I resisted two temptations this weekend!!!

I have good news!!! This past weekend, I successfully resisted two of my biggest weaknesses! First, as my closest friends and family know, my all-time favorite type of food is Chinese. I don't get it as often as I used to, because my favorite place, which is a hole in the wall in Kettering, OH, Chop Suey, can be pricey at times. It's awkward for me too, because I see them ask people for their name when they come in to pick up the orders they called in, but when I go in, they smile and go "How are you?" THEY KNOW ME!!! How crazy is that!?! One time they forgot to give me an extra white rice I ordered, and I called to tell them, but I didn't feel like driving back. The next time I went in, I wasn't even thinking about it, and they remembered and gave it to me! So yeah, it's weird to go where everyone knows your name... My 2nd favorite place is down the street from my Grandma's house in Columbus, where I was this weekend. It's called Golden Chopsticks, and is very good & CHEAP!! They're open late on weekends, so it's been a weakness of mine for a while. I resisted the urge, and had small bag of fat-free popcorn from Trader Joe's instead.

Speaking of Trader Joe's, this is where my second temptation took place. Like most checkout lanes, they have the sweets right by the cash register so if you decide you want to keep your cankles, you can impulsively buy some chocolate bars or Jelly Belly's to protect that investment. Jelly Belly's are my weakness. When they said you are what you eat, I'm sure the makers of Jelly Belly's get a chuckle. Like most people, I'm a stress-eater, but today, I channeled the stress into a nice afternoon nap, rather than a belly full of Jelly Belly's.

So, school has started back up, and hopefully I'll be getting a lot more subbing gigs, cause I need new material. You probably think I'm joking, but I'm not. If you look on youtube for my romance, family & relationships video (I think I got the name right) I do a joke about Twilight, which I actually heard a girl say how it was romantic that Edward didn't want to turn Bella into a vampire. It's a great outlet for laughter! Thanks again for all your support and I'm pumped for a new week to get healthier! God Bless!

Rich Jones
www.richjonescomedy.com

Psalm 34:2 - "My soul will boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice."

That's me in the sleeper hold...

What a day!! I met two awesome well-known people today. First, one is obvious, because of the picture above. I met Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake who was very friendly! He didn't hesitate when I asked to get a picture of him giving me the sleeper hold. I got to hear him say by the grace of God was his face repaired after his near fatal para-sailing accident in 1990. He said there's at least a million dollars worth of surgery and titanium from all he had to go through. It was amazing to hear him tell how they actually had to expose his skull and sew his eyes shut for months before he was able to see again. I can't imagine how it must've felt. He also let me film footage of him saying who he was and that you're watching the Rich Jones Show. Stay tuned for that episode...



I just returned from a comedy show with Taylor Mason. He and I have spoken online, but had never met face-to-face until tonight. He was awesome! His show was great and he had no problems dissing Xenia, OH and the University of Michigan... Great stuff!!! A special thanks goes out to Bob Matthews for hooking me up with one of his extra tickets.

This afternoon was an experience. There's a lot of things going on in my life I as God always has a way of shaking things up when you least expect it. I did good today with eating. I did enjoy a sweet onion chicken teriyaki sub from Subway. I always find it funny how Quizno's biggest slam against Subway is how they don't give you enough meat & ingredients. I had Quizno's one time, and there was way too much bread. It actually grossed me out how much they give you, and how fattening their food can be. Even the smell in there isn't to my liking. Subway, baby!!

Tomorrow is another challenge. God is in control! Thank you all!

Rich Jones
www.richjonescomedy.com

Hebrews 12:28 - "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,"

It's Friday, I'm In Love...

So yeah, I'm back... It's Friday and I'm in love... That's such a catchy song, but it's kind of sad because that just means every other day he hates her. I'm doing well. I hit the weights again today. Tomorrow I'm doing more cardio. I enjoyed some lentils with my eggs this morning, which I read is a type of food that will help you get full and contains way less calories and fat then your average food. Thank you Trader Joe's!!

Tomorrow will be extra special for me, as I found out that Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake will be signing autographs at the same trading card store that I met Angelina Love at yesterday. Believe it or not, he was in the match that first got me hooked on pro wrestling! It was in 1989, my friend Nathan, who lived next door spent the night. We were flipping channels, and WWF Saturday Night's Main Event was on. Nathan felt sick, so he went home, but happened to leave the TV on that particular station. So I kept watching Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake against "Macho Man" Randy Savage. It was great match, and I've been hooked ever since. I'm hoping I can get a picture of him tomorrow with me in the sleeperhold! That would be so awesome!!

Also, tomorrow, I'm attending Taylor Mason's show at my church. He's one of the best! Although I've communicated with him online before, I've never met him personally. I almost had the opportunity to open for him, but it hasn't happened yet. If I'm lucky maybe I can get a photo with him and Romeo.

Thanks again for all your support! This is awesome for me and God is moving in a big way!

Rich Jones
www.richjonescomedy.com

2 Corinthians 12:9 - "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

Still Truckin'...

Another day has come and gone... Today I woke up a little after 7am and gave my dog her usual insulin shot. It's still weird having a diabetic dog, and making sure she doesn't eat something that could raise her blood sugar to the point where she could go blind. It's a real eye-opener that causes you to examine your own health.

It was a great day today! I had lunch with one of the pastors at my church who took me to Qdoba. I did a show that they catered one time, but we had to make our own food, so this was the first time I actually had something from there. I ended up getting the naked grilled chicken taco salad (I learned "naked" means no tortilla). Awesome thing is I didn't even finish the whole thing in one sitting, so I ate like a king this evening.

A friend of mine told me that TNA Knockout, Angelina Love was signing autographs tonight at his buddy's trading card shop, so I stopped by and got to meet her. She was really nice, and I even got to video her saying "You're watching the Rich Jones Show", which I'll use eventually.

I also got in some weights this afternoon. I feel so ghetto because I don't have room for the bench in my house, so I put it in the backyard and put a tarp over it when I'm not using it. Good thing our neighbors can't see it. It feels like I'm lifting in a prison yard. Thank you guys again for all your support. I'm really finding out who my real friends are along this journey! Thanks & God Bless!

Rich Jones
www.richjonescomedy.com

1 John 4:7 - "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God."

So it's been a while...

I must inform all of you that my high school reunion has come and gone... I didn't reach my goal as originally planned. A few spiritual observations came from this experience, however and I'm not giving up. When you ask God for something you have to expect an answer, which will only come back either "yes", "no" or "wait"...

For me, I feel as though I wanted to reach the goal without the growth. I also would happen to perform a show where the theme was "Sweets & Comedy", which is what initially threw me off. After re-evaluating all this, I've been going strong since the beginning of this week. I've already lost a few pounds, as I rebound from not reaching my August Deadline. As of weighing myself this morning, I'm 239lbs. By this time next year if not sooner, I will be 165lbs.

If there's one absolute thing I learned in Bible College, which I credit to Dr. David Adams in response to praying for our Dean Dr. Ted Cabal who contracted cancer, is pray with purpose. Ask God specially for something and keep praying for it. I don't mean to disrespect those who pray "If it's your will..." but personally why not be bold and ask for God to show His power? Let Him who began this good work in us be glorified!

I don't know if I went into detail about this yet, as I tend to be paranoid at times, thinking I could jinx something, but I am doing a DVD taping with Comedian Thor Ramsey on October 1st, 2010 in Trenton, MI. This is awesome for me, as it was one of my goals when I first decided to do comedy, to work with Thor, and being that he called me, is such a blessing. Stay tuned for information about the DVD, as I will eventually make it available on my website, www.richjonescomedy.com which has also been recently updated... Thanks again for all your support and God Bless!!

Rich Jones

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Prayer For A New Day...

What an amazing month July has been so far... A mild scare alerted me to fact that my dog is diabetic. I had heard of cases where pets experience this, and pet owners who even gave up on their pet because of the inconvenience taking care of such an animal entails. Of course I'm the minority to this fact, as I've chosen to keep my dog, which requires two insulin shots a day and a strict regiment of overweight management dog food prescribed by the vet. It's crazy to think my dog, Zelda (named after the famous video game, which I was able to finally beat after pursuing it for close to two decades, hence the name of my dog) has diabetes, considering she's barely four years old, and is only fed dog food. I have relatives that feed their dogs things that even humans should eat in moderation, such as banana splits and slices of pizza. I chose to try and feed Zelda healthy since she was a pup, and she ended up with this lifelong illness. She's very outgoing, and even pushes me to walk faster when I take her out. She always has energy even after a long walk, and loves to run whenever we're outside, yet she has diabetes! So yeah, this experience has caused me to be more health conscious.

I joked earlier on facebook about how I've caught myself bypassing consulting a physician and taking the advice of the guy who works at GNC, as if he had a medical degree. I have no idea what half that those vitamins function for. It reminds me of how Christians will not consult God, and rather go everywhere else to find the answers when they're so close to home.

Tomorrow which is already today, I'm doing something different. I hate to even say it because I'll be committed once I do. As the great prophet, Garth Brooks would say, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained... Sometimes you have to go against the grain..." I will be stepping it up in the workout department as well as with protein shakes. I even videoed my last meal as though it was my death row final request. Of course, it was Chick-Fil-A... I encourage anyone who follows this to email me, facebook me, call me (if you know my number...) and bug the dog out of me if I'm following through with it. I've been posting a ton of old pictures on facebook where I look skinnier, even though I probably wasn't eating as healthy, and it's driving me insane. I feel like I could be doing better.

With all that said, a blessing I mentioned before in my last blog, I'm doing a DVD taping in October and I'm really excited about it. The timing is perfect as God's always is. More info to come...

I want to do something different in this blog. If you read this, I want to mention a few people you can lift up in prayer.

1. Brett Blair & his father, former pro wrestler, Brian Blair... Brian is running for a spot in Florida house. He's a man of integrity, and currently trying to help his son overcome his drug addiction. Brian strikes me as a man who models the love of Christ as he's been there help his son, and not afraid to put his name on him despite what his son's been through.

2. My Grandma, Helen who is in her 80's. She's starting to lose her memory. The other day she even asked me who I was. Never thought I would hear that from her.

3. Our President, Obama. We may not agree with him, but he has been placed in the office by God, and as such we need to pray for our leaders that they will make the right decisions.

Thank you guys for all your help...

Godspeed,
Rich Jones
www.richjonescomedy.com

Romans 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

The Prodigal Son Returns...

So the prodigal son returns... It's been a struggle to make sense of things these last few weeks. I haven't weighed myself since I went down to 241 pounds about a month ago. I'm reminded of a story I once heard from someone. It was probably a forwarded email that you have to send out to 5,000 people or you don't love Jesus. But I took it to heart despite my lack of email consistency. In the basic version off the top of my head, a child asked his father can a person go a lifetime without sinning? Obviously, the answer is no, (except in Jesus' case of course), so the father explained to his child the answer was no. The child asked his father can a person go week without sinning? As much as the father wanted to tell his child "yes", the answer was still "no". The child asked "What about a day?" Even still the father informed his child that we've all fallen short, and no one could go a day without sinning. Finally, the child asked his father "Can a person go a moment without sinning?" The father thought long and hard before finally answering his child "Yes, a person could go a moment without sinning." The child responded, "Then I want to live my life moment by moment."

The point of the last story is to admit, I've probably messed up a bit on this adventure to reach my ideal weight. But it's amazing, because even though we've messed up, and you know it happens every day, God is still gracious enough to forgive his children. Not only willing to, but He turns around and gives us more blessings than we deserve.

I started to write down my memories last night of when I first felt the "calling" to stand-up comedy. It was only going to be one blog entry, but as I continued to write, the passion that God has given me for wanting to make people laugh took me through some painful memories of job searching, as well as even being kicked off the stage in one of those Christian Haunted Houses where they show you what Hell is supposed to look like. Hey, at least I know I don't fit in, in Hell!!! That's a great thing!

Yesterday, I did live my life moment to moment. I sure I messed up a few times, but I was faithful to what God is doing in my life, and stuck to eating healthy, as well as sparingly.

I started this journey to make people laugh in January 2006. I found out last week, I will be doing a DVD project with one of the true Christian Comedy Greats on October 1st. I will announce more about that as it approaches near, but it's an AWESOME feeling, because it was actually one of my goals to work with him when I first starting doing comedy. Thank you guys and have a great 4th of July weekend!

Rich

Matthew 25:21
"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'