31 December 2009

Up at 2 a.m.?!? It's going to be a long way to the new year, that's for sure. A good morning of quiet time and prayer. God greatly blessed our family in 2009. There was much to thank him for. We do not follow the Lord because of his blessing, we simply thank him for what he does of his own choice. We will not turn away when hard times come, nor will we complain (hopefully!). God is still God in the difficult times. We will still worship. We follow him because he has changed our heart from a heart of stone to a heart of devotion. In other words we can do nothing else but follow him. We want to do nothing else but follow him.

We will go help Tiffany feed and water the horses this morning, then lunch with Lambertini, then maybe some cross country skiing...or a nap. We shall see. Andy K. and I went cross-country skiing in the dark last night—beautiful, not to mention fun.

19 December 2009

We flew the Washington Wizards from Oakland to Phoenix last night. It was like a redeye for me—leaving at 11.45 PST and arriving at 0220 MST, which was 0420 on Laingsburg time. At least a got a whopping four hours of sleep before springing wide awake at 0715! However, it IS sunny in Phoenix and I'm not here for long, so its off to the pool for me to soak up some rays before I head for the blizzard in LGA.

18 December 2009

I got into SFO at about 9.45 pm last night...then the caliope music started. The transportation guys who were supposed to take us from SFO to OAK said that they had no record of us. I called Delta Crew Accommodations. They put me on hold. They called the transportation company. They talked. Eventually, it got sorted out. Now I'm wondering if they have room for us in the inn. I'm a little worried. Good thing. I call Crew Accommodations again. Kristie agrees to check. Oops...no record of you there either, but don't worry, it's all taken care of. Then I wonder if we have any transportation tomorrow night from the hotel to OAK to fly out the Washington Wizards. I call the transportation company. Nope. No record of you. I call Kristie again. She sorts it all out for me. Hopefully, they will be here to pick us up tonight. I'm a little skeptical.

A day off in Oakland for me before we fly OAK to PHX at 2300. I went to bed at midnight EST and was wide awake at 0410. Ugh...it's going to be a long day. I'm not a very good pilot. Good pilots can sleep 8 hours any time, anywhere. Not me...

14 December 2009

A day off!! Yippee! Off to swimming for me. Then who knows. Maybe some gift shopping. Some Bible study. Stuff like that.

Not too much else to report today. I'll try and think of something to write for later.

Kelly Off the Road!

A nasty day here yesterday. First snow, then sleet, then wind gusting to 50 mph. Wouldn't you know that BOTH Matt and Kelly had to work last night. Kelly had to brake for a deer on Alward Rd. She promptly spun out and off the road. Fortunately, a Good Samaritan came along before we could get there and helped her get the truck out. Praise the Lord for Good Samaritans.

Matt got home safely sometime around 1 a.m.

Another day on short call today. I'm off until 11 am, so I'll go swimming this morning, then be on call the rest of the day. Not as much snow today, but windy.

8 December 2009

Last day off for me. I'm so happy we're getting 3 to 5 inches of snow tonight. That should be a lot of fun since I'll probably get called into work tomorrow. I've got that going for me at least.

What a day yesterday. I did a pretty tough swim workout (for me anyway...1 x 500 free; 5 x 100 IM). I came home and did some study on 1st Peter and could not stay awake. I ended up laying down for a nap at like 11 am!?! Got up and watched a BBC thriller, then dinner, then Campus Life, then home and to bed.

Today I'm going to swim, then maybe get an X-ray of my knee, then to the library, then home. Then probably make sure I can get my snow blower running since I've got a feeling I'm going to need it tomorrow.

7 December 2009

68th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor today. As Franklin Roosevelt reminded us on the 8th of December: Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a day that will live in infamy. True enough.

Sunday stuff yesterday. Morning church but we didn't go to Sunday school because Kelly was working and I had a meeting with Pat Sauer, to talk about Campus Life stuff.

Pat and I had a good meeting (hopefully). I just tried to point out the importance of his position as Campus Life club leader and the necessity to be above reproach in his actions and words. No one is perfect. No one is sinless, but due to the sensitivity of working with underage teens, he needs to have a life that leaves no room for accusation. Hopefully, he listened.

6 December 2009

Another day off for me. Yippee! Off to church, then I meet with Pat from Campus Life at 1 pm, and then evening church. It will be a busy day.

Yesterday was a day of accomplishing a lot around the house. I did some computer work in the morning, and then started in on the kitchen and bathrooms. After completing those I headed downstairs to clean Cujo's cage and the downstairs. By the time I had all of that accomplished, it was time to watch the SEC championship between Alabama and Florida. Alabama kicked serious rear end. If they play like that in the BCS Championship, they will be national champions.

We headed off to Riverview church for their Saturday evening service. We are starting to go there from time to time because there are some girls from Laingsburg that we want to get involved in a church and the Saturday evening service at Riverview allows us to attend with them. Noel Haikkenen spoke on forgiveness. Other than the fact that he looked like he crawled out of bed after sleeping in his clothes and headed straight for the pulpit, the sermon was fine. LOL.

They do communion in a weird way. They have stations around the auditorium that you walk to and then just eat the bread and drink the grape juice when you get back to your seat. The music was excellent. Very good drummer.

4 December 2009

Another day off for me today. Yesterday I spent the morning clearing out the mountain of paperwork on my desk in the morning. I went to church to meet with and talk to Mike, and then came home for lunch. After that I went back to church to talk with Bob Karr, then picked up Kelly, and then off to Badger and Kristen's to see Commander Kian. Played for an hour or so with Jack and then home to celebrate Matt's 19th birthday. After that I ran up to Laurel and Bonnie Painter to help them hook up their new television. Then home to read for a while and bed. Quick day. Good day.

Off to swimming this morning, then we're going to hit Panera's for bagels and coffee.

3 December 2009

A normal day off yesterday. Up early for devotions, then Cherie and I hit the pool at Haslett to swim. I did a warmup of 500 meters freestyle, then 3 x 50 meters backstroke. Then I worked on butterfly—my area of focus right now since I'm just learning it. 2 x 50 meters and then 2 x 25 meters with backstroke on the return 25 meters. My second 25 meters on the way back I suddenly felt like I was going to blow chow so I got out of the pool to rest. I decided to throw in the towel then and there, since I'd also swum the day before anyway. I love butterfly. Fun, but difficult stroke.

After that I came home and worked on finances; almost blew a gasket with Cablespeed since they did not credit me for a payment I made 3 months ago—their error! Cherie and I went to see the movie "The Blind Side," with Tim Lambert, very good movie, the best I've seen in a long, long time.

The Blind Side manages to hit a lot of themes very well without being preachy about it: racism, the gap between rich and poor, the value of the individual, the importance of family, the soul-destroying nature of the projects, the place of faith in the life of southern culture, etc.

Sandra Bullock is fantastic as the peripatetic mom who decides to take in Michael Oher on a whim and then sticks with him when she realizes that he is homeless. Tim McGraw is laid back and great as her husband. Their son (don't know his name) almost steals the show as a fast-talking motor-mouth who gladly accepts Michael as his older brother.

My favorite line from the movie is when a relative gets their Christmas card and calls up and says, "I've already had 5 beers so I'm just going to come out and ask you, 'Did you know you have a big colored boy in your Christmas picture?'"

Redeeming Black Friday

A day of collective national insanity. Kelly and Andy were off at 4.30 am to hit Walmart, more to experience the insanity than because they were looking for anything specific. Cherie initially planned not to go because she is on call for Jack (Kristen should have the baby any day now). However, by 5.30 am, the pull was too strong, she called Sue and they are off to enjoy standing in lines talking to people and shopping. I just can't get a handle on that.

Cherie says that it is a great day to meet and talk with people (the shared misery of standing in lines) and who knows where the conversation might lead. It is a chance to be an aroma of life to life to strangers. Pretty cool. Redeeming Black Friday. I like that.

Thanksgiving 2009

Actually, our Thanksgiving meal was yesterday, since I'm on call today and Ben works all day. We had a good time of fellowship and food. My pondering the thanksgiving that I was giving to the Lord this year was done in an email that I sent off to family. I'll try to get a copy of it and paste it in here.

A day at home yesterday. Computer work in the morning. Thanksgiving dinner. Hanging out in the evening and to bed early since I had to get up and get ready early (4 am it turned out to be). Today I'm on short call, so I'll hang around here close to the phone, and if I don't get called in and can get a cell phone signal, I'll go over to Sarah and Jerry's for lunch.

It probably sounds old to every year have, as the supreme "thanks" of Thanksgiving, God in the flesh, Christ, who came, who died on our behalf, who took God's wrath against sinners on himself so that I would not have to pay the penalty for my own sins. But we will still offer it up this year, because it should be always new, always fresh, always unbelievable, always astounding. God's wrath for sin was poured out upon God-in-the-flesh.

19 Nov 2009

Good day off yesterday. Went swimming in the morning, yardage was pretty small because I was working on my strokes. I did go 50m in the fly for the first time ever. The next try it was about 40m...I petered out and had to salvage the lap with freestyle. Met with Paul Lange and some cohorts about insurance, then had lunch with Lambertini. Stopped by Best Buy and then picked up Kelly from school and home. Jack came over and spent the evening with us. He is a lot of fun and extremely articulate. Definitely Irish!

Read an excellent interview with Kirk Cameron in Servant magazine this morning. He's in a difficult, high profile position, and handling it extremely well. I need to pray for him to be faithful!

My favorite quote: Three things are inextricably linked to being a Christian: self-denial, cross-bearing and submission to Christ as king. Kirk Cameron.

18 Nov 2009

Swam this morning, but not very far. My shoulder is bothering me a little when I swim freestyle, so I did not do my normal 500 meter freestyle warmup. Just 150 meters of freestyle/breaststroke. Then I did 2 sets of 4x50 butterfly, back, breast, free. First time I've made 50 meters with my (pathetic) fly. By the time I'd finished the 2 sets I was cooked, muscle-wise. Glad to see I'm in such excellent shape approaching 50! Hahahahahaha.

Meeting with Tim Lambert this morning for lunch and continuing with our book One Heartbeat Away. Then I've got some shopping to do at Best Buy, then pick up Kelly and head home. Days off are so short.

Pondering evolution and special creation some this morning as I drove. Whatever else one says about the issue, stepping back and looking at the world and its diversity and obvious design, and then looking at the claims of evolution, I'm at a loss for words. Did we come from turnips, as Richard Dawkins states in his latest book? Hardly.

SLC

We arrived into SLC at 0200 this morning (15 Nov) which is 0400 EST, which means I was flying a redeye! It wasn't too bad. My FO John Green, and I, had a good discussion on religion/evolution/Christianity on the flight out, so the time went by fairly quickly. John is quite opposed to Christianity and made that very clear. However, I think we were able to clarify some things which might at least point him a little further down the road. For instance, he pointed out that a person like him would not be welcome in church, and that Christians get into their little groups and keep to themselves. He is both correct and incorrect. I think he would be welcome in more churches than he suspects—not that he would be comfortable, but he would be welcome—however, I readily conceded the point about Christians mixing only with themselves. This is too often the case and it is sad and wrong. We should be in our community, mixing with and befriending everyone (to the extent that we can), invading bars and taking them over for Christ, and be willing and able to start relationships with whoever is willing to enter into one. God does not call us to change people and THEN enter into relationship with them. He calls us to enter into relationship and HE will take care of the change. It's so sad that we screw up that part of it and let a lot of people go merrily into eternity and damnation without reaching out to them.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

I had most of the day off in Cleveland since I don't leave until 11 p.m. (to take the Jazz back to SLC. I feel like a FedEx pilot!). Since the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is about a half mile from the hotel I decided to attend. It was a little pricey $22, but pretty cool. Some good audio exhibits, not to mention Michael Jackson's glove and some of the goofy outfits worn by rock stars. Probably my favorite part was U2 in 3d, a pretty long concert that they taped in Argentina. U2 has an admirable social conscience but they mix it up with a lot of syncretistic lyrics. I wouldn't call them Christian in any sense of the word, at least if I understand Bono's lyrics correctly. At any rate, they put on a good show and there were a lot of good shots of the drummer!

Finished up and headed back to the room for a nap, but didn't sleep. It's going to be a long night...

14 November 2009

Flew from PHL to CLE with the Utah Jazz tonight. Tough day, but someone had to do it. Sit all day in CLE then we take th Jazz back to SLC tomorrow night.

Nasty day in PHL. Windy and cool and rain. Studied some. Worked out. Took a nap. Normal layover stuff.

11 November 2009

Veteran's Day, 2009. A lot of men and women have served in the military, and they have served well. It is a great thing to honor them on this Veteran's Day in which our men and women are spread out (probably too spread out for our own good) across Iraq and Afghanistan (graveyard of empires). Congratulations, Vets!

Normal day yesterday. Study in the morning and then had lunch with Lambertini. Elder/Deacon meeting that night. We had a good discussion in the Elder meeting on theology and prophecy and the church constitution. No decisions made, but a good discussion. My complaint with our constitution is that we take positions on things that we shouldn't take positions on, like whether Christ is returning pre-mill, post-mill, or amill. Why lay out a position on that? What is important is that we believe that Christ is returning, in person, in body; that should be our hope, the rest is just details and why do we need to lay out details? It's the same with sign gifts. Have they ceased? Not ceased? Partially ceased? Who cares? Why get specific on sign gifts? I could go on, but you get the point.

9 Nov 2009

Church in the morning—skipped Sunday school because Kelly had to work and I didn't want to explain why she wasn't there. Then the 10th annual Laingsburg 5k/10k. I was supposed to run it with Adam Warren (my nephew), but he got grounded, so I ran it by myself. Suffered through the whole thing with my right calf aching and started too fast, so I was sucking wind bad! Finished though, in a disrespectable 25.02! Sore legs and what appears to be a torn calf, other than that, a great run!

Came home and enjoyed the sunshine and warm weather—absolute gorgeous day here yesterday, sunny and near 70, I felt like I was in California! Badger and Kristen and Jack came over and told us the name of #2 son—Kian Thomas. Then everyone left and I watched some football and worked on Logos 4 for most of the evening. Off to swimming this morning.

8 Nov 2009

Not too much interesting to relate. I'm in a block of 6 days off, then I go back on call for awhile. I have a 5k race today which I signed up for to run with my nephew, but then he got grounded so it looks like I'll run it myself. Should be pretty ugly I imagine, at least the weather is nice.

I've been installing Logos 4 for the past week. Interesting experience. It takes a lot of download time and then a lot of time to index your library, but once it gets through that it is blazingly fast on searches and has a lot of cool features. I especially like the feature that searches through my illustrations in all of my resources, very cool. Looking forward to using it a lot.

My wife is sitting next to me trying to break someone's score in Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. She's too competitive!

1 November 2009

We are officially controlled by Delta today, even though we're not officially Delta yet. The A-320 pilots and control of trips has switched over to being controlled from Atlanta, rather than Minneapolis. This will produce some nice changes (long call reserve is better), and some not nice changes (pay cut for reserves).

I was on call most of the week, although I called in sick for 2 days when I got what turned out to be the 24 hour flu (including blowing chow which I rarely do...fun night). I did not get called in to work. I'm not sure what to expect from being controlled by Delta although there isn't any open time between 2 and 5 November. Might be more sitting around for me. We shall see.

After swimming yesterday, I stopped by the library and then spent most of the rest of the day watching college football, including watching USC get their rear ends kicked by Oregon.

Church today, then maybe a nap, and then church again this evening. Matt off to work early and then I believe he'll go to church as well. Ben to church and then work and then back to college. Kelly spent the night at the Dippolds. Our kids are growing up quickly meaning we're slowly becoming empty-nesters. Slowly.

Praying a lot for Badger and Kristen as the financial situation with Campus Life is a little dicey. It is a good chance to refocus on the fact that God puts us in situations like that in order to get us to depend on him and learn to walk by faith and not by sight. It is not an easy lesson and one that we—as human as we are—are prone to forget.

27 October 2009

A day on call yesterday. I woke up at 3 a.m., thanks to Annie snoring, so I got a lot done before daybreak: Devotions, prayer, swimming. Got back home and worked on 1 Peter 3.7, some, and then took a nap to catch up on badly needed sleep. Since I was on short call I couldn't go to Campus Life.

They had one of four nights where they do a specific gospel presentation at Campus Life. I told Badger I would pray during the meeting. They were using the story of Humpty-Dumpty to introduce the gospel—brokenness and restoration—Badger was a little uncertain as to whether or not he should take that particular tack. The whole evening was a disaster. The video that they were going to use didn't work, and Humpty-Dumpty crashed and burned. Badger's text to me later that evening: The Humpty Dumpty thing sucked. No more nursery rhyme gospel things...ever.

Who knows, perhaps that was the lesson that God wanted him to learn from the evening. Perhaps God worked in a mysterious way despite the appearance of crash and burn, I don't know. I DO know that God often works in ways that we do not suspect. We will leave the outcome to the Lord, we will not be surprised if he does something unusual from the evening.

23 October 2009

Up at 1.45 am...ugh. I got up to go to the restroom at about 1 am (12.57 to be exact) and Matt wasn't home yet, which he should have been. He pulled in just as I was exiting the restroom. His late arrival got me thinking about the general direction of his life (or lack thereof) and before I knew it, sleep was out of the question. Got up. Did my devotions. Prayed. Practiced my sermon for Sunday. Roasted several batches of coffee. Pretty productive middle of the night, I guess. Too bad I won' be able to function after about 10 a.m...

One positive side effect concerning thinking about Matt in the middle of the night is that it certainly gets one to one's knees. That is actually a good thing. A God-given thing. I'm just like any other human being is, the better things go, the less I tend to rely on God. Difficult times create dependence, and dependence focuses us, again and again on God and his promises and his faithfulness and the necessity for prayer. Not that it makes things any easier, per se. Although refocusing on God and his promises and the efficacy of prayer, does tend to give one peace.

Thank you, O Lord, for peace in the midst of anxiety.

God, Medicine, and Healing

My sermon is NOT really about the title, it is about Proverbs 25.2. I just use the title as a subject for thinking through Solomon's statement here. At any rate, I'm pasting in the first draft of the written form of the sermon.

Science, Antibiotics, and Salvation

Prov 25.2

One of the things that drives much of modern science crazy in regards to Christians is that they are unwilling to admit what is plainly evident. What happens when a Christian becomes ill or is rushed to the hospital? Other Christians gather around and begin to pray for the person. Then modern medicine allows the person to be healed, and what do you find Christians doing? They turn around and declare to everyone who will listen that God healed that person! It’s maddening.

I’m not the only one to notice this. Here is a medical worker named Paul Olusegun:

Early this morning, I passed bye the Accident and Emergency Section of the University College Hospital Ibadan. As common with the department, accident victims were rushed their. One of such cases however caught my attention. Not the patient, but the relatives.

After handing over the accident victim to the medical team on duty, the relatives metamorphosed into a prayer team. With heads bowed and hands intertwined, they lifted up their sick relative to the host of heavens for divine healing. When I saw this, I just smiled, laughing at the misplaced priorities of the church people, while reading the latest soft copy of the British Medical Journal via my mobile phone.

Do you get what he is saying there? Christian injured in an accident. Christians pray. Modern medicine heals the person. Christians attribute it to God. What is going on here? Where was God 1000 years ago when people were dying of diseases like pneumonia, and tetanus, and the plague, that are now routinely either prevented or healed by discoveries in medicine? He didn’t heal them then, but he does heal them now. Do you see the irrational nature of this reasoning? It’s enough to drive a thinking person crazy.

How is it that you Christians can reason this way, and take yourselves seriously?

I believe that Solomon has given us the beginning of an answer to that admittedly difficult question in Proverbs 25.2. It is a very short verse. In the Hebrew there is only 8 words and two of the words are repeated, so there are only 6 unique words in this verse, and yet, when you get started thinking about them, the depth contained in these 6 words is nothing short of astounding.

Let’s pick it up at verse 1. “These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied. It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.” (Prov 25:1-2 ESV).

What’s going on here is that apparently at the time of Hezekiah, the king ordered some of his men to go back through the writings of Israel and find the proverbs of Solomon and copy them down so that they are not lost. They already had much of Solomon’s wisdom, but they wanted to make sure they didn’t lose anything. One way to translate this verse would be to say, Here are more wise sayings given by Solomon that were gathered together by the writers in King Hezekiah’s court (UBS).

So Proverbs 25.2 is the very first saying that they record. As I said, in the Hebrew just 8 words. It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. Let’s jump in here and see if we can figure out what Solomon meant. We can organize the passage in this way. First, how is it God’s glory to hide things? What did Solomon mean by that? Second, How is it a king’s glory to search things out? And, third, what is the point of what Solomon says? Why did he write this?

How is it God’s glory to hide things?

It is the glory of God to hide things. What does Solomon mean here? First, let’s point out what he does not mean. He does not mean that it is the glory of God to hide all things. Just by making the statement Solomon implies that. If Solomon meant that it is God’s glory to hide all things he would never have discovered that it was God’s glory to hide things, right? We would have no Bible, and no revelation of God. So he obviously doesn’t mean all things.

So what does he mean then? He means that it is God’s glory to hide or to conceal some things. Every biblical writer understands this fact. Deuteronomy 29.29 says: The secret things belong to the Lord our God. In the book of Job, Zophar says, quite correctly: Can you solve the mysteries of God? Can you discover everything about the Almighty? Such knowledge is higher than the heavens and who are you? It is deeper than the underworld, what do you know? (Job 11.7,8 NLT). Paul concurs: In Romans 11.33, he writes: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” Solomon is doing nothing more here than agreeing with the rest of the Scriptures.

We’ve established then that Solomon is correct in what he says, but we want to answer the question, How is it God’s glory to hide things? Let me give you two possible reasons why it is God’s glory to hide things, one concerns what he does not reveal, and one concerns what he allows to be discovered.

First, it is God’s glory to hide things because he is God. If we understood him completely then he would no longer be God. He is infinite, we are not infinite. If we understood all there was to know about God, then he would not be infinite any longer. We would have him all wrapped up in a nice little box and be able to say, here is God, systematized and categorized from A to Z. That would no longer be Paul’s God; the God whose wisdom and knowledge are so deep that his judgments are unsearchable and his ways inscrutable.

The fact that God conceals some things from men, and that we cannot figure him out reveals the limitations of man. We do not know everything. We are finite. No matter how much we would like to, we cannot systematize and categorize God. As Lucy put it to Mr. Timnus, when describing Aslan in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, “He is not a tame lion.” No, Mr. Timnus answers, but he is good. How brilliantly C. S. Lewis captures the nature of God in that little interaction. We are not going to tame God. We are not going to get him into a little box of our own understanding.

One commentator put it this way: The glory of God consists in this, to conceal a matter, i.e., to place before men mystery upon mystery, in which they become conscious of the limitation and insufficiency of their knowledge, so that they are constrained to acknowledge, Deut. 29:28, that “secret things belong unto the Lord our God.

Charles Spurgeon captures the essence of this truth. Surely a God whom we could understand would be no God. We delight in being out of our depth—in finding waters to swim in where understanding with its little plumline finds no bottom, but where love with a restful spirit finds perfect peace.

So one way that the Lord is glorified by concealing a matter is that it reveals his infinite nature, which is a stark contrast to our finite nature. He is great. We are not.

The second way that God is glorified by concealing things is in how they are discovered. It is a fact, as we shall see in the second half of this verse, that God created Man for discovery, that is what glorifies Man. He so constructed the universe that it is discoverable, and in this God is glorified. Let me work out what I mean by asking a question. With which creator are we more impressed? With one who reveals everything about his creation all at once, or with one who, the deeper one goes into his creation, the more one finds? Or let me put it another way. Compared to what people living in 1000 AD knew about God, does he look greater now than he did then? Back then they believed that God created the stars and they could count at most about 2000 thousand in the night sky. Now, as astronomy has discovered there are an estimate 100 million stars in our galaxy alone, and there may be as many as 500 billion galaxies.! Does God look greater now than he did in 1000 AD? You bet he does, because we have discovered more about the world. In fact, the more we discover, the greater God looks, and that is to his glory.

Discovery is glory! When I was an elementary student I learned that in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue, and “discovered” America. Yawn. Who cares? I live in America, that was a long time ago, we’ve been there, done that, got that T-shirt. However, I can tell you exactly where I was and what I was doing (I was glued to the television) on July 20, 1969, when Neal Armstrong was the first man to step onto the moon. Now THAT fired my imagination. THAT I remember. Why? Because it was a new discovery. Columbus was old news, but the moon. Cool!

The more we discover about the universe, the greater God looks, because we understand his might and power and creative genius a little bit better. So God is glorified in what we discover about his creation. He didn’t reveal it all at once for just that reason. The glory of a creator is greater as we discover the intricacies of what he has created.

Be careful that you don’t miss this point. One of the reasons, I believe, that God did not just write a gigantic manual of everything that he had done in creation and plop it into Adam’s lap was because as we discover more about him, his glory becomes greater and greater. This gradual unfolding, over the centuries, of our understanding of what God has created makes him look ever increasingly great in our eyes.

So God is glorified both by concealing some things, and by first concealing some things and then allowing them to be discovered.

The Glory of Kings

The statement that stand opposite Solomon’s statement about God is: It is the king’s glory to search things out. Where it is God’s glory to conceal a matter, it is the king’s glory to search things out. How is it the kings glory to search things out and what does Solomon mean?

Most commentators think that Solomon is speaking about the king in his role as ruler of the kingdom. So that what he means here is that, a good king will search out every side of an issue before making a decision. He will carefully weigh all issues, search them out, and understand them, before he comes to a conclusion and acts. One commentator puts it this way: A king’s subjects hold him in awe and glorify him when he diligently investigates a matter and does not make his decisions on the basis of superficial understanding.

I do agree with that interpretation; however, I think Solomon’s statement goes beyond just the king’s role in ruling his kingdom. Why do I think that? First, the word that the ESV things is a word that has multiple meanings, just like our English word thing. For instance, thing can mean an object, like when I point to something on the table and say, “would you hand me that thing?” It can be an action, like when I say, “The building is on fire, do something.” If you’re Dr. Seuss, it can even be a person like Thing 1 and Thing 2 who invade the house in the book The Cat in the Hat. The Hebrew word is exactly the same. It can mean, word, or matter, or something. It is an intentionally vague word that Solomon uses here. God hides things. Kings search things out. What things? Are they the same things? Different things? We do not know. Solomon doesn’t tell us. He leaves it for us to figure out.

Second, the kings of Solomon’s age were more than just lawgivers and rulers. Here is what one commentator says: Kings were the scientists of the ancient world — the people with the time and money and human resources to investigate the world around them and the heavens above them. Solomon himself, who wrote this proverb, boasted elsewhere: “I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 1.12-13).

So when Solomon says that it is the glory of kings to search things out, I think he is speaking beyond just matters of law and governance, to the world around him and also to the spiritual world. All of those things it is the kings glory to search things out. In fact, I think we could easily apply this to our modern world by saying, “It is Man’s glory to search things out.”

Eugene Peterson captures the essence of what Solomon means very well in his paraphrase, The Message. He interprets the verse in this way: God delights in concealing things; scientists delight in discovering things. I think that begins to get at the essence of what Solomon means here.

It is the king’s glory, or Man’s glory to search things out because that is how God has made us. One might argue that the fundamental outward aspect of man that separates him from the rest of creation is this compulsion to discover, to look around at the world and understand it. You don’t find animals trying to explain the world around them, or the passing of the seasons, or how long a year is. You don’t find plants investigating the solar system, nor amoeba, nor rocks or rivers. You find man in an endless pursuit to understand all of that. That is in part, what we were created for. It glorifies Man when we search things out, when we understand God’s creation just a little bit better, and it glorifies God when we discover things that he has not revealed to us, because it makes him just that much greater.

Solomon has discovered this symbiotic relationship between God’s glory and Man’s glory. In what God has hidden that we CAN search out, Man is glorified because he is doing what he was created to do—discover things—and God is glorified because his glory as we discover his power and majesty in creation looms ever larger.

Why Is This Here?

So it is God’s glory to conceal things and it is the king’s glory, or we say, Man’s glory, to search things out. What is the point of this passage? How might it help us understand this difficulty we put at the beginning of the sermon where people are healed by modern medical discoveries but we followers of Christ ascribe the healing to God?

This little verse by Solomon helps etch a foundation for the rise of modern science. God certainly could have revealed everything about creation to Adam so that we fully understood it from the beginning of time itself. But why didn’t he? I can think of two reasons. First, it would have negated from the very beginning what it is that makes Man, Man. This desire to search out. What is there to discover when we know everything from the beginning? Nothing. So part of the reason that there is this gradual unfolding of knowledge through the ages is that it allows this symbiotic glory relationship. Man gets to do what he was created for—discovery—and God is revealed as a greater and greater creator.

Christians were on the leading edge of the rise of modern science because they understood this. Blaise Pascal, Robert Boyle, Michael Faraday, Isaac Newton, Gregor Mendel, Louis Pasteur, Samuel Morse, and Johannes Kepler among others were all Christians. They believed that God was a God of order and that he created an ordered world, and that it was discoverable, and that the more Man discovered, the greater God looked.

Johannes Kepler was an astronomer. He discovered and formulated Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. He wrote this about his motive for doing so: Here we are concerned with the book of nature, so greatly celebrated in sacred writings. It is in this that Paul proposes to the Gentiles that they should contemplate God like the Sun in water or in a mirror. Why then as Christians should we take any less delight in its contemplation, since it is for us with true worship to honor God, to venerate him, to wonder at him? The more rightly we understand the nature and scope of what our God has founded, the more devoted the spirit in which that is done.

Do you see what he is saying there? He is saying that the deeper we understand the God of creation, the deeper will be our wonder and praise of him.

The second possible reason—I’m not God he didn’t reveal this to me, it’s just an educated guess—that God didn’t reveal everything from the beginning and so save Man from the scourge of death and disease, is that it would have essentially negated the effects of sin upon Man. C. S. Lewis once wrote that pain is God’s megaphone to a deaf world. I think he was correct. Had Man been protected from all of the consequences of the Fall of Adam, what reason would they have had to seek God? You see this in the modern world. Man does not seek out God’s help when he is sick, just the doctor. It is only Christians who seek both God and the doctor.

So follow my thinking here because this is very important for our understanding of God and for why we are happy to make ourselves look foolish to unbelieving scientists by praising God for the healing of someone by modern medicine. The rise of modern medicine and the discovery of antibiotics and treatments for nasty things like diabetes and yellow fever and hepatitis, is nothing more than Man discovering what God has written into the fabric of what he created. This is why, when a Christian gets sick, we gladly take them to the doctor. We want to use our brains and take advantage of what Man has discovered about how God created the world. We are happy to go to the doctor. I don’t know about you, but I am thankful to God that I live in the age of modern medicine. But where did the possibility for modern medicine come from? It came from the God of creation. Johannes Kepler understood this.

So what do we say to people like Paul Olusegen? Actually, we let Paul speak to us. I didn’t tell you the whole story. Paul is a follower of Jesus Christ and works in the medical profession. Here’s what else he wrote:

Being a christian and a medical practitioner, is therefore a difficult status of an individual who is inquisitive and that still wants to trust God, just like any other person. Trust me, it's not that easy. When someone testifies of God's healing in church, the congregation, especially those without medical affiliation, jumps and shouts while for people like me with many pages of medical textbooks in their brains, we reflect and try to fathom what God has just done. The reasons, motives, and justifications for the healing…This brings me to a unique understanding of God and His humanly bizarre ways of doing things.

The first understanding I have is that of creation itself. There are more than enough reasons and evidences pointing to the fact that creation, and not evolution, is the origin of the earth and the entire universe. Since it is God that created the universe, He knows the right 'reset button' to hit when things are wrong and it is when He presses the button that healing results.

Also, the Bible declares Him as the ultimate healer who understands the human anatomy and physiology more than any Grey and Ganong, or Paul (that's me), all put together.According to the Bible, He formed man from dust hence he knows the joints, fluids, synapses and homeostasis more than anyone had or can. We should therefore not be surprised or amazed by His actions. I've also come to realize that His actions are without explanations and to enjoy life, good health, success, and the likes, one needs to draw closer to Him who is the fountain.

When I'm leaving the clinic later today, I hope to see that small but active prayer group and if they are praying when I pass bye, I will join and say Amen hoping that my miracles would be next in line.

21 October 2009

My sister's 53rd birthday today. I need to catch up on my posts here since I hardly wrote anything while we were on vacation in California. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to do so yet. Home sick with a cold for day 3. I'll be on call tomorrow and then have three more days off before being on reserve for the rest of the month. Goodie gum drops!

Hung around the house all day yesterday. Took care of some paperwork. Wrote my sermon for Sunday evening. Took a nap (since I was awake at 3.20 am!?!).

Scenes from Visiting California

A great demonstration of communication after 36 years of marriage. We pull into Mary's house to drop her off. Mary: I think I forgot my key. She checks. She did. Mary: Where is Tim, he should be home by now. I would call him, but I don't get any reception here. I give her my phone. She dials Tim. Mary: Tim, where are you. Tim: At the train station waiting to pick you up. Mary: Didn't I tell you that John was going to drop me off? Tim: No. Mary: I must have told you. Tim: You didn't.

Becky and Cherie are discussing why Kelly couldn't come out with us. (She had to take the PSAT test). Cherie: Didn't you take the PSAT? It's the foundation for all college scholarships. Becky: No. I took the SAT and ACT, but no PSAT. Cherie: Are you sure? You probably can't get a scholarship without taking it. Becky: Nope. No PSAT for me. Of course I am the only Davis kid who got no scholarship dollars at all. She stops for a minute. I'm also the only Davis kid to get fired from a volunteer job. But hey, I'm also the only Davis with a CIF ring. That pretty much trumps all that other stuff.

Junior says that after Katie marrying him, he's not sure if Becky will ever get married because he has raised the bar too high for all the other guys out there. Junior: Katie married Thai Gold. (He flexes his muscles). Me: Isn't Thai Gold a type of marijuana. Junior: No. It's a type of opium. Alrighty then!

California!!!

Cherie and I are in California. We flew out yesterday morning, direct from Detroit to John Wayne airport. We even stopped to pay our respects to the Duke himself, or his statue anyway. Spent a good day with Mom and Dad talking mostly. Took a nap and a walk through Leisure World, before hitting the hay at around 9 pm.

9 October 2009

Day 4 of vacation. Everyone took the cars so I was left at home with no transportation, which was fine with me. I didn't have anywhere to go anyway. I practiced the drums for a while, then did some initial study since I'm preaching on the evening of the 25th, I think I'm going to preach on Proverbs 25.2. Took a nap in the afternoon, met with an insurance guy for the church and then watched some Psych episodes with Cherie before reading for a while. Ben came in at 10.30 and talked for a little while, then Kelly came in just before midnight. Then finally...sleep.

Bonnie Opper had her bone marrow transplant today. The operation went well, but now the waiting and seeing how bad the GVHD (Graft Versus Host Disease) will be. Her husband, Steve, has done an excellent job of keeping everyone up to date on her treatment. They will be in Detroit for several months. Their experience is, in part, why I am preaching on Proverbs 25.2. If Bonnie recovers (and we pray that she will), the Oppers, and we, will praise the Lord for healing her. A skeptic will look on and point out, "wait a minute, it was science that saved Bonnie, not God." So how can we praise God when the actions of modern medicine saved her? Where was God in the centuries leading up to modern medicine? A good question.

This is where Proverbs 25.2, and the wisdom of Solomon come in. It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. What does Solomon mean here? I believe he means that God's glory is demonstrated in a more powerful way when he does not reveal everything. As we discover, over the centuries, more and more about the order in nature and the intricacies of creation, and the power of science to heal the sick through antibiotics and bone marrow transplants, we learn more and more about the character and power of God. It is this unfolding, these new discoveries, that demonstrate God's glory more and more. A child is more impressed in the searching for and finding Easter eggs, then he would be if you just piled them up onto a table and gave them to him all at once. Where would be the joy of discovery in that?

If Bonnie is healed, it will be of God, through the marvelous power of modern medicine, which harnesses the discoveries of God's creative acts.

8 October 2009

Day number three of vacation, and how quickly it is going. It was kind of a busy day yesterday, although I really didn't have much to get done. In the morning I practiced drums and then Lambertini came over for lunch as we started the book, One Heartbeat Away. Cherie and I went out on a date for dinner (Outback), then to Paneras for coffee and a crash course in using the iPhone applications. We came home and watched a surprisingly good Hallmark movie before going to bed. I ended up awake until midnight because I couldn't sleep.

Kelly worked until about 8 p.m., and Nicole Confer came over and ate pancakes with Matt. Pretty normal day, I guess.

Today we go to Mitch McAllister's funeral. Mitch was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease about 5 years ago. He just got through the earliest phase which is characterized by anger and mood swings. His wife found him when she arrived home, on the living room couch, dead. I have not heard how he died yet, although everyone suspects a heart attack. A death of natural causes would be a severe mercy from God, as C. S. Lewis once put it. Alzheimer's is a horrible disease and early onset is perhaps the worst form because it lasts so long and is such an incredible burden on the caregivers. It was good of God to take Mitch home early. He was a follower of Christ. He is in heaven. We will see him again. May you rest in peace, Mitch McAllister, until Christ returns.

30 September 2009

A day of work. I was assigned a trip that left at 19.25, so I had most of the day off. Worked out in the morning (still have some tendinitis in my left knee) and then took a nap before heading down to DTW. DTW-LAX as a passenger (the airlines call it "deadheading."). Ugh. I had an aisle seat, but it's still crowded and miserable.

I did manage to get some study done on 1 Peter 3.1-6. I'm at the point where I look up the word meanings. One of the most fascinating things I found was in 1 Peter 3.3, where Peter tells wives not to concentrate on their external adornment, the word for adornment in the Greek is cosmos, which stands mainly for world—we get the word cosmology from the Greek. Huh? After a little digging, I discovered that the word means "to put in order," or "to arrange," and the Greeks took to calling the world, "the cosmos," because (unlike modern man) they saw the careful order in it. Since putting on makeup and getting carefully dressed involves getting oneself in order, it's easy to see how cosmos was used for adornment. Indeed, we get our word cosmetics from the greek word cosmos. Pretty cool, eh?

29 September 2009

Another normal day on call. Got up. Did my devotions. Spent most of the morning studying 1 Peter 3.1-6, where Paul gives instructions to believing wives. Waited around all afternoon for our treadmill to be delivered and then put it together, not to mention taking a 2 mile run on it. I was home alone for the evening. Cherie was out with her group of high school girls; Kelly was with Andy, Brie, and Andy's brother; Matt was at Waverly for Campus Life. I ended up going to bed early.

Off to LAX this evening; then a redeye to TPA, and back home Saturday evening.

28 September 2009

A day of being on call. Woke up, did my devotions, headed off for the Haslett pool to swim. I only managed 1100 yards. Swimming once a month is not conducive to getting into excellent swimming shape! Came home and paid some bills. Wasted over an hour with Cablespeed trying to get my bill sorted out, to no avail. Worked with 1 Peter. Took a nap. Campus Life. Monday Night Football. Read some. To bed. An uneventful day.

Typical Sunday

It was a typical Sunday yesterday, woke up, did my devotions, and then off to church. I missed Sunday school because I was on call and my phone does not get reception in the basement of the church. Home for lunch, then a nap, then read and watched football until it was time to go to church. Evening church where we commissioned Mike and Teresa Alchin for ministry at Barakel (and heard an excellent sermon on 2 Samuel 24. Then back home, a lot of reading, and bed. Unfortunately, I awoke at 4 am!

One note of interest from 2 Samuel 24. The parallel passage to this one (2 Chr 21.1) says that Satan incited David against Israel. Perhaps the easiest explanation of this discrepancy is that both statements are true. This would track with what we actually see happening in Job where God allows Satan to attack all that Job has, even his body, but not to kill Job. In this case God is responsible on one level and Satan on another. Satan could not have done what he did had God not allowed it.

Football Saturday

I had to run out to Best Buy to buy a hard drive for our iMac G5, since it died last week. I spent most of the rest of the day putting it in. It didn't take that long to install, but re-installing the operating system took a couple of hours, then I had to run a backup to save what I could of the old hard drive, that also took a couple of hours. After getting it up and running, I thought I had a newer backup so I installed that. As it so happened what I installed was a backup I had done for my Macbook Pro. Doh! Re-install old backup. The computer finally finished about 1 am. Thankfully, the computer did most of the work itself, but it took a long, long time.

Spent most of the day watching football and working on the computer. I did manage a two mile run on the treadmill, and a couple of sets of pull-ups.

Recovery Day

We took a rest day after our century on Thursday. I went out out to breakfast with Cherie (pancakes at Flapjacks, Dewitt). Then we ran some errands in town, then we had lunch with Matt at Applebees. A few more errands and then we went home. Cherie and I watched a couple of movies on Netflix and talked with Dakota when he got home from work and then off to bed for us.

Dakota was complaining about his upcoming geology trip to the UP—costs too much, mixing it up with everyone else, etc. We tried to point out (and I think Dakota understands), that God doesn't waste situations like this. He put Dakota on the trip for a purpose, so, rather than complain about it, he ought to be asking, "Okay God, for what purpose did you send me on this trip?"

God's ways are mysterious and he doesn't always show us plainly what he is doing, but some guesses were: To force Dakota out of his comfort zone in regards to interacting with people (he's a bit of an introvert...okay a lot of an introvert); to make him trust the Lord for money, rather than Krogers; to demonstrate Christ's love by living it out for a weekend with people who are mostly strangers. The list can go on and on.

The point is this: When you are thrust into a situation that you do not want to be in, take it as God means it to be, an opportunity in some way. God never wastes incidents like this. He put you in it for a reason. Look for the opportunity that he is going to bring to grow you to be more like him, to grow you in service to him, to demonstrate his love, trust, dependence, etc. You get the idea.

Century #6

Cherie and I completed our 6th century of the year yesterday. We were going to follow the route of the "Middle of the Mitten" century, which starts in Midland, Michigan. The ride is on Saturday, but it is supposed to rain on Saturday, so we decided to do it on Thursday. The only problem was that we never did find, the stupid route!?! Fortunately, there is a gorgeous rails-to-trails bikeway, that goes from Midland to Clare. We took that to Clare, then rode further west for about 8 miles before turning around and having lunch at McDonalds in Clare. From that point we rode back toward Midland, with a 10 mile detour so we could get in the full century. I have tendinitis in my left knee and that started bothering me a lot on the ride back. With the help of ibuprofen, I made it, but it was a painful last 20 miles.

Cherie was bothered by allergies and said she didn't feel too well coming back from Clare, but you couldn't really tell it, she kept up, no problem and even took some turns pulling. We finished. It was a beautiful day, and a lot of fun.

22 September 2009

Left on a two day trip this morning. DTW-BWI-(sit for 3 hours, Grrr.....) LAS. Then day two we will go LAS-DTW (sit for 3 hours, Grrr....)-MKE-DTW. Then 3 days off. It was a pretty nice day to fly. A bit turbulent, but BWI wasn't bad and LAS was severe clear as it is most of the time. We landed in LAS almost at sunset with the sun directly into our eyes, which was kind of difficult. It was sort of like landing by faith, "I think the runway is clear..."

Hit the hotel in LAS, got something to eat, and then went to bed. Tired.

21 September 2009

I had to get up at 0450 to make a 0915 departure for Denver so that I could get a line check on the way back from Denver. This was day of work 8 out of 9. I'm on call today, but hopefully I won't have to go in. At least the weather was gorgeous. The check pilot was Rainier Jennings who I know pretty well. He is a good guy. The line check went great and I was back home by 1900, tired. Watched some of the Cowboys/Giants game and then went to bed at 2200.

I woke up this morning at 0450 when my alarm went off for yesterday. Doh!

John Piper sent out the following tweet last week which made me put my thinking cap on. "God is the only Person for whom self-exaltation is an act of love. "He exalts himself to show mercy to you" (Isaiah 30:18).

Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.

For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.

Just so. Hard to get a handle on at first, but the Scriptures mean exactly what they say, and Piper is exactly correct. For any other being in the universe self-exaltation would be an act of sin. Since God is the highest being, self-exaltation for him is good and right because their is nothing higher or greater or mightier or more praiseworthy than himself.

16 September 2009

Absolutely cooked, zonkered, wiped out. Didn't sleep very well last night and today was a full day of study with an exam at the end, followed by 4 more hours of study for tomorrow. Barely had enough energy to wade through my devotions. Too bed for me. I hope I sleep better tonight.

Missed my Dad's birthday, great son that I am...

14 September 2009

16th floor of the International Plaza Hotel and Resort (soon to become the Doubletree Resort) doing my devotions. Hot and humid here in Orlando, but a beautiful resort. 3 pools, one with a waterfall, beautiful workout room, HDTV. These Delta pilots do know how to live.

Flew from SEA to MEM to MCO yesterday and got in around 11 p.m. The northwest was gorgeous, clear and warm, it was a gift from God just to be there for 18 hours. I ate dinner and breakfast at the Specialty Coffee house near the hotel. They make absolutely killer pastries. Their sandwiches are great too.

I'm working on memorizing 2 Corinthians 2.14-17, which is a favorite passage. I finish a four day this evening, sleep in the pilot lounge, then leave for MSP tomorrow morning for 4 days of training. Wow, I'm really looking forward to THAT.

11 September 2009

I awoke at 4.30 to the sound of a bell going off in the hallway (Park Plaza, Boson). A fire alarm? Is there a fire? Unfortunately, after traveling so much, I'm too lackadaisical about such alarms. They are usually false. I get dressed slowly and finally leave my room when everyone else is coming back to their rooms. Apparently there was a fire alarm on the 15th floor and the 14th and 15th floors were supposed to evacuate. I'm on the 8th floor. I go back to my room and the stupid key won't work.

No way I'm taking the elevator. I go down one set of stairs that leads to the street, then back up to find a stairway to the lobby. After winding around in a maze, I eventually stumble onto the lobby. I wait in line 10 minutes while some lady argues with the counter guy about how the hotel personnel handled the fire alarm. She gets nowhere. Neither I, nor the counter guy understands what she wants, except maybe to vent about being forced up in the middle of the night.

I finally get to the counter and get my room key reset. I start up the stairs but can't remember the way through the maze to get to the 8th floor. I head for the elevator. They tell us to go to the staff elevators because the regular ones will "take forever." A bunch of us pile into the staff elevator. The door closes and the elevator lurches and then stops. The girl next to me tells her husband, "I'm getting off this elevator." Her husband reassures her. We stop at the 3rd floor. The door opens and closes and the elevator lurches twice, but doesn't go anywhere. The door reopens. The girl and her husband (and me) decide it will be better to climb the stairs. I finally get back to my room at 5.15. No more sleep for me tonight.

7 September

Recovery day from DALMAC. Spent most of the day studying for training next week. More to do tomorrow. Watching the Miami - Florida State game right now. It's a pretty good one with a quarter to go.

5 September

103 miles from Lake City to Boyne City today. Gorgeous weather again. High about 79, very light winds.

We had one crash but no one was injured and we all finished with only a few cuts and bruises on Ed Sawyers' body. We did a trip up "the wall," then back down and up the alternate route then up the climb for tomorrow to Kathryn Hixson's father's house. Finally back down to Boyne City.

I had a flat at the high school. First change and the stem broke. Second change and the stem was leaking. Third change and it was fixed...until I discovered that the tire was warped. I had to buy a tire and change it a fourth time. Grr...

One funny incident; we were at the top of the hill out of Boyne City and here came Ed Sawyer up the hill past Boyne City. He asked, "where is the high school?" We answered, "back down the hill you just climbed!"

God gave us a great day and kept us safe during our crash. He also allowed me to get the flat after I arrived at the high school for the night.

4 September

Vestaburg, MI, on the morning of day 2 in DALMAC. We had an absolutely fabulous day yesterday, ultra light winds, sunny, and clear.

We left at 0745, stopped for lunch in Perrinton and arrived in Vestaburg around 1300. I had to get in 8 more miles because we left from home vice MSU. When I got back, Cherie already had the tent set up! Took nap and then watched the Vestaburg football game. Gorgeous full moon last night.

Spent some of the ride going through my prayer list, missionaries mainly.

3 September

Heading out on the first leg of DALMAC this morning. Laingsburg to Vestaburg. Should get in about 70 miles. Weather should be gorgeous, this is probably the best week of summer so far. Thank you, Lord! Experiencing a little bit of tendonitis in my left knee so we'll see how it goes.

Slow day yesterday. Packed for DALMAC, took care of some bills. Dropped our stuff off at MSU so we could leave from here this morning. We are good to go...well, as good as we're going to get anyway. Cherie's foot is a problem. Who knows if she'll be able to make it.

Whatever difficulty we may be facing is paltry compared to the Valley of the Shadow of death that Steve and Bonnie Opper are going through. She has leukemia; he has non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Both had chemo. Steve will have radiation. Bonnie will hopefully get a bone marrow transplant. Through it all (Steve discovered his cancer in the midst of Bonnie's treatment) they have glorified God. Quite a testimony. I'm humbled by their demonstration of faith in a situation where it's difficult to know what God is up to.

2 September

Last day before we start out on our 2nd DALMAC. We're both really excited although Cherie has a foot injury and I'm recovering from tendonitis in my knee. 70 miles, 80 miles, 100 miles, 72 miles. It should be a lot of fun and looks like the weather is going to be okay!

Busy day yesterday. We rode up to Owosso to see Lance and Mike (last ride before DALMAC), then ran into Lansing to get stuff at Walmart and Sam's Club. Back home and grab some stuff to pack today and then hung out in the basement in the evening, practiced the drums, watched some television. Too tired to read any more at 9.15 pm, but wide awake at 3 am this morning.

29 August

On our teen retreat with a bunch of high school and jr high kids. Did a high ropes course, some skits, capture the flag, campfire, met a lot of new kids I didn't know. Pulled a hamstring running around. All in all a pretty good day.

Cherie's foot still bothering her so we may have to do something about it when we get home.

Ben's brakes will cost 500, but that's life with cars. Not a lot you can do but suck it up and pay.

My knee feels better though.

28 August

I have a nasty case of tendonitis in my knee brought on by my biking cleat being in the wrong position and riding a century last Saturday. I may not be able to ride DALMAC which would be a serious bummer. Oh well, I can’t do much about it but pray for healing and understand that God’s plan is best. Cherie woke up with something bothering her foot that looks like a cyst or something right where she pedals. She’s iffy for DALMAC as well. If we make it, it will be God’s doing; if we don’t make it, that will also be God’s doing.

Speaking of Cherie, she had a horrible, no good, very bad, day yesterday. She went to Urgent Care to have her foot checked out and ended up wasting a whole day for them to tell her that it wasn’t a blood clot. All fine and dandy, but they don’t know exactly what it is, and certainly didn’t “fix” it. Then she was driving home and got her first ticket ever! At 52! Not too bad considering, but she was a little down when she got home. The weather did not help. It’s been rainy and lousy for the past couple of days, as if we were in March or November instead of August. Horrible summer here in Michigan.

I didn’t get much accomplished yesterday. I ran 1.5 miles and my knee bothered me afterward from the tendonitis. Then I pretty much read the rest of the day until Cherie got home; First Family by David Baldacci. Pretty interesting book, not great, but a good story.

Off to Rodney, Michigan with the Youth Group this evening for a weekend of drawing closer as a group. The weather won’t be great, but it should be fun anyway.

Senator Ted Kennedy died the day before yesterday. He started out his political career as pro-life, but switched part way through and became a long time, and vocal supporter of abortion rights (I actually read a magazine article about the Kennedy family switch. Fascinating. Political expediency aided by a member of the Catholic clergy who “justified” abortion for them). At any rate, whatever else he accomplished in his political career, if one cannot find in one’s heart room to stand up for the weakest among us, the most disenfranchised, the one with the least powerful voice, then, in my view, whatever else one “accomplishes” for the neglected of society is of little worth.

25 August

I got to lap swim yesterday! Yay!! It has been about 7 years since I’ve been able to swim in a pool. We gave up our YMCA membership and then I had some injuries and basically didn’t have time or a place to swim. We discovered recently that Haslett has some lap swim times in their beautiful pool, so Kelly and I went down and swam laps yesterday. I sucked wind and only swam 600 yards, but I’ll improve. I think I should be able to swim there at least once a week, if not twice this winter, so I’m really looking forward to it. I also kayaked a couple of miles yesterday. Nice to get back into the kayak. I screwed up my knee on our century ride Saturday so I’m taking a couple of days off and hoping it gets better before our ride from East Lansing to Mackinac.

I was struck in Scripture reading this morning from Lamentations 2.14, that the one way to bring back success from a godly standpoint is to have one’s sins revealed. Fascinating. Obviously, in God’s standards there is not compatibility between sin and success. You want success? You can’t keep sinning. You want to keep sinning. You will not attain success.

23 August

“To the Lord belong escapes from death.” Cherie, Sue, and I were on a century bike ride yesterday—Pompeii, Ithaca, Alma, Ithaca, Ashley, Elsie, Ovid, home—and were on a road about as wide as Meridian Rd., when two cars passed a car that was in the opposite lane coming towards us. The first guy saw us and was back in his own lane when we passed him. The second guy did not. He flashed by in our lane at 55 or 60 mph. So in two lanes there was the car he was passing, him, and us. He probably missed us by a foot or so. A few more inches and he would have taken all three of us out. Not this day, however, because God preserved our lives, literally. We are grateful. Oh, and if you’re a skeptic, we also believe that “to the Lord belong non-escapes from death” as well. Our times are in his hands. We defer to him. If he is ready to call us home, we are ready. At any time.

It was an interesting ride. Sue fell crossing some railroad tracks and whacked her head on the asphalt. Hard. So hard she broke her helmet, but her head was fine. At any rate, I finished my 3rd century of the summer, and Cherie her 4th. Not bad for two old fogies.

We took Ben’s bike up to him on Saturday evening and took he and Ashley to dinner at Lone Star steak house. What did Ben eat? A steak? Nope. A cheeseburger. Back home and some decaf and then to bed. It’s off to church early for me to meet with a couple of guys at 8 a.m., then church and Sunday school. Then home to do some house cleaning. Then back to church. Busy Sunday.

21 August

Up early thanks to being a natural morning lark. Devotions and then off to work for just one day. DTW-MSP-DTW. Beautiful day coming over, sitting in the plane getting ready to go back home. Middle seat. Ugh.

Home after several stops.

News of the day is the Evangelical Lutheran C. Assoc. Voted today to allow gays in “committed relationships” and be clergy. Translation it is okay to totally reject the clear teaching of Scripture and not only call yourself a Christian but be a leader of Christians! Where to start on this. It certainly spells the death knell for the ELCA not to mention demonstrates to the world that the Scriptures take a backseat to expediency. May God have mercy on them.

20 August

Home again, home again. For a short time anyway. I go back on call at 1700 today. Pretty easy day yesterday, just LGA-MEM and then deadhead back to DTW. Of course that didn’t keep me from being tired by the time I got home. Took care of a few things, roasted some decaf (got some from Sweet Marias) and then to bed. Kelly got home from Cedar Point at about 1 a.m. and came in and talked for a few minutes. I guess she was supposed to be the ‘A’ driver for Badger and she slept all the way home until he turned onto Grand River with 3 miles to go. Great ‘A’ driver!

Had a talk with M. when I got home about school. What his motivations are in life, I do not pretend to know. Definitely exasperating, but God has put him where he is and given him the character that he does for a reason. I have to balance being a father and pushing him with allowing the Holy Spirit to work in his own time and way. Requires patience and seeing things from God’s perspective. Not easy as a parent at times.