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Without a Vision, You Perish
Jul 08,2019
Life is about more than growing up, getting a job, paying bills, retiring, and eventually dying. While it may at times feel like that, there is more to your life. You are here for a reason, and you have a unique purpose.
It’s essential to discover your purpose and live your life to its fullest while fulfilling your destiny. A life lived aimlessly can easily lead to loneliness, despair, and dissatisfaction. Purpose gives your life direction and meaning. Uncovering your purpose doesn’t always come early in your life, and it doesn’t always come easily. You must examine your core values, beliefs, and once defined; you need to commit to living out your unique purpose.
As a young child, Larry Kerychuk dreamed of being a professional athlete. Even from this young age, he knew that it would require grit, determination, and dedication to reach this goal. After years of arduous work, Larry attended Idaho State University on a football scholarship. But his journey didn’t end there. He continued to fight for his dream of becoming a professional football player, and eventually went on to play professionally for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. This accomplishment was monumental to him because his uncle had also played for that team, and it meant he’d achieved what he’d set out to do as a young boy.
Larry was a prolific quarterback and enjoyed many successes during his time in the Canadian Football League (CFL). It was an exciting time of his life, and it provided him with the skills, wisdom, and passion for further pursuing his purpose in life.
In 1984, Larry Kerychuk formed Athletes International Ministry (AIM) with the desire to reach the athletic community with a message of faith, hope, and victory. AIM is an outreach program for active and retired professional and collegiate athletes, coaches, and other staff. As a former professional athlete, Larry knew the types of pressures and challenges that athletes are faced with; they are the same as anyone else, but the demands are magnified because their lives are on display.
He sought to share his wisdom, counsel, and support to those in the athletic community through Athletes International. AIM utilizes mission trips, prison outreach, youth summer sports programs, golf tournaments, school assemblies, and special events to share their message of faith and resilience. This was his purpose in life. However, Larry found it difficult to fulfill his mission due to his declining health.
As part of his work, Larry often spends time with young athletes on the field. But he found it challenging to keep up. Walking the 100-yard length of a football field felt impossible, even getting in and out of a car was difficult for Larry. He knew the way he was living was pathetic, but his health continued to worsen. Then Larry thought to himself, “If I am going to die, I want to die finishing strong. And I can’t finish strong with my body and my health the way it is.” Larry knew something had to change.
It was then that something unexpected and profound happened.
Larry received a call from an old friend. Michael hadn’t seen Larry in some time and wanted to catch up. During their time together, Larry could tell that Michael, a man who cared deeply about health and wellness, wasn’t impressed with his current condition. But, during that visit, Michael didn’t say anything about his friend’s declining health. However, after a while, Michael suggested to his friend that he try a new product called [TVBLOGCOPY]MyoHealth[/TVBLOGCOPY][MWSBLOGCOPY]MyoHealth[/MWSBLOGCOPY].
Larry never put much stock in alternative therapies or nutritional supplements, but for one reason or another, he began taking the product. He also started working out again after avoiding the gym for a long time. Larry had a gym membership for over a year and had only gone three times. After all those months, if not years, of avoiding it he felt that God had convicted him to improve his lifestyle, so he started going regularly. “I wanted to prove to my son that an old man my age, 72, could be in the same condition he’s in.” It was then that Larry bet his son that they would weigh the same amount within a year. As a naturally competitive person, this drove him to increase his effort and stick with the plan.
He hit the gym hard to advance toward his goal. The combination of weight lifting, swimming, and elliptical training helped him build muscle, increase his muscle tone, and lose 50 pounds in the process. The change in his muscle mass is what startled him the most. “I can’t believe that at my age, I’ll be 73 in the fall, that I have more muscle mass than when I played pro football. I played quarterback, but I’m a linebacker now!”
Larry Kerychuk and his wife Wendy reflect on how MyoHealth has changed his life.
Wendy, Larry’s wife, began noticing the changes in his body, too. She was amazed by his transformation. Just months earlier, Wendy was encouraging her husband to see the doctor, taking him to the emergency room, and sitting by his side as he dealt with issue after issue. During that time, Larry spent nearly all his time in bed. He had no motivation, no focus, and kept putting his work off until he felt better. But now, for the first time in a long time, Wendy saw life, excitement, and focus when she looked at her husband. When he got home from work he didn’t want to sleep or rest, he had the energy to go out to the movies or lunch.
Reflecting on his poor health, Larry realized that as you get older, you become more vulnerable, especially if you’re not physically well. Sedentary life and physical illnesses take away your physical well-being, not to mention your mental and spiritual health. “Consistency is key. Being consistent and doing it every day eventually leads you to enjoy the discipline. The bible says, ‘All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11).’”
Larry knows that to be true from his time as an athlete. Grueling workouts, football camps, two-a-days, and rigorous training sessions aren’t exactly enjoyable. It’s painful, and it’s difficult, but that’s the point. It makes you stronger—physically, mentally, and spiritually. “It’s the same with any discipline, once you make it a habit, once you are consistent, good things will start to happen. It may take a while, but before you know it things start changing. I didn’t even realize how healthy I was. It shocked me; it shocked my wife.”
The changes in Larry’s health led to changes in other aspects of his life as well. His vision was always there, but now had the energy and motivation to work harder to fulfill his God-given purpose. “God has gifted all of us in certain ways, and I want to fulfill that. My life has changed. I’m not the same anymore, and I thank God for it.”
