28 Nov 2010

Last day of a 5 day trip over the Thanksgiving day holiday encompassing the two busiest flying days of the year (Wed and Sun). I'm typing this at 2.35 am having woken up at 1am, ugh.

I was able to get on the train up to see Mom an Dad on Wed in San Diego which was a great blessing from God. Due to strong headwinds and just missing the van to the hotel, I was late, late, late and literally the last one on the train.

We ate lunch at Polly's pies and then chatted away until I had to take the train back to SAN. Tempus fugit and there will come a day when we will say our last goodbyes on this earth, my parents and I. The thought makes me melancholy and directs my longing to eternity with Christ. How empty life would be; how short; how meaningless apart from Him!

Do thou, Lord, teach me to number my days and give to me a heart of wisdom.

Location:George Washington Memorial Pkwy,Arlington,United States

Thoughts on DG 2010

Just back from Desiring God 2010. It was a great blessing. Highlights:

1. Spending time with Phil, PJ, and Jon. It was great to see them and get to hang out.

2. Kevin DeYoung on the mission of the church. Mr. DeYoung has a knack for clarifying what you already knew, and he did just that in his workshop Friday afternoon on the mission of the church. The bottom line is that, if we are not proclaiming the gospel, if we are not doing the ministry of the word, then we are missing the point of the church no matter how many acts of mercy we are doing. Yes, we should be doing acts of mercy, but no, they should not replace our proclamation of the gospel that Jesus Christ died for our sins.

3. Being present to see the book of essays in honor of John Piper, presented to Piper as a surprise by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor. Quite a moment. I bought two copies. Cheap! I'm enjoying it so far.

4. Being super-challenged by Francis Chan to love those around me as Jesus loved them. If there is one thing I took out of the conference from the standpoint of something to work on, this would be it. We can think all we want, but if our thinking is not grounded in the love of Christ, then we are wasting our time. Something I need to pray about and give attention to - a lot! Thanks, Mr. Chan.

5. Spending time with Cherie. Really fun to get to hang out with Cherie alone for a whole weekend. There's a reason she's my bestie...oh, and my wife too.

6. Rick Warren via video. Mr. Warren had family emergencies—yes, emergencies—and could not make it, but he challenged us by video. The man is a whirling dervish of energy and ideas. Remarkable. Probably the thing I took away from him the most was the importance of vision in the work that we do. Mr. Warren is also an aphorism machine, not to mention having a gift of humor as well.

DEN - ATL (delay) - DTW

Flew DEN - ATL - DTW yesterday. Naturally, we were delayed in ATL due to weather and a late inbound aircraft so we returned to DTW about 1.20 late. I've got some stuff to accomplish around here today—a little study mostly and packing—then I'm off to MSP for CQ. After that is over, then DG conference! Yahoo! Should be fun. Phil, Jon, and PJ Davis are going to be there as well.

Sunday Morning, 26 September 2010

I woke up early—ugh—because I could not stay awake last night, having woken up at 5 am in Laingsburg. It's a vicious cycle. Flew to DEN and then a layover down town. I took my binos and went walking to a park in the middle of town. Saw some grackles and pigeons before finding my way to a beautiful flower garden and running into a new (for me) species of sparrow. They are called Brewer's Sparrows and they only live in the Western U. S. so had I not been in DEN, I wouldn't have seen them. They seemed to enjoy the dirt, like they were taking a dirt bath, and then were kind enough to perch on tall stalks of bushes in the bright sunshine, only a few feet away so I could study them with my binoculars. Very friendly.

Off to ATL then DTW today, then to training tomorrow evening. I'll be gone a week with the Desiring God national conference going in MSP on Friday through Sunday.

Great Egrets on the Move!

We saw a flock of great egrets hanging out in a swampy pond just off of Alward Rd., when we drove by yesterday. They were still there when we came back from Lansing, so I jumped on my mountain bike, and rode in a (howling) wind to check them out. They were real beauties, and so patient as they waded around the pond fishing. I just wish I would have had a spotting scope so I could have seen them better. Egrets only pass through our area on migration south, so it was a real treat to see them.

Sleepy Hollow 23 September 2010

I was out at Sleepy Hollow yesterday, looking for birds. I saw a great blue heron standing knee deep in the lake almost exactly where I had seen one a couple of weeks previously. I snuck around the island to see if I could get closer to get a shot of him. When I got back near where he was (he was actually still there), these two girls were standing in the lake. At first I thought they were drinking, but they were really eating plants from underneath the water. I watched them and the blue heron for quite awhile. Neither one ever reacted to me. It was a glorious God-given moment and one I will treasure. I've decided I like hunting birds and animals with a camera much more than hunting them with a rifle.

New York, 21 September 2010

3.54 am and I've polished off my devotions and still have a little time before I have to get ready to fly DTW - DCA - DTW. Day 5 of a 5 day. Long day yesterday, 5 legs between BOS and LGA. At least the weather was good. I've come into the layover dragging so much that I have barely had time to workout, more less time to go see some birds.

I did, however, see an ovenbird on the way up to Mike's Coffee Truck (a favorite joint. I love the rice, beans, and sausage dinner plate) to get dinner. An ovenbird looks like an olive-colored sparrow with a striped breast. Very pretty fellow, although he was a little leery of me and wouldn't let me get too near him.

DALMAC Day 1

Wednesday, 1 September, 2010. We dropped off our gear at the MSU Pavilion the night before so that we wouldn't have to trek all the way into Lansing the next morning and we could just leave from the house. This would give us approximately 8 miles less than the mileage for the day, but that was fine with us.

We woke up to a windy day with forecasts of rain in the afternoon. Our goal was to get to Shepherd (our over night stay) before the rain started, so we left prior to 7 a.m. and didn't even take the ride route; rather, we took the most direct route, through Elsie and Ashley, then Ithaca, before finally catching up with the DALMAC route south of Alma. We had strong winds from the WSW so the north legs were a tailwind and the west legs were a headwind. Our first real stop wasn't until Alma!

We were the first bikers to arrive at Shepherd HS. We even beat the luggage trucks there. The luggage trucks eventually arrived and we grabbed our gear after unloading the trucks and set up our tents out near the road and parking lot. It rained a little that evening, but it wasn't too bad since we had everything all set up. It rained virtually every day of DALMAC!?!

Ben spent the night in our tent since he finished late at CMU and then started early the next morning. All in all, a pretty good day.

A Morning in SFO

I spent a short morning in SFO yesterday, since we took off for MSP at 1000. I walked across the freeway with my binoculars in hand, to have breakfast at Panera's. It was a good morning to see birds. I saw three types of gulls - California, Heerman, and Black-billed. This one gigantic California gull was battling of a bunch of other gulls for some food scraps in a parking lot. I also saw some crows, and a bunch of European starlings up in the top of an electrical tower. 2 snowy egrets were wading around the tidal flats eating breakfast. Wish I had a camera because I could have caught some great shots of those guys in the morning light.

Day 2 of no caffeine. The day one headaches are gone, but I'm still drowsy all day. I started day 3 this morning, maybe this drowsiness will help me get a nap before my SNA-DTW redeye tonight.

I read an interesting set of articles last night on the future of evangelicalism. One of the essays pointed out that movies are the new books, and if we are to engage culture then we are going to have to be able to analyze and critique movies. As a side note, my ability to analyze and critique books is not very good either. At any rate, what I took from that essay is that I need to teach myself to become a more active reader/movie watcher. More work for me to do, and so little time.

Location:SFO

ALLMUR 11 - Don't Be a Cheapskate

It's 4.34 am and Copper woke me up at 2 am, gnawing away at my hair (going after flees? Preening me? Grooming? Who knows? He obviously thinks he is serving me somehow, but I digress). Anyway, I am pondering the nature of giving to the Lord and thought I would pass on what (little) wisdom I've learned on giving in 50 years of (pathetic attempts at) life.

My approach to tithing was driven by what my own parents modeled to me. They were regular tithers, so when I started earning money ($10 a day plus $2 dollars for an overnight working as a wrangler at Mountain Stable Saddle Horses), giving came naturally. In retrospect it was a profound gift from my parents because I never had to struggle with ("hey, I hardly have any money. What's all of this give some to the Lord stuff?) non-giving mentality.

Two short lessons learned. First, the New Testament philosophy of giving is not to make a requirement for a set amount (give 10% tithe. This was the Old Testament pattern, this command is no where in the NT). The fundamental philosophy of giving in the NT is:

"The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." (2 Cor 9.6,7). Think about that for a minute. What you give to the Lord financially (or any other way for that matter, time, goods, effort), is up to you, but remember: if you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly. Don't complain that you always lack money, if you are a cheapskate giver because God has already promised that he will give to you as you give to him, he is merely doing what he promised he would do. On the other hand, if you sow bountifully, he promises that you will reap bountifully. Does that mean that you will become a millionaire? Probably not. God has an uncanny knack for blessing in ways that you only recognize in retrospect.

An example. We were talking to Kathryn Hixson yesterday about this and she said that when Mike and she were young marrieds they were making $14,000 a year. She said they didn't even have a budget because this amount wouldn't cover any conceivable budget. She said that, year after year, she would count up what they had spent and it would be around $20,000, then she would go back and look at what they made and it would be $14,000. There was no explanation where the $6000 came from, which is just like the Lord.

Conversely, if you are a cheapskate giver, it is uncanny how what you earn will never be enough. You will have unexpected financial requirements time after time after time. God also has an uncanny knack for this as well, you don't even really notice where money is going, you just know there is never enough. (Of course it could also be possible that you are simply spending money unwisely, and blaming it on God). (Also, I don't mean to imply that if you are a generous giver you will never be in financial difficulty, or you will never have unexpected costs, you will. Your mother and my philosophy is, when we have unexpected financial burdens to ask ourselves, "okay, are we giving what we should? If we are, then obviously God has brought that particular burden into our lives for other reasons, which is fine, he is God. He can do that).

My second lesson learned is this: I have no regrets at all about giving faithfully through the years to the Lord. If we were where you guys are and were starting over, we would do the exact same thing because our own experience is to say, "Yep. It's absolutely true. God sticks to his promise on giving." If you sow sparingly, don't complain when you reap sparingly. If you sow bountifully, you WILL reap bountifully. The reaping might not come how you expect it. You might not even notice it for a long time, but you WILL reap bountifully.

In short: You will be wise to give to the Lord bountifully. You will regret being a cheapskate.

Dad

What a day

What a day yesterday! We started in ATL, pushed back and a cover promptly fell off a slide pack. Back to the gate for us. Now we were behind. We flew to CHS and back and were late departing and arriving in both places. Next we headed for DEN.

We got to overhead PUB and were put into holding due to a huge thunderstorm overhead DEN. (As a side note we also had the strangest holding pattern ever, holding on the 180 degree radial of the PUB 080/20 nm fix.). We talked to dispatch as fuel was running low and they tried to get us to hold longer for DEN. We didn't take the bait since there was serious weather between COS and DEN and COS was our alternate. We diverted to COS. We finally reached DEN after 2 hours on the ground in COS. So far this trip we have had one divert and one near divert...in 2 days!?!


- "Grace is the glory of God, not the merit of him who has been freed." Prosper of Aquitaine

Location:COS

Summer Flying (Is a Nightmare)

Day 12 out of 13 of flying today, ugh. Yesterday we went DTW to STL and back, then the calliope music started. We weee headed out to DCA and the (idiot) dispatcher gave me only the minimum fuel load. I called and talked to him about it and he said that there was no holding and no line up going into DCA. Yeah, right. We got over the top of ESL and ended up getting vectored away from DCA while we watched our fuel slowly burn away. I sent a message to the (idiot) dispatcher and he agreed that, if it came down to it, we would have to go to IAD. We came within about 300 to 400 pounds of doing so.

We landed in DCA and ended up waiting for 30 or 40 minutes fir a place to park. Needless to say, the terminal was a madhouse, wholly unsatisfactory to handle a day like this (Thunderstorms going through). There were people all over the place.

We ended up leaving for ATL about and hour late and arriving to the hotel after midnight. Another (yucky) day of summer flying.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I'm grateful to have a job in this environment. Just makes for long, difficult days.


- "Grace is the glory of God, not the merit of him who has been freed." Prosper of Aquitaine

Location:ATL

Lessons from 26 Years of Marriage

I posted this to John Shore's blog, but thought I would preserve it:

Lessons from 26 years of marriage (to an awesome woman – who yesterday went and picked fresh blueberries and made me blueberry pie…yeah, she’s awesome):

1. Great relationships take hard work
2. Great relationships take compromise from both sides
3. The ability to LISTEN and UNDERSTAND the other person is probably the best glue to keep a great relationship great.
4. If your significant other is a nitwit before you get married, they will be a nitwit after you get married. Dump him/her and move on before you screw up your life.
5. The absolute worst person to try and have a great relationship with is a selfish person. Dump him/her BEFORE you get married and move on before you screw up your life.
6. It is VERY possible to turn a horrible relationship into a GREAT relationship, but takes commitment and effort from both people.
7. My wife is AWESOME, SWEET, FUN, and ADORABLE, and occasionally INCOMPREHENSIBLE.

20 June 2010

Sitting in the lobby of a Hyatt in downtown jax on a Sunday morning. We are right along the St. John's river so the view is gorgeous as the morning unfolds. An easy day today; JAX to DTW at noon and then home to my baby! 5 days on the road is about 2 days too long for me, but that is the nature of our trips these days. I'm grateful to have a job and be working.

Reading through Francis Chan's "Crazy Love" and being challenged, which is good. It is easy, as one goes along in life, to fall into a vapid, listless faith that avoids most challenges. I'm guilty of that, I suspect many of us are. Mr. Chan challenges us to what is essentially the normal Christian life, but one that is increasingly radical even to the believing world: a life of faith and sacrifice.



- "Grace is the glory of God, not the merit of him who has been freed." Prosper of Aquitaine

Location:JAX

2 June 2010

Another day of busy, busy, busy. I went kayaking in the morning, then had lunch with Lambertini. Then I went riding with Kelly. When we returned I left almost immediately for the Tuesday night bike ride with TCBA. That was a LOT of fun. We rode about 25 miles and on the second half were cranking it pretty fast—probably averaged 20 to 21 on the return. Hopefully, I'll get to ride with them more often. One of the fastest guys is just short of his 70th birthday and has a nasty pot belly! Unbelievable.

1 June 2010

A work-o-rama yesterday. Got up and went and cleaned the stables with Cherie. We got to let the horses out, so the cleaning went much more quickly than normal. Shortly after we got home, we went for a bike ride of almost 20 miles on mountain bikes, a good ride. After that it was time to clean the carpets, which lasted until almost 3. Having awoken at 4.30, I was bushed. I headed off to bed for a nap, which I DID complete, sleeping until 5.

Certainly got a lot accomplished yesterday.


- "Grace is the glory of God, not the merit of him who has been freed." Prosper of Aquitaine

Location:Home

25 May 2010

A day of trying to fix stuff around the house. Most of it with minor to no success. Doh! At least I finished it with a jam session on the drum, which put me in a better mood. Lawn tractor transmission busted; toilet flange busted - due to my own ineptitude; Both of Kelly's closet doors fallen off, Kelly's computer slower than molasses, too bad fixing things doesn't give me any sense of satisfaction!?!


- "Grace is the glory of God, not the merit of him who has been freed." Prosper of Aquitaine

Location:Home

23 May 2010

We got into PHX early yesterday morning so I went rollerblading. I haven't done that in a year, and it was great fun. I went south from the hotel along a bike path all the way to ASU and back. I probably ended up going 18ish miles or so. Fun to be back on blades again.

After that I took the bus up to north Scottsdale looking for a protective case for my iPad. I ended up ordering a messenger bag online from Timbuk2 that I think should work well.


- "Grace is the glory of God, not the merit of him who has been freed." Prosper of Aquitaine

Location:PHX

6 May, 2010

In downtown LA waiting to take a redeye from LAX to IND tonight. We were delayed out of DTW last night due to storms and ended up landing at SNA 3 minutes after curfew (which supposedly was allowed...). We then took a limo up to downtown, so by the time I hit my hotel room it was already 3.30 am eastern. Boy was I cooked. 6 hours later and I'm up and at 'em. Coffee, breakfast, some work on Logos 4, and a bike ride will be my day today.

19 April 2010

I got my medical back courtesy of the FAA! Cool, off to work I go on Friday...or earlier. Not much else to report. I'm cramming for a Logos 4 course up in Montreal in May, and getting ready to go back to work since there is a new weight and balance system since I last flew. It's going to be a busy week that's for sure. A busy month of May as well. I'll probably be gone 20 days or more. Feast or famine.

I just heard my wife from the kitchen say, "I DID eat a LOT of cheesecake this weekend."

7 April 2010

Off to Owosso to get some stuff done, then back here to meet Lambertini at 11.30; then if the weather cooperates a ride, then back home to knock out my (state) taxes. It's going to be a busy day for me...

6 April 2010

I have to meet with Bob Karr this morning. Cherie and I have been working with the teens at Graham for 12 years now! We are dropping out. Enough. Over. Finished. Just kidding, sort of. We do feel that the Lord is leading us on to other things, even though we are still involved working with teens. We do Campus Life and Cherie meets with two teens from church for discipleship purposes. We just feel like we do not have enough time to spend with the Graham teens and it appears that God has raised up other great people to help Bob.

Also we are trying to start up a Reconciliation team at church and want to pour our energies into that.

Then I meet with Jeff Seelye about Elder/deacon stuff, then I have to run up to Owosso to pick up some paperwork. Busy, busy, busy.

Rained hard with thunder last night. Nice. We needed it.

Good thing I did my 70 miler yesterday because today is cloudy and cool and the roads are still a little damp.

5 April 2010

Yet another day off in my continuing quest to discover the source of chest pains I'm having. A looming FAA physical on Friday. We shall see what happens. God knows.

Matt and I went to Easter services yesterday and then were invited to the Hixson's for Easter dinner. That was MUCH better than macaroni and cheese. Mike's father and mother came and we had not met them before and Luke was home from Chicago with his fiancee. It was a lot of fun and the food was excellent!

Cherie and Kelly in Florida with Campus Life until Friday or Saturday.

4 April

Up early to clean out the stables. Absolutely fabulous, gorgeous, incredible day here. Warm, sunny, dry. Off to Easter services and then the Hixson's for Easter lunch with Matt.

Spent the last 3 days painting the downstairs. That was a lot of fun—not. At least I'm done now.

On to other things. Collecting paperwork for my upcoming FAA physical. Getting ready for Logos in Montreal next month. Bible Study...etc.

20 March 2010

Cherie is in Texas helping Badger move. We tried to get Kristen and the boys down to him yesterday, but the plane was full. They were the only ones who did not get on. I guess God wanted them in Michigan a few more days. Getting into DFW on Saturday and Sunday from anywhere is just not possible. Ugly.

What to think of Sylvester Stallone

Has anyone in the history of cinema made more terrible movies than Sylvester Stallone?First Rocky? Great movie, even won a best picture award. Mr. Stallone mastered the fine art of taking a great idea and beating us over the head with it until we we were cringing in the corner of the movie theater crying for the owner to please stop it. Does anyone remember what Rocky 5 was about? Come to think of it the themes of the Rocky movies are: 1. Rocky loses. 2. Rocky wins! (Are you thinking the same thing I'm thinking? Where do you go from here? 3. Rocky vs. The Kids he spoiled. 4. Rocky vs Cyborg warrior. 5. Rocky takes on all comers at once and wins! (Oops that was Rambo 3, sorry).

And how about John Rambo? Hard luck army vet in "First Blood," forced to fight the government who was oppressing him-who doesn't like a theme of the government as oppressor?- morphs into bullet proof one man army who takes on all of Iran - or was that Iraq? Syria? Fresno? singlehandedly with the help of an M60 machine gun and an (apparently) endless supply of bullets (John Rambo doesn't need to reload, he's Rambo for pete's sake).

How about that climbing picture where he - you guessed it - singlehandedly takes on the evil men who steal money and accidentally drop it into the middle of the mountains. Sly Stallone does not need warm clothes to climb up the freezing mountain! I already told you that he was John Rambo, and everyone knows Rambo don't need no clothes.

He is learning, however. In one of his later stupid, pointless films (I didn't say he was making good movies, just learning). He does not conquer the Formula One racing circuit singlehandedly, no his young protege conquers the circuit singlehandedly. One amazing sequence has the pair chasing each other at 195 mph around occupied city streets so they can stop and talk to each other (and blow a woman's dress up as they flash by), but I digress from the main theme of the movie which is...which is...

This all begs the question, how does Mr. Stallone manage to get these movies made in an industry that is driven by art and culture, and excellence which is obvious if anyone has ever seen the movie "Ishtar" or "Waterworld." My own theory is that he has proof that several Hollywood Studio heads had their houses remade by Ty on Extreme Home Makeover.

I say press on Sly Stallone making silly, ridiculous, formulaic movies so we can keep on making fun of you! Thanks for the great entertainment.

Jesus Makes the Best Seafood Gumbo!

Have you ever tasted New Orleans style seafood gumbo? You take some rice, tomatoes, green peppers, and then, fish, oysters, crawdads, and/or crabmeat—pretty much the kitchen sink approach to gumbo, but leave out the sink itself, dump them in a pot, mix in some spices and heat it up. In short order, you’ve got one of the tastiest dishes around. I love seafood gumbo.

I was thinking of seafood gumbo after the latest meeting of our church leadership. We are a pretty eclectic mix. We are people that work at GM; people that work for the government; retired people; a car mechanic; old people; young people; fat people; skinny people; an airline pilot (full disclosure: that’s me); we even have a D. Min. (that’s someone really smart). I was sitting around the table that evening and thinking, with all of our differences in education and careers and incomes, we get along pretty well together. No, we don’t always agree, but that’s the good part. That’s what makes us strong. Diversity gives us different strengths and weaknesses. Put them together and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In that fact lies the nature of what Jesus is up to in the world. He once prayed: that they [his disciples] may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me (John 17.23). Jesus makes seafood gumbo of people. His gumbo is the best there is.

There is a reason they call them "Patients"

After having spent ten hours tucked away in the corner of an emergency room while the doctors vainly searched for the missing portions of my brain (which would include most of it), I discovered why they call customers of hospitals "patients." It's a term of hope despite all evidence to the contrary, after all they couldn't very well be honest and call the customers "impatients" could they?
"Um...nurse, would it be okay if you unhook the various cords, whistles, and bells to which I'm attached? I hate to be a bother but I haven't hit the john in 7 hours now." Nurse: "I'll check with the doctor." She disappears for another 30 torture filled minutes while you dream of being locked just outside a bathroom with a drippy water faucet next to your leg. This is why they call you a patient.

It is for this reason that the Detroit Lions are called "football players." You and I know that they are mere doormats over which, the rest of the league can run on their way to another excursion to the Lion-less playoffs. This is also why they call Brittany Spears a "singer;" or Brangelina a "couple." Sure it's about as close to the truth as sworn testimony from Barry Bonds and Mark Mcguire, but one can be hopeful, can't one?

Ten hours sitting in an emergency room while the hospital attempts to pay off the monthly utility bill by doing medical tests on you that would make a guinea pig cringe in fear will turn even the most ADHD person into a true patient patient (who invented English grammar rules? A patient patient is not a redundancy-vanishing breed though he may be). After all the only alternative to being a patient patient is fleeing the hospital while vainly trying to hide your derriere from the various hospital staff who will gather to literally laugh at your...well, you get the point.

If rules of honesty applied emergency room customers would be called "impatients." Of course this means that customers in restaurants would be "waiters" and waiters would be referred to as "dawdlers." "Politicians would be "spendthrifts;" Banks would be "rat holes" (down which to pour your money); sailboats would be "sale boats;" and of course retirement would be known as "return to work because the bankers vaporized your money for you."

Oh for some vocabularic honesty!

20 January 2010

A day off. I'm headed down to Grand Traverse Pie Company to spend some time with Badger, then home. I think that's all the responsibility I have for today. Maybe some drumming or workout this afternoon. Other than that, I may try and finish reading "The Island of the World," and knock out some Logos 4 training.

16 January 2010

Off to clean the stables this morning with Cherie, then hopefully some drumming practice this afternoon, maybe a couple of NFL games this evening. Going to be a full day.

I both swam AND biked yesterday and while the knee didn't feel great, it feels okay this morning. Icing it up after biking or running helps a lot. In fact, icing up a lot of places helps a lot. I'm like a broken down old pack mule, game but decrepit.

Ben home this weekend for work. Kelly off to work this morning at the Catholic retreat center in Dewitt. Matt at an all day training session for Campus Life helpers. Life is busy.

14 January 2010

I have an outer ear infection, so I called in sick for my next 4 day trip. So far I don't have any pain, so if you can have a "good deal" illness, this is it. I meet with Tim Lambert today and then go out to the stables with Kelly and Cherie, then home. Fairly warm today—in the '30's.

10 January 2010

Church this morning, then off to work this afternoon. 1 leg to SFO, sit for 25 hours and 1 leg back.

Yesterday, after Bible reading, we went out to the stables and cleaned out the horses stalls, then up to Owosso to help Lance and Mike dig out from the snowstorm. Then back home for a nap. Then a 3.5 miles xc ski trip. Then a couple of movies with Cherie, then bed. A good day.

9 January 2010

Off to clean horse stables this morning with Cherie and Kelly. I love horses! Then up to Owosso to help dig Lance and Mike out from the latest snowstorm. Maybe some xc skiing. Church in the morning. Off to SFO tomorrow afternoon for a 2.5 day trip.

Night Skiing!

We had the most beautiful snowstorm of the year last night. No wind. Moderate temps. I went out skiing about 1830, straight down Jason Rd. Gorgeous. Beautiful. Blessed. I can't describe the beauty of being out alone on a night like that. When you stop skiing, the snow muffles all the sounds, you don't need any light because what little light that refracts off the snow is plenty. If I had the strength I would have been happy to ski all night. I LOVE nights like that.

Went home and watched the BCS Championship game. It was quite a game with a lot of plot twists and surprises. Alabama won, but Texas gave it a good fight. Colt McCoy, Texas quarterback, was knocked out of the game on the 5th play, which seriously damaged Texas' chances. He was interviewed after the game and he said, "I give God the glory. I do not ask why things happen...I just hold onto the Rock." Great testimony. Thanks Colt!