twists and turns depending upon where my husband has been stationed. While stationed in Germany I was unable to find a job as a nurse so ended up landing a position as a health promotion coordinator for the 1st Infantry Division and Wrzburg Medical Command. It was a life-changing and career-changing experience for me as I found that helping people become healthier was the calling in life that I always wanted. When we moved back to the States following our tour in Germany, I was seven months pregnant and had given up my dream job. I was not sure what I was going to do, but felt this strong calling to develop a walking program for my church. I had done something similar with the 1st Infantry Division by developing the Walk to Iraq and Back program for deployed spouses. The Walk to Iraq and Back program was a yearlong walking initiative designed for spouses of soldiers deployed to Iraq to walk the miles to Iraq and back over the course of deployment. From that experience, I knew the routes in the Bible would make for an incredible fitness experience. Thus Christ Walk grew out of my experience with health promotion programming, but centered on walking with Christ every day. I believe we need to exercise in mind, body, and spirit in order to make a body strong and whole.

The Bible has a great deal of inspiration for living healthy in mind, body, and spirit. As a result, you will find quotations from the Bible at the beginning of every chapter of this book. While I generally do not like cherry picking biblical verses outside of the context of the story, I have found that these phrases have been guideposts to ensure that Christ Walk stays centered on God. You may have other verses that call you to a healthy life, but I hope and pray that these verses will lift you up on your own Christ Walk journey.

I am an Episcopalian, although I feel quite comfortable in a variety of churches and have heard Gods Word in many denominations outside of my own. Christ Walk is not intended to be just for Episcopalians; however, there will be references to the church year and church traditions that will be familiar to those from a liturgical tradition. Christ Walk was originally designed for the forty days of Lent, a time when many take on a spiritual discipline. However, Christ Walk can be used in any 40-day period.

Forty days is a powerful period of time in the Bible, and Lent is often used as a time of prayer, fasting, denial, and personal goals as we prepare ourselves for the forgiveness God gives us in Jesus resurrection. Forty days can be transformational. While you can do Christ Walk at any forty-day period during the year, I find it an especially powerful tool during Lent. My Christ Walk challenge reminds me to always be cognizant of walking with Christ every day of my life.