This Is My Body

From Obesity to Ironman, My Journey into the True Meaning of Flesh, Spirit, and Deeper Faith

By: Ragan Sutterfield

Narrated by: Dean Gallagher

"The cacophony of voices about our bodies is so loud, it's hard to hear the voices that matter. Some of us decide to forget it all and give in to one addiction or another. I've done that. Some of us decide to perfect our bodies and obsess over every muscle or wrinkle. I've done that too. Then I discovered the truth about my body: It is a gift. A sign of God's love. And so is yours."

Many of us think our physical natures are burdens that drag us toward failure and guilt. But what if God actually glories in the flesh? What if we had the same joy about our bodies he does?

Ragan Sutterfield brings us back to a biblical perspective - a freeing, corrective viewpoint that reminds us of the connection between spirit, mind, and body. Along the way he shares his journey from overweight addict to Ironman competitor. He counts his success, though, not in his decreased clothing size but in his increased understanding of how much God truly loves us and of what it means to be stewards - not just of our souls but of our skin and bones too.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2015 Convergent Books (P)2015 Oasis Audio

Never realized how challenging the Iron Man is.

Ragan writes very authentically and honestly about his struggles with body image. He explores the problems within the division of soul and body. The story follows him while he trains for the Iron Man at the same time as telling the story of Ragan’s faith/body journey from elementary to college and early adulthood.
The book gave me a clearer picture of what the Iron Man challenge requires and also encourages me to begin to love my body and care for it. I am planning to start a running program now thanks in part to this book.

My Favorite All-Time Book

Any additional comments?

I opened this book because I wanted to read a story about a "regular person" doing an Ironman. I loved this book because it wasn't only about becoming an Ironman. Sutterfield weaves all aspects of his life into the book - Ironman, relationship, and spirituality. I felt the spiritual aspects of the book were simply part of Sutterfield's story, and not meant to be preachy. However, the book did help me think about my own fitness, relationships and spirituality. What I appreciated most was how Sutterfield's story flowed from Ironman to relationships to spirituality with such ease and honesty. Truly, my favorite book. I'm looking forward to reading it a second time.

Too much preaching and too little Ironman.

Disappointed. Grew tired very quickly of listening to long, in-depth descriptions of the author's childhood exposure to sexuality from his church and wondering when something useful or interesting was going to be addressed or discussed. Was easily 2 hours in before I found anything along the lines of what I expected to hear based on the title of the book. A better title might have been: Sex, drugs, and Ironman: Memoirs from an Evangelical fat kid.