The treadmill

 Very occasionally I use the treadmill at my leisure club. If you hold the handles tightly the machine will read your pulse rate and display it on the screen alongside the facility which tells you that you have walked one mile, and burned off 100 calories which is roughly equivalent to three dry cream crackers. (I think it's easier to forgo the crackers.)

The other day I decided I would also use the blood oxygen reader so I attached the red crocodile clip to my finger and looked for the reading on the screen. It was nowhere to be seen. As I increased my pace hoping to induce a response, the clip pinged off my finger and the treadmill stopped. That's when I realised that the clip is an energy saving device. If you drop dead using the machine they do not want to waste electricity keeping the conveyor belt running when you are no longer putting it to good use. 

We will all die eventually, the treadmill of life will cease turning, our pulse will stop. As a Christian I am convinced that will not be the end. When the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy just before he died he said, "I have finished my full course with all my might and I've kept my heart full of faith. There's a crown of righteousness waiting in heaven for me and I know that my Lord will reward me."

Once or twice I have won member of the month at my leisure club, my picture goes up on the well done board, demonstrating that little fat people can also show commitment. 

When I arrive in Heaven I am promised a new body with no illness or restrictions and it's all down not to my efforts, but to the commitment of Jesus and his determination to give me eternal life.