A wake-up call that saved his life ... and his ministry

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BOSTWICK — John Autry was not totally surprised at the diagnosis that changed his life four years ago this month. Extreme thirst. Frequent urination. A generaly tired, uneasy feeling.

When his son, a Type 1 diabetic, used his glucometer to test Autry’s blood sugar the numbers on the screen said it all: 450. A normal blood sugar reading two hours after a meal should range between 70 and 120.

“That was my wake-up call and the day I really began to take responsibility for my health,” Autry, a minister for nearly four decades at the time, says from his study in Bostwick. The doctor soon confirmed the diagnosis and said Autry would need to make serious lifestyle changes or eventually face a heart attack, amputation, or blindness.

He chose to make the changes.

Joe Westbury/Index

John Autry greets church member Dorothy Cabaniss after a Wednesday evening prayer meeting at Gibbs Memorial Baptist Chuch. The Bostwick pastor says changing his lifestyle has added years to his ministry.

“In a strange sort of way diabetes was the best thing that ever happened to me, because it forced me to accept responsibility for my lifestyle. Until then I ate anything I wanted and never gave it a second thought,” he says.

But that carefree lifestyle, enjoyed by many Georgia Baptist ministers and laypersons alike, resulted in his weight slowly rising to 230 pounds on his short frame.

He was a classic Baby Boomer diabetic, as some doctors say – over 40 and overweight – and exhibited the following typical attitude and genetics:

• There were no diabetics on his side of the family, though his two sons were diabetic and most likely inherited the gene from his wife’s side of the family.

• He didn’t exercise because he didn’t have the time and just didn’t want to.

• He ate what he wanted, when he wanted.

• He continued to put on the pounds through the years and felt a little guilty about it but felt chronic diseases were what happened to other people.

However, that one diagnosis made a believer out of him. Now, at age 64 and 60 pounds lighter, he says that wake-up call was one of the best things that ever happened to him.

“When I began eating correctly and started exercising, the weight just came off. Not overnight but slowly and consistently until I was down to about 170, where I am now.

“I didn’t do any fad diets or anything, I just cut out all the food that I knew was bad for me but that we Southerners like to rationalize that we’ll stop eating some day. Well, that ‘some day’ came for me at age 60 and now I’ve never felt better,” he says.

Autry avoids red meat,

having it maybe once a month and only enjoys sweets in very small amounts – as a real treat rather than a daily ritual. He never was a coffee drinker but says the hardest item for him to give up was his “fully-leaded” Coke Classic.

“I had to have my Coke every morning, that was how I got my caffeine,” he says of Atlanta’s favored soft drink.

The soft-spoken native Georgian has grown spiritually through the experience and is grateful his health has been restored to him. He sees that developing a healthier lifestyle actually extended his ministry and has literally given new life – and years – to it.

“I feel very fortunate to have been called to my current pastorate at Gibbs Memorial. This is a very much alive and growing congregation, indicated by the fact that it might need to enter a building program.

“It’s amazing for them to call a man in his mid-60s to this position and amazing that I am in the health to accept it. If I hadn’t changed my lifestyle when I did I most likely would have had to retire at 62 due to poor health and a lack of energy,” he explains as he walks around the church.

Autry says the way he was living and his poor eating habits was not only unhealthy, “it was sinful.

“No one should treat their body, which is a temple of the Holy Spirit, like I was doing but I see it all the time. Because of that diagnosis I now have a much higher energy level and greater sensitivity to how we should all be treating our bodies.

“If I had lost my health I would not be winning anyone to the Lord, and that’s what I enjoy doing more than anything else in the world. I would not be able to preach, pastor a congregation, or do any evangelism like I did for so many years and which I’m still doing today.

“I now have the potential to lead more people to Christ than ever before but that wasn’t the case four years ago. The way I was eating and abusing my body was a disgrace to my calling and to God because I was not able to give Him 100 percent of my energy.”

“But that’s all changed now. I know it sounds kind of strange to say this, but my diabetes has given me a new lease on life.”

· 25 percent of Americans over the age of 60, or one out of four, have diabetes. · Two-thirds of Americans over the age of 65 have high blood pressure, largely due to obesity. It is a condition that is largely preventable. · Two-thirds of Americans over the age of 65 are over-weight. · The nation’s crisis rise in diabetes, as well as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and hypertension, is largely due to being overweight and no exercise. Genetics play a very small role in the rapid rise of the nation’s chronic illnesses, which have become known as lifestyle diseases.

Source: Centers for Disease Control