Believe it or not, 75 percent of Americans will be overweight by the year 2015. Seventy-five percent! And more than 40 percent will be considered obese. Further estimations reveal that 24 percent of American children and adolescents will be overweight or obese—an alarming trend with far-reaching health implications.

While there are many reasons for this growing public health crisis, it seems that pointless eating is one of the main culprits.

If you meet Nichole Jones on the starting line she’ll probably smile at you, but then when the gun goes off, she’ll leave you in the dust. Don’t take it personally, though; she does that to everyone. “We call her the Smiling Assassin,” says Todd Harbour, Baylor’s head track/cross country coach. “She’ll smile at you and then just beat you bad.”

This 5’2”speedster is a quiet giant, both athletically and spiritually, who’d rather show you what she’s about than tell you.

The life of Pro Football Hall of Famer Bruce Matthews has been epitomized by resilience and perseverance, stability and strength. The stats he produced as a fixture on the Houston-turned-Tennessee offensive line are legendary, and his name is a consistent example for line coaches who seek to inspire greatness in their athletes. And if those athletes never had the opportunity to see Matthews play, a quick reading of his accomplishments makes their jaws drop in awe.

Once people find out that I serve in the FCA Health and Fitness Ministry, I get bombarded with questions about everything from food to fitness equipment, exercising to eating right, calories to carbohydrates. If I am eating out, people watch what I eat and ask me if it is OK to order certain entrees. And frankly, I love it! It gives me countless opportunities to help cut through the confusion and restore some basic truths about how to take care of our bodies the way God intends.

So, this month’s column is all about questions and answers.

This summer, FCA partnered with Korean Central Presbyterian Church and Global Christian School in Seoul to host a first-ever sports camp in South Korea. Our host, Jacob Hong, whom I’d met when we were both living in Northern Virginia, had been talking with me, praying and planning, for nine months to see FCA come to South Korea. And on July 24 that prayer materialized as an FCA team of 21 people crossed the Pacific to serve 175 South Korean campers through language, sports and spiritual education.

Nic Cardwell’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

It was 2002, and Cardwell, then a senior at Robert B. Glenn (N.C.) High School, and his father were on a football recruiting trip to nearby Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. After a short wait in the lobby of the on-campus inn, a team representative — an “old guy,” as Nic remembers — greeted the Cardwells and sat down to chat with them.

Thirty minutes passed, and Cardwell’s mind drifted. Finally, the older gentleman got up and said, “OK, let’s go eat.” Cardwell quickly snapped to attention. Perplexed, he blurted, “Wait a second! I haven’t met the head coach yet.”

“It makes me feel good that FCA cares about it’s people!”

That was a common statement after a week of clinical exercise testing at the FCA World Headquarters in November. This effort, led by the FCA Health & Fitness Ministry, was designed to help our FCA team improve its health so that everyone involved could have the strength and energy necessary to perform at the highest level. FCA President Les Steckel put it best: “We believe that our initiative to serve our people on the front-edge of ministry will define us as an organization that genuinely invests in the personal and professional development of its people.”

For the second year in a row, the Drake University women’s basketball team was the preseason favorite to win the Missouri Valley Conference, but the Bulldogs have learned that preseason rankings mean nothing. When it comes to the season itself, anything can happen. And they mean anything. Last fall, Drake, a private university in Des Moines, Iowa, entered the season as a team loaded with talented veterans.

There’s not much about Anthony Parker that isn’t unique. Among NBA starters, he’s probably the only one who can rattle off useful phrases in Hebrew — something he picked up while dominating the European League from 2000-2006. He’s also the only playoff-caliber shooting guard who really does have the potential to be shown up on the court by his little sister. (He refers to little sis, All-American Candace Parker, as the Parker.) And he may be the only person who can read or owns a TV who’ll defend the good reputation of the NBA.

My favorite scenes from the Rocky movies are the training scenes. They are vintage Stallone — the intensity, the discipline, the passion! I have vivid images of him punishing a side of beef, trudging through the heavy snows of Siberia and running mile after mile before the sun rises. Even though the outcomes of these fights were decided in the scripts, real-life outcomes are often determined by how we train and how we get ready for the inevitable storms of life.