Do the Next Right Thing

What is it?

Thursday a.m.

How are you today? There is a nice gentle rain falling this morning. I enjoy rain. It looks like it will be gone soon, but it has ushered in cooler weather, which is not going away soon. Back to reality, back to where we should be for this time of the year. I must confess I was enjoying the unseasonably warm temps.

My official Boston Marathon jacket came yesterday. I'm not crazy about the color, which is called "high energy," but it's the official color for this year. I always wondered, exactly, what high energy looked like. Now I know. One week from tomorrow Kedra and I fly to Boston. Hard to believe.

Yesterday was a good day anyway you measure it. I went to Mitchell Manor, which has become my usual practice on Wednesdays. One of the people I see is Hollace. He is a retired school teacher and the founder of the Bryantsville Hunger Relief Project.

He had a stroke a few years ago and can only say a few words, and they don't always fit the conversation. His mind works fine, but something is broken between it and his speech. It's hard to visit him in some ways, because I don't know what he is trying to communicate and he seems to get frustrated at his inability to share his thoughts.

Yesterday he seemed quite happy. He had something very specific on his mind and was quite animated. He motioned and pointed and then got in his wheelchair. Then he communicated that he wanted me to push him, so off we went on a journey. I had no idea what we were doing. Rolling, rolling...

Mitchell Manor is huge, and he took me all the way to the very end, to the physical therapy department. The therapist saw us. I said, "I'm not sure why we are here, but here we are." The PT looked at Hollace, and said, "You wanted to show him how far you walked today, didn't you?" That was exactly right.  It was a long walk, a long ride, and a nice visit. 

Rebecca is coming home this evening! I miss my little girl. A LOT! We'll have all the kids home this weekend. It will be so nice.

No run today. I might ride at 5 p.m. It's a 31 miler, but I must choose between that and swimming. Last week I did both. The ride went really well. . . ha ha. I will monitor Rebecca's estimated time of arrival before I decide. There is another ride tomorrow at Noon. That one is more likely for me.

Do No Harm

Do no harm.

That’s what Hippocrates suggested should be first, way back in the 5^th century B.C., when it comes to medical care. It’s a pretty good approach to life generally.

What happens, though, if you find yourself in the middle of a mess, either one that you created with your words or actions or one that someone else created for you? For a while now I’ve invoked this phrase:

Do no harm.

Those of us who live in the country might say it this way, "If you find yourself in a hole, then quit digging."

It’s really good advice, stated either way.

In the middle of a mess, it’s sometimes best to be quiet, do no (further) harm, and wait. Wait on the Lord, wait on cooler heads, wait on softer hearts.

Do no harm.

Wednesday a.m.

How are you on this Wednesday? It's 66 and dry. Another missed forecast, evidently. I was kinda expecting to be woke by storms overnight, which is my least favorite storm scenario. Oh well, it didn't happen. I slept pretty well, even though I woke up hot a few times. I never progressed past the sheet last night.

Yesterday was a good day. I had lots of little things to do and I mostly got them done. I spent a significant amount of time thinking about and preparing for Sunday. It's Easter you know. There is an expectation that things will be different on that day, as far as the assembly is concerned. I'm not sure why? I guess because we have the once a year group show up? ha ha. We really celebrate the Resurrection every Sunday (everyday really). I'm looking forward to it and think it will be a good day. No beer commercial this year.

Spent some time with Pat A yesterday, working through the Story of the crucifixion and resurrection. It helps me tremendously to talk through the Story with another person. We've been working together for the last 3 months on this present series, Finding Your Place in the Story of God. Synergy!

Yesterday afternoon I got to do a little work on a project for the Store. For a long time we have wanted to pass out some literature with the purchases people make. That, in part, is what inspired my little thought for the day series (called Think Along) that I put out here, on Facebook, and email out to a church distribution group. I also have a website for them all. I'm still working on that, so I will wait to give you the URL later. The idea is to present a postcard with a thought on one side, and on the other side we will have information about the Store as a ministry and encouragement for people to pursue a relationship with God. I hope to develop a similar thing for our food pantry.

Our Tuesday evening run was a hot one! I saw 89 on the River's Edge church sign on my way over. That sign runs a little hot, but it was at least north of 85. We run by another sign, and when I went by it, it said 87. Since it was so warm, I decide, along with a few others, to just run and not try do any speed work. I was pleased with it. I ran pretty well and a little quicker than I thought I would. Basically at this point there is nothing I can do to improve my performance at Boston. There is plenty I can do to diminish it, if I don't rest and taper properly. Careful!

I will run a short easy run today, probably bike tomorrow and maybe Friday, run 10 miles Saturday, and then dramatically taper next week. It's hard to believe I am here in taper land! It has been a long, fun journey.

I'm excited about this weekend! All of my children will be home. Rebecca is coming in Thursday night. I have not seen her since February, and Luke will be home Friday. Lester and Maddie are also coming in Friday. Ben is here of course. And Ben is pretty bummed right now. His truck's transmission is going out. I think he will replace it himself, but he has to find a replacement. In the meantime, he is going to drive it, hoping that it will keep working for a while longer.

Today should be interesting. I have lots of different things going on. I will see several people and have various activities thrown in along the way. Let's go!

Who Are You?

What do you think about yourself?

What do others think about you? (What do you want them to think about you?)

Is there a gap between those two perceptions? Any deception?

What matters, ultimately, is how God perceives us, and the closer we come to seeing ourselves as he sees us, then the closer we are to becoming authentic and having others see us as we really are.

The greater the alignment of the three perceptions–God’s, yours, others’–then the more integrity, peace and joy there is.

These three align for followers of Jesus as we humbly hear God say, "You are my beloved child."

Tuesday a.m.

Good morning! A beautiful, warm Tuesday is going to unfold before us today, and I am ready. This video is interesting to me. It's Lance Armstrong comparing the Tour de France with Ironman. Lance started out as a triathlete and then moved into cycling totally. Now he is coming back to the triathlon. He has done 2 70.3 Ironman events recently, including last Sunday. He finished 7th. He is doing the full Ironman in France in a few weeks. He finds running to be the hardest of the 3 events.

Yesterday was a nice day. I started out with a nice easy run before making my way to town. I moved the church trailer, which was full of clothes that we picked up last week from Jeffersonville, down to the Store. They are going to bale these clothes over a 2-3 day period. I had a few meetings and conversations about various things, and then I started working on some writing projects. I enjoy writing.

Last night I went for my Monday night lesson in humility, i.e., I went to the pool. Glacial-like progress is how I would describe last night. I will keep after it until I get it or drown. Perseverance.

On the way home from the pool I had one of those moments of insight of how blessed I am. It's so easy to see all the things that are not right, and in my position I see and know a lot that fits into that category: abuse, divorce, deception, etc. It's easy to be drawn in/sucked in to all that, and to be helpful, you have to be to a certain extent, but you (I) have to look up at times to see the blessings. Last night was one of those times. Thank God.

Tonight is tempo Tuesday. It's supposed to be in the 80s, so I'm guess we will scale back some from what we would usually do. We will cover around 7 miles one way or another. I've been looking at extended forecasts for Boston. Interesting.

I hope your day goes great!

Just Ask

Do you like to ask? Some of us don’t. Embarrassed? Sign of weakness, perhaps? Shows we are not in control?

Recently I saw this Chinese proverb: "He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever."

The Bible, from cover to cover, shows God inviting us to ask him for what we need.

I wonder how much we miss simply because we fail to ask?

Here’s a good place to start (James 1:5):

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

Monday a.m.

Good morning! Here we go again, the start of another week. Are you ready? Ready or not, it's here. It's weirdly warm again this morning, unlike yesterday morning. It was strange to wake up to rain yesterday, especially after looking at the forecast before heading to bed: 10% chance of rain... Oh well.

The morning rain probably helped me out yesterday. It kept me from riding my bike yesterday afternoon. I was going to ride 31 miles with some friends, but the wet road made me decide against it. Last time I rode on wet roads I had a nasty cruddy crud all over my beautiful bike. Since we ride through Amish country, part of it was "Amish exhaust," which is really hard to clean off a bike. It was probably best I did not ride. I was a little tired from the 20 miler on Saturday. Rest is the key concept for the next 2 weeks.

Sunday, for me, started at Spring Mill Park. I spoke in the meeting house yesterday morning. There were a total of 5 of us, but we had a nice time of worship. It was the first gathering of the year, and it was raining. In the crowd were two brothers from Kentucky. They were nice and interesting guys. After we finished our time of worship, they started telling stories of their childhood church experiences. They also talked about some chivarees, telling funny stories. I was almost late for Sunday school.

Instead of riding my bike yesterday afternoon I took a brief nap, did some reading, walked around outside, looked at next Sunday's sermon idea, and generally relaxed. We hosted our life group as usual, and then enjoyed the evening before heading to bed. There is a show on TV now that has caught my interest. It's called Doomsday Preppers. Wow!

Two weeks from right now, Lord willing, I will be in Boston, probably heading toward downtown to get on a bus to ride out to Hopkinton. I'm not especially looking forward to that part, but it's all a part of the process.

Time to seize the day!