Knowledge and Ignorance

"The more I know, the less I know." Does that sound right to you? No?

How about this one?

"As the island of our knowledge increases so does the seashore of our ignorance."

It’s clear to me that as my knowledge increases, I am increasingly aware of how little I know, relative to what there is to know. Humbling! I bow in humble adoration to the God who knows all, and I trust him with my ignorance. I know enough to do that!

Roman 11:33 — Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

What do you know?

Tuesday a.m.

Last week an email came from the Boston Marathon. They have changed their mind, and I can't go. Just kidding! ha ha. It was an email asking me to confirm my entry information. This dream is starting to get real! It's only 41 days away. The next 3 weeks or so are the time to hit it the hardest without getting hurt. Push it to the red line!

Yesterday was a busy one! Most of the day was taken up with disaster relief plans and conversations. I don't know how many phone calls and emails I did yesterday, but it was a lot. Greg McBride is a good leader, and I think we have a pretty good plan in place. We are going to meet with a couple more guys on Wednesday who are doing something similar. We want our effort to be united.

The disaster, coupled with being behind from being in Honduras, means that I have a long list of things to do and people to see. I hope today will be a day that I can get to a lot of it. A study of the prophets and Babylonian Exile also await me. I think it's going to be an interesting day!

The day will end with a 10 mile run, and the rumor is that our short tempo has been changed into a longer, 6 mile steady state run. That would actually fit my training better, so that's probably what I will do. Warm up for a couple of miles and then run 6 miles around a 7 minute per mile pace, and then cool down for 2 miles. I think the plan for Saturday is to run from Bloomington to Bedford, finding a 20 miler along the way. Those who have run Boston say that the grades/hills on that course are similar to Boston.

Need to hit the books!

How to Help the Tornado Victims

Here are some things you can do. We are going to fill a semi trailer full of supplies, and we are going to organize teams to take day trips, starting next week, to help clean up.

The semi trailer will be parked at Tulip Street church (900 Tulip St. in Mitchell) during the month of March. We will collect your goods on Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. until Noon. We will collect the following:

• Water/Gatorade
• Protein/granola bars
• Paper towels
• Trash bags
• Wipes - baby and/or antibacterial
• Diapers
• Toilet paper
• Hand sanitizer
• Personal hygiene items, e.g., tooth brushes, deodorant, shampoo, etc.

If you are collecting with others, for example a church or a work group, please sort your items and place them in a plastic container that can be used by the survivors for other things.

Our church will be taking up a contribution soon. If you want to give, then make checks out to Mitchell Church of Christ; memo: Tornado relief.

More information on day trips will be available soon.

One Day at a Time

I wonder what will happen this week?

A lot of us spend/waste a lot time wondering what will happen in the future. We act out scenarios in our head, anticipating things that may occur (but often don’t). That is the stuff of worry.

Here’s a quote to live by:

"I don’t know what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future."

Jesus said this (Matt. 6):

"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes."

How about we just live faithfully today, being conscious of God’s presence and promises?

Sounds good to me!

Monday!

Are you ready for this? A new week! The last 2 weeks for me have been "partial" weeks. What do I mean by that? Well, the week before last, I left early, early on Wednesday morning to go to Honduras, and last week I returned home on early, early Wednesday morning. The trip required me adjust 2 weeks, which was fine. I am, however, looking forward to a full, regular week this week. Of course "full" and "regular," especially that later word, is very hard to define.

It sure was an interesting weekend! Friday was a busy day. I needed to finish my sermon and all the stuff that goes along with it, plus I needed to run 20 miles. If you remember Friday, then you remember that it was a day of wild weather, and it began early. I took off to run around 8:30, after watching the radar; looked good, I thought. I got less than a mile from my truck when the lightning and thunder started. Time to change plans, so I went back home and worked for a while, watching the ground turn white with hail. Good move.

I went back out around 11 a.m. and got 10 miles in before I had to be somewhere else. Oh well. I decided I would run another 10 on Saturday. The rest of the day was busy with various things, including getting ready for Sunday. Friday evening Kedra and I took advantage of Ben going to the sectional basketball game in Washington to have a really hot date: Bloomington, Olive Garden, and then, wait for it(!), Sam's club. Yes, we went clubbing!

We ate out on a gift card that we received at Christmas, shared a meal, drank water, and walked away for a total of the face value of the card: $25, which included a $3.97 tip. That's was good. On our way to Sam's, Greg McBride from Tulip Street church called, saying that we needed to do something to help the tornado victims just to our south and east. Greg and I have worked together on various things, and he went with me to Alabama last April to help with tornado relief.

Long story short, we planned a quick and simple effort that would take place on Saturday. We got the word out on Friday evening, mostly via Facebook. Amazing! That's how I would describe what happened. The word spread rapidly, and by Noon on Saturday, there were literally truckloads of supplies on the way to Pekin. Facebook has its problems, etc., but it sure is a powerful communication tool!

I could not help with the collection and delivery on Saturday, due to a commitment to drive the bus for Larry M and the track team. We went to DePauw University in Greencastle for a huge indoor meet. I got the bus at 7:30 a.m. and parked it at 8:00 p.m. Long day! While there I ran 10 miles. It was cold, windy, and a few snowflakes fell on me!

Yesterday was a good day at church, and one of the coolest things that happened, in my opinion, was the "tweeting" that took place during the sermon. I have been thinking for quite a while about encouraging sermon interactivity, and that kinda happened yesterday. I would like to evolve to the point that people can text statements/questions during the sermon that I would take the time to answer at the end. Yesterday a few guys simply tweeted some thoughts and ideas, some were funny and some were serious. The hash tag is #mcoc, if you want to see what happened.

OK, off to work...

From the home office

This morning as I was preparing for the only day of the week I work (beat you!), I looked out my office window. This is what I saw. It was a fairly young deer.

I love my home office and do my best thinking there. I have a couple of bird feeders right outside my window.

I think St. Francis would like my office.

Going Iron with a Cause

I've become a cyber friend with this guy. He goes to Farmer's Branch church in Texas. I like his idea of connecting a personal challenge with a great cause.

HELP!

Tomorrow afternoon we are taking supplies to Pekin for the tornado victims in the region. We are collecting the following things tomorrow (Sat.) morning from 10 a.m. until Noon at the Tulip Street Christian Church (900 Tulip Street in Mitchell):

•  Gatorade and bottled water
• Fruit
• Protein and Granola bars
• Snack crackers
• Chips - single serving bags
• Pre-made sandwiches (at least 12): cold meats, peanut butter, cheese, etc. Wrap some individually and some on plates. Label them please.
• Paper towels

We will need coolers with ice, with your name clearly marked on it for return.

We MAY need some trucks/box trailers to haul everything. (We don't want to take too many vehicles/people.)

Greg McBride is the chief coordinator. He can be contacted at tulip-greg@frontier.com or just drop by to see him in the morning for questions/information.

If you can't come between 10 and Noon, the south doors of the church building will be open beginning at 8 a.m.