Live long enough, and you'll find yourself in a thin hospital gown, crawling up on the table for some kind of test procedure. You'll wait by the phone for the results, trying not to worry but unable to keep from wondering what you'll do if it's bad.

Dr. Larimore, writing in Game Plan for Life, talks about the "Four Wheels of Health"-physical, emotional, relational, spiritual. A fully healthy person is one who is consistently, continually achieving balance in each of these areas. If any of the four loses air or goes flat, the whole thing begins to weave and wobble.

One of the things you get in Game Plan for Life is some straight talk on some real stuff. But as sort of a bonus, you also get (here and there) a little ancient philosophy to go with your modern advice-like this, from the Greek thinker Socrates: "The unexamined life is not worth living."

We all know that sickness and disease can arise from purely physical sources such as viruses, bacteria, cancer-causing agents, genetic factors, overeating, lack of exercise, or some environmental factor that might poison our bodies. And, in many biblical accounts of healing, the Bible simply states that the person was ill (2 Kings 4:18-37; Matthew 4:23-24; Acts 5:16).

We can say, in one sense, that according to the Bible, all sickness has its ultimate origin in sin because human suffering stems from the fall and the sin of Adam and Eve (Genesis 2:15-17; Romans 1:28-32). But that's not the way some people think of sin causing sickness. They believe a specific sin can cause a particular illness.

While faith or God's game plan can have positive effects on health, it can also have negative effects. Although religious beliefs are a source of comfort and support for many people, for others they are a source of stress and emotional turmoil.

For many people, good health has become the most important thing in their life. Haven't you heard people say, "If you have your health, you have everything!"? Our modern world makes it easy to become consumed with maintaining a very high quality of physical life for as long as possible.