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