Building on the Foundation

Mental health, or lack thereof, is a hot topic in today's world. People, especially young people, seem to be struggling with their mental health more than ever. Experts say there are many factors at play, the increasing complexity of our modern world, guns, politics, bigots, and intolerance, just to name a few of the things that get the blame for poor mental health.  The National Institute of Health estimates that 23% of American adults suffer from some sort of mental health issue, and I'd like to put forth that it's far more than that once you realize what mental illness actually is. source The mental health crisis in America and the World as a whole is far more severe today than it has been at any time in history. The majority of the people you might meet, even in the Church, are dealing with a mental health issue. People are suffering even to the point of committing suicide because of the strain placed upon their mental faculties, and no one seems to know what the answer...

  If you grew up in the industrialized world, especially in the United States, during the 1960s, ‘70s, or ‘80s, then you probably don’t remember seeing many obese people back then. You probably remember most children playing outside and being active during the evenings, weekends, and summers. You probably remember your mothers making home-cooked meals largely from scratch. Video games and TV channels were few. The Internet didn’t exist yet. There was no YouTube, Netflix, or Hulu. Fast food and other forms of “junk food” were occasional treats, not daily staples. In short, people of past generations tended to be more active and eat healthier food than those of today. From 1960 to 1980, the US obesity rate hovered around 15% or below. Today, it’s north of 42% — nearly triple! Also today, the biggest cause of death each year in the US is heart disease — largely a result of obesity. But that’s not all. Strokes are the fifth leading cause of death, diabetes the eighth, and kidney diseas...