Thursday a.m.

Good morning! Too bad it's not RAIN day today! Wow, this weather would certainly make the ride across Indiana better and easier. Looks like Saturday won't be too bad: low 90s with humidity rising but not quite where it was recently.

I had my first RAIN related dream last night. My seat came loose going down a hill, and then I had a flat tire - rear tire of course. There was other weird stuff associated with it as well: it was along an ocean course and a guy was changing my tire but not really getting the job done. Normal stuff, I guess.

Yesterday was a pretty good day, and it ended with a great meeting about our rapidly approaching trip to Honduras. I think we are just about set. I am excited about what we are doing and plan to do.

Comfort - that's the topic for this week. Here are some working definitions, English and Greek.

comfort
a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint, consolation for grief or anxiety, cause to feel less unhappy; console.

parakaleō
to call to one's side, call for, summon, to console, to encourage and strengthen, to comfort

Comfort only comes to those who can see the future. Sometimes, when our faith is weak, we cannot see beyond the problem in front of us. That’s when it is so vital that comfort, which is just the flip side of encouragement (same Greek word), is provided by those who can see the future. That's what I'm picking up from reading 2 Cor. 1 and beyond.

Comfort comes from God, as he reveals the future to those who have faith in him/it, but it is administered and mediated through believing, future-seeing humans who come alongside strugglers to help them see what they know and see.

Oh, just about forgot! The picture above is what we saw when we finished our dolphin cruise. I wanted to take Ben deep-sea fishing, but it didn't work out this time. Seeing these fish made me wish that we went! It brought back a lot of memories from New Zealand. My buddy Greg and I would go out on  regular basis and come back with fish like these. Yum yum!

Wednesday a.m.

Good morning! This picture is of a mommy dolphin and her pup. Rebecca and I went on a dolphin watching trip (one of the few things we did). It was neat. We actually saw several dolphins from our balcony and from the beach. They would come in pretty close to the shore.

I guess we all survived the heat wave. It was nice to see the clouds and cooling breezes from the storms roll in last night. It would have been better if I had not been out on my bike! It wasn't that bad actually. I went to the Park at 5.30 to meet some other riders. As I started getting ready I came to a disappointing (dumb) realization: I left my front bike wheel at home. I take it off to mount my bike in the back of my truck, and I forgot to pick it up.

After a brief discussion I told the others that I would meet them in Orleans. Kedra was coming to town, so I got a hold of her just in time for her to bring the missing wheel to the church building. The newly re-united wheel and I headed to Orleans as ominous clouds darkened the southern sky. I had been watching the radar and knew that there was a lot of activity just south of Paoli, but it looked like it was staying there.

Parking at the REMC in Orleans, I unloaded my bike and got ready. I took off to meet my friends coming from the Park. Perfect timing - they were just north of the railroad tracks. After a little tour of Orleans, we headed southeast on 337. The sky was growing more ominous and I was growing more concerned. I only wanted a short ride, and the other guys were a lot faster than me. I decided I would hang on for a while and then head back.

On a hill outside of Bromer I got dropped as usual. About that time I saw lightning. Time to turn around. At this point I was wondering if I would make it back to the truck without getting wet. I made it back - still dry. I loaded up and headed out to check on the other guys. They were pace lining back. I went back to Orleans and they arrived shortly. I followed them back from Orleans, waiting to rescue them, if needed, from the storms. They didn't need it. Right as they went through the gate at the Park, the rain started. Pretty good timing.

I run this morning, and then one more ride before RAIN. Ready or not, here it comes!

Today I am working on my sermon and getting ready for our big party Sunday evening. It's a good combination. I am working on a sermon about comfort. It's an interesting concept/thing. My main text is 2 Cor. 1:3-11. My thesis is that comfort, even from God, is mediated through humans. We need to pay attention to this.

Tuesday a.m.

Good morning! Man, I am missing the sights, sounds and cool breeze from the balcony of our place last week! The heat and humidity were similar to what we are experiencing here, but there was a huge difference. You could feel the sea breeze and go cool off in the water, which felt like bath water by the way. I'm not much of a swimmer, well, not a swimmer at all, but I enjoyed getting in the water up to my neck and bobbing around in the waves. Yes, that is a beautiful mental image for you to carry the rest of the day! Enjoy.

I did determine on the trip that I am going to learn to swim, do triathlons, and complete a half Iron Man, which is 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and a half marathon (13.1 miles). I know I can do the latter two. I just have to learn to swim. This old dog is going to learn a new trick. Hopefully! My plan is to do triathlons next summer and see how it goes. If I can get the distance swimming down, then I will look at what's available in late summer, early fall. Gotta have dreams!

Yesterday was a day of trying to get reoriented. I did fairly well I guess. It's summer, so everything is little more relaxed. I saw/talked to a few people, including our leader/guide in Honduras. Things are shaping up for our trip. We ate at Rings and Wings last night. Ten percent of their sales went to Help for Honduras. It looked like we helped them draw a pretty good crowd last night. We are awaiting the re$ult$.

It was hot yesterday. Did you notice? I ran 5 miles fairly early and was sweating pretty hard. I ran at the Park and included the long hill out of the village. I felt surprisingly good. All the biking is really helping my running. I am getting excited about ramping up my running miles after RAIN. I am going to focus on 2 events: Persimmon 5K and the Monumental half marathon. It's a weird combo, but I think I can make it work. I am getting my motivation back. I put so much into qualify for Boston last fall that I kinda need a break. Now I am ready again.

I read a good book on sports psychology while on vacation. It really helped me get focused on some things. This, of course, carries over to other areas of life as well. I like endurance athletics, and it serves me well in ministry. The writer of Hebrews (chap. 12) as well as Paul make references to the parallels of running and living the Christian life. Both require a lot of discipline, perseverance, and focus on the future.

This evening I plan to do a 30 mile bike ride with some friends. (Yes, I know it's going to be hot.)

Good morning! Surprise! I feel like writing a little this morning - not sure what or how much...

We got back last night from 10 days away, which is one of the longest stays away we have had in a long time. We left on Friday July 1st and went to Kedra's folks in Huntsville, and then on the Monday the 4th we headed to beautiful Orange Beach for the rest of the week. We returned to Huntsville Saturday night, went to church Sunday morning and after lunch made the trip home.

It was good to be away. I took a techo-fast, meaning I did not take my computer and did not check email, Facebook, or Twitter during my time away. I did receive a few tweets on my phone and had a couple of text messages, but for the most part it was a break from all the usual stuff. I loved it! When I checked all my messages last night, I was pleased to see that I did not miss anything crucial. I may have missed an opportunity to teach a class this fall, but maybe not. I am at peace either way.

We did not do much on our time away, which is my idea of what a vacation is. I am not much of one who likes to go away to do all kinds of things. Having said that, I do like to run etc. This time I took my bike. I found some great places to ride and logged 125 miles, including a 50 mile ride from Alabama over to Florida (sounds impressive but it was only 6 miles to the border). The roads were great! It was hot though! The dew points were way into the 70s, which made it very very humid. I managed to run 24 miles along with the biking.

RAIN (Ride Across INdiana) is this weekend. I think I am as ready as I can be. It is not a race, so there is not much pressure to perform. I just have to get it done, and I believe I can. It should be fun. I know some of you think that's sick, but, hey, some think shopping is fun!

I've got less than 3 weeks until I travel to Honduras, so that's going to be my focus over the next several days. That and trying to get organized, figure out where everything is and what's going on, etc.

Guess you figured it out

Wasn't really planning on it, but one thing lead to another and I've taken a blog break! I think I will continue with it for a little while. I'm in full-blown summer mode.

The picture is from my first century - 100 mile bike ride. I think I am ready for my Ride Across INdiana (RAIN), which is July 16.

I will be back...

Monday

Here we go Monday! I hope you had a good weekend. We rolled in from Nashville Friday evening just in time to host an Outdoor Ministry event at our house. Our host responsibilities were minor - providing a fire and a pond basically.

The event turned out to be about a dozen people, mostly men, fishing. There was one little girl, Emma. Emma came with her pink and purple princess pole. The guys were equipped with nice poles and lures etc. Most of the guys caught a few fish, but Emma, on her pink and purple princess pole, caught not one but two really nice bass!

Last night she and her family came out again to fish. Unbelievably, she caught another big bass - bigger than the one pictured! If there is a shortage of pink and purple princess poles, then you will know why. I'm buying them all up!

We took Rebecca to Lipscomb last week for her orientation. That turned out to be a lot more emotional than I anticipated. I guess the reality of her going away hit me. Plus seeing/hearing of college life today made me feel old and somewhat irrelevant. It's a whole different world today. I'm so happy for Rebecca. She is so excited about going to Lipscomb.

I had a frustrating week in the biking department last week. Of course I had 2 days that I could not ride, since I was in Nashville. My plan was to ride some Wednesday morning before we left, but that did not happen. Then my big plan was to ride 80 miles on Saturday, but the weather did not cooperate. I ended up with only 50 miles for the week and am starting to get nervous about my ride across Indiana. I must get some long rides in! Maybe this week.

I need to get organized for yet another unusual summer week... Maybe more later.

Wednesday

I started on this earlier... I get easily distracted. So how are you?

This is an unusual week for me/us. We got back from Alabama Monday night, and we are headed to Nashville in a little while. Rebecca has her orientation to Lipscomb over the next couple of days. We are looking forward to sharing in her excitement.

Between trips I've been working on restoring some more computer things. I am slowly getting some things back to the way they were. I'm sure I will never get everything back like I had it, and I am pretty certain I don't want to. I am really striving to make some fundamental changes in my relationship with technology. I am looking for more fun and less slavery. I've stopped reading so many newspapers etc. The world will go on whether I know what's going on or not.

Wasn't yesterday beautiful? The cooler temps were so pleasant. I got a nice 5 mile run in about midday and hardly sweat. Then yesterday evening I met with 7 other riders to go on our Tuesday evening 30+ mile ride. Almost all of these guys are crazy fast, and I am not. I still enjoy riding with them. We ride out to the Washington Co line, which is 10 miles from Orleans.

Last night, aided by a slight tailwind, they pace-lined the 10 miles at more than 28 miles per hour! Dan D and I worked together and had a great ride at a slower pace. It was a lot of fun. I won't be able to ride for the next couple of days, so running will be my main focus. Then on Saturday I plan to ride 80 miles. I started on an 80 miler last week and got sick half way through. Actually I was sick when I started but thought I could ride through it. Wrong.

I better get back to reading and rebuilding...

Where were we?

I guess some of you noticed that I haven't shown up here for a little while? Well, I'm back! Let me give you a brief report on where I've been.

We left Friday morning to go to Alabama to celebrate 50 years of marriage for Kedra's parents. It was very nice. We had a small reception for family members on Saturday, and then on Sunday we attended church with her parents. All of my children made it, so we spent a lot of nice time together. We came home last night.

While in Alabama I was able to ride and run, which was fun. I had 2 decent rides and a couple of good runs as well. On the rides I saw lots of interesting things and people and discovered some new routes that I will enjoy in the future.

I've decided to take technology "fasts" this summer - meaning that I did not take my computer with me and did not check email from Friday morning until last night. I feel enslaved to technology and am looking for some freedom. The fast went well. I missed a few things that were dependent upon timing, but that's OK. I've been preaching (literally) about being still and patience etc., saying the key is disconnecting from all the noise. I'm trying to practice what I preach.

OK, I am a little behind on things, so I better get going!