The falling snow is so beautiful! I'm sitting in front of the fireplace, completed sated from a yummy breakfast of steel cut oats, Ezekiel toast, an egg and Canadian bacon. This was after a couple of cups of Starbucks coffee - the Christmas gift that keeps on giving (though I am quickly running out).

In a little while I will head to the ReGeneration Store for most of the morning. I was present there nearly all day yesterday. I set up in the office and got a lot of study done and helped out a little with the phone, receiving donations, and a couple of other things. Most of the day I was focused on The Book of Life. There is a lot of mentions in the Bible about heavenly books; very interesting. I'm not sure what to make of it or how to talk about it on Sunday, but I have a few more days to get there.

Today I will spend time working on Butch's funeral message. I want it to be special, which is the case for every funeral. Butch had such a distinct personality. I want to be able to capture the essence of that. Being at the Store today seems appropriate; a great place to prepare.

Also today I will continue my Roger duties. Roger, the famous deaf neighbor, is in Mitchell Manor for a week or two, so we are keeping his house warm, with the help of another one of his friends. He heats with wood, so we are trying to keep the fire going. The biggest concern is the dog, Benji. He is so lonely. Yesterday I had some "Benji time." I went up there and held him for about half an hour, while I watched Roger's TV. I really should receive a medal for this, some sort of commendation. Why? 'Cause I'm not that crazy about dogs. I can't stand them licking me! But I let Benji, although I keep my gloves on. I guess that's cheating, right? Oh well, maybe a certificate of participation (instead of a medal).

We were supposed to start our Tuesday evening tempo runs this evening. Not going to happen. Hopefully we'll still get a good run in. I like running in the snow.

OK, need to get going... Bronco time!

How was your weekend? What's this week look like for you? It may be a challenging week for me, but that's OK.

I had a good, but busy, weekend; little down time. Friday I went to Indy to see Butch P. at IU Med center. It started snowing before I got there and got pretty slick. We had a really nice visit; didn't know it would be the last one. I left Indy and headed south and found the roads pretty slick. There were several cars off the road; some of them upside down.

When I got to Mitchell I made a few visits and got home a little after 5. It was a good day. About 7 my phone rang. It was Penny, telling me that Butch had died. I was really surprised that his death came so quickly. Upon hearing the news I went over to Butch's mom's home and was present with her and other family members for a while.

Saturday Ben and I went to get our "Let's Go" blood tests before our training run. Mine did not turn out well. My cholesterol is high. Sigh. I have had a battle with it for quite some time. I ate sloppily over the break, and I'm sure that has something to do with it. Hopefully being back on a strict diet will fix it. Our training run was cold and windy but good.

The rest of the day Saturday involved more visits with Butch's family and taking care of our neighbor Roger's home and dog. He is in the nursing home for a little while. [Anybody want to keep a little yappy dog for a week or two?] We also went to the funeral home for visitation for Beth P.'s grandfather. After that we watched the Colts get beat. That was not much fun.

Yesterday was busy also. It's the only day of the week I work, of course. At least that's what I am told on a regular basis. So funny!

Today I am going to hang/work at the ReGeneration Store. We are going to try keep it going the next couple of days. I've got to go run early this morning...

Snow on the way...

Hey, it's Friday!

I've got to help pick up some furniture for the Store this morning, and then I'm heading to Indy to see a friend in IU Med Center. Lester has to work, so I am not going to get to see him. Oh well.

Could be an interesting trip - I'm taking my truck with its nearly 233,000 miles. Every outing is an adventure! You never know when the last moment might come. Actually the thing runs very well.

On the way home I think I will treat myself and stop at Rural King, or as some would say, "the Rural King." I really like the store; Kedra does not. I hope to pick up some suet plugs - exciting stuff, I'm telling you!

I'm looking forward to the weekend. I hope you are too.

Thursday already? How's your week been?

I am finding the present weather kinda boring. Now, please understand that that is not a complaint; it's just an observation. I welcome the possibility of some light snow overnight, but I hope it does not cancel school tomorrow. I don't think it will.

This week has felt busy. I am hoping I can get most of my Sunday prep done today, because I plan to try go to Indy tomorrow to see a guy who is battling cancer. He's in IU Med center. While there I might be able to see Lester; need to see what his schedule is. I used to think Indy was so far away, but after so many trips in the last 4-5 years, it doesn't seem that far any more.

This morning I was reading in Mark's gospel and came across this beautiful invitation from Jesus to his followers.

“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

Doesn't that sound nice?

In addition to preparing for Sunday (sermon, slides, life group discussion guide), today I plan/hope to:

Run 10 miles
Have a Capstone Ministries meeting
Counsel with a guy who is really struggling/seeking
Talk to a friend
Have lunch with Kedra
Hang out at the ReGeneration Store
Deliver a ReGeneration gift card to a family that needs some basic stuff
Go to the funeral home to see a friend who has lost someone
Visit my neighbor Roger who is still in the hospital
Attend an OCU-B advisory board meeting - free dinner!
Deal gracefully with interruptions to all this

Looks like I better get to work. I want to enjoy that invitation a little later on.

Goals

I took a few minutes yesterday to reflect on my goals and to establish this year's goals more firmly. I believe setting goals is important. If don't set any, then you will never meet them. It reminds me of my favorite expressions.

If you don't know where you are going, then you won't get there.

My running goals are easier to measure than the others I have. Last year I set the following goals. I have provided commentary beside them.

Run 1560 miles - ran 1729
5K - sub 21 minutes - did not meet this one; ran 21.22
Mini - sub 140 - ran 139.31 on 5/8 at the Mini; this was with the famous collapse
Marathon - 3.33 - ran 3.31.47 on 11/6 at the Monunmental
Weight - 150 - reached this on 2/1; I actually gained 5 back before Monumental. Did I lose too much body fat for Louisville?
Injury free - what a blessing!

Here are my running goals for 2011:

5K - sub 21
Mini - 1.35
Marathon - 3.29.59
Weight - 150
Injury free
Run 1560 miles
Go into 2012 ready to train for excellence in Boston

The weight goal is under review - ha ha. The Mini and Marathon goals are fairly ambitious; goals should be that way, right?

I have lots of other non-running goals, including these:

BE joyful, consistent, and kind all the time

BE positive always

BE a non-anxious presence

BE intentionally relational

Read and re-read from the Gospels everyday

Be still & pray daily

Spend time with one elder at least once a week

Work on core 2x week

Ride bike across Indiana (RAIN)

An Evening with Roger

I had a pretty good day yesterday. I liked moving toward a new routine and am excited about doing some new things in new ways. The day started early, as usual, with my pre-breakfast time in my nice home office. Following breakfast with a less than enthusiastic family--wonder if had anything to do with a return to school--I went for a nice hilly five mile run. It was a frosty, chilly run, but I liked it.

Yesterday was one of significant interruptions, and if you know me, then you know one of my favorite quotes is from Henri Nouwen. Here I paraphrase:

Most of my life I complained about interruptions to my ministry. Then I realized the interruptions are my ministry.

One of my old friends, a person who used to work for me at Hoosier Uplands, came to the food pantry yesterday. She actually came down the hall looking for me, to say hello. I invited her in, and we had a really good chat about life. I'm going to get a couple of things and take to her family this week.

I had a couple of really good meetings/conversations with people I greatly respect, people who are wiser than me. This is one of my goals for the year - to spend time with people like this; off to a good start.

After a few other things, including a hospital visit, I headed home a little before 5. We had a nice supper together. Healthy food; anti-holiday food. [For January I am drinking nothing but one cup of coffee per day and water the rest of the time. And NO sweets! ONLY healthy foods! Boston 2012.]

After supper, Kedra was checking her email and found an urgent email from our deaf neighbor Roger, sent a couple of hours earlier. It was a request for help ASAP. We quickly changed clothes and made our way across the road. Honestly I was prepared to find him dead. He is so frail. I went in his house, which was totally dark. I turned on a light and saw him on the couch. Was he breathing? Yes.

Long story short: he was severely dehydrated and very weak. We managed to get him to agree to go the ER. He barely disagreed, which is significant. He is usually very stubborn about these sorts of things. We helped into the car and made our way over to the hospital. ER=Wait. They took him in immediately, but it seems to take so long to get all the tests done, etc. They finally admitted him about 10. I made contact with his brother in IL, and he was on his way. Today I'll check on Roger's house and hyper dog. We love old Roger.

I wonder what will happen today?

Here we go!

I hope your new year is off to a good start. If you are like me, it is probably starting today. I'm not too much into resolutions, but I do set some goals and work toward them. I may share more about that in a future post.

You probably noticed that I did not post anything for a while. That really wasn't intentional; it just kinda happened that way. I got in holiday mode and stayed that way for a while, which I think I needed. I feel refreshed now and ready to take on the challenges that will present themselves this year.

Here are a couple of things I tweeted and posted on Facebook lately:

Heard this in church today: "The secret to life is setting & effectively pursuing the right priorities." Sounds right to me.

Another good one from R. Warren - "Just as night conceals earth but reveals the universe, your dark times can reveal truths about God u wouldnt see otherwise." I've learned this to be true and must remember it in the darkness.

"I am learning to live the questions, to follow the teachings of a radical rabbi, to live in an upside-down kingdom in which kings are humbled and servants are exalted, to look for God in the eyes of the orphan and the widow, the homeless and the imprisoned, the poor and the sick." This is from Rachel Held Evans in "Evolving in Monkey Town - How a girl who knew all the answers learned to ask the questions." Interesting book - couldn't put it down.

Happy New Year!