Monthly Archives: August 2008

Alaska

I like Alaska Even More Now

I liked Alaska big time after going there last summer, but I like it more now. Especially since Governor Sarah Palin loves fishing and her favorite meal is moose stew.
The “blogisphere” is really buzzzzzzing right now about this VP pick.
Here is what Doug Weads Blog has to say about it.

What is Sarah Palin’s religion and why does it matter?

“What is Sarah Palin’s Religion?
She is Assemblies of God.
Ted Boatsman, the former Alaskan District Superintendent for the Assemblies of God, was her junior high pastor at Wasilla Assemblies of God Church. She is currently attending Juneau Christian Center whose pastor is pastor is Mike Rose. http://www.jccalaska.com
In high school she was the local leader of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

McCain does more than balance the ticket with a woman. He solves his complicated religious problem with Pentecostals and Charismatics, who according to a recent Barna survey make up almost half of all born again Christians. McCain’s on again off again relationships with Pentecostals, John Hagee and Rod Parsley, as well as the ill timed Charles Grassley attack on six Pentecostal television ministries are now moot points.

But wait until MSNBC finds out. Expect all hell to break loose. She will be portrayed as a pro creationist – Neanderthal. Just wait. And, as well intentioned as they will be, thinking that they are doing Obama a good deed, it will drive the Evangelicals into the McCain camp. All of Senator Obama’s kind overtures to people of faith will be for naught.”

I have liked listening to Doug Wead for the past 30 years and again he speaks truth.

This choice for a running mate it going to make things really interesting to watch over the next three months.

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family

COOL PARENTS!

Brenda and I got spend the day with the most awesome parents on the planet today.

Awesome as parents yes…..but also just great people that you would automatically like if you met them for the first time!

Jo and Paul Lummer living it up in Scottsdale Az.

Here are just a few photos of one of the neatest places to live in the USA.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the day. Dad’s mountain bike that he has riddin so much that the tires are worn all the way through to the treads. 

(we have got to do something about that)

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family

BODY AND SOUL

Great to watch the sun rise this morning with Brenda before the day starts up.

My prayer for my family today comes out of John chapter 3.

I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit. 

– 3  John 2 (nlt)

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cycling

SPINNING

Getting used to the bike again by using a trainer.

Spinning is a great way to ride your bike without having to actually go anywhere.

Its a great way to exercise especially with music from the ipod.

Speaking of the ipod.

We all know we are living in an “I” society ….  “itunes” “iphones” “ipods”

Here are three “I” experiences I really enjoyed yesterday for a full 30 minutes.

IPOD + ISPIN = ISWEAT.

It was great to burn off about 430 calories yesterday on the bike trainer. It is not the 1200 to 1500 hundred I was used to on a normal Mtn bike ride….but still it is better that being laid up on the couch.

 Go to   http://www.healthdiscovery.net/links/calculators/calorie_calculator.htm

this web link will help you count calories burned during a variety of exercises.

The goal is to work up to 90 minutes on the trainer by my first physical therapy session September 9th.

After 9 weeks of virtually no real exercise it really felt great to sweat.

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Books I'm Reading

NO SWEAT!

Besides the awesome Orvis 5 wt. fly rod my son got me on my 50th birthday this year, I also received from him a book I am devouring in the mornings called; Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff by Dr. Richard Carlson.

I really love this quote from him out of chapter 5 on developing compassion.

Dr. Carlson says that “Compassion is something you can develop with practice. It involves two things: intention and action. Intention simply means you remember to open your heart to others; you expand what and who matters, from yourself to other people. Action is simply the what you do about it.”

I am really liking this book because even though it is simple it is far from simplistic.

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cycling, Life experiences, what I am working on right now

PROGRESS

Quick ankle recovery update.

SEEING PROGRESS IS GREAT!

This week I was able to start driving for the first time in 8 weeks.
Started walking with a cane and got to lose the crutches.
Put the cane away yesterday and started walking with no sticks (nice to have two free hands) I can actually get my own coffee in the morning now.
Start physical therapy next week with the sports medicine guys.

Only problem so far is a chlorine rash from the swim therapy that attacked the new “baby like” skin on my right foot…..man it burns.

So at this point no bike shoes yet.

ENJOY YOUR BIKES!

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climate change

REAL CHANGE

It is nice to see some real change.

With 300 plus days of total sunshine here in Prescott it is great to see some change because of the Arizona monsoon season.

The monsoons are here in full swing and it is great to see our own kind of climate change.

Without the monsoons the forest would be as dry as a bone.

It seems even our Prescott National Forest here in Arizona is attempting to be politically correct by staying “green” as possible.

I think the whole earth has big a head start on all this “green talk”….it is the only green planet we have been able to find so far in the entire universe.

Ummmm, nice work God!

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Life experiences

A 180 ALL DAY

Today I went to take a few photos of the sunflowers at Granite Basin Lake……and as usual I wasn’t disappointed.

According to Wikipedia, sunflowers do indeed follow the sun. They begin the day facing east and track the sun all day until they face west by nightfall. At night they reorient their flowers to once again face east.
I love this !  The sunflower, turns toward the sun and quite literally tracks its 180 degree path through the day. As the sun rises in the east the head of the sunflower turns east. As the sun travels to its transit the sunflower’s head moves until at noon it looks up, directly at the sun. And at the end of the day, its face is to the west, almost drooping as the sun slips beneath the horizon.
The Christian life is lived most effectively and powerfully as, like that sunflower, as we keep our faces turned to the Son who came to be the light of the world.

As we keep our lives focused on Jesus Christ, we live as children of the light. His light not only clothes and enlightens us, but is also reflected off of us into the lives of those around us.
I think I will follow Him all 180 during the entire day .

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
1 John 1:7 (NIV)

The sunflower…..amazing!

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Life experiences

53 DAYS

It was a 53 day experience of not driving a car because of doctor’s orders.

For the past seven and a half weeks Brenda, Caleb, Natascha or anyone else that was willing drove me wherever I needed to go.   God bless them all!

Today was the first day I drove myself to the office ….it was great to be back behind the wheel.

This is what it looked like to me driving into Prescott.

I’m sure everyone is glad to get a break from me telling them how to drive.

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leadership

ἐνθουσιασμός – en-theos

I love this quote on leadership.

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next without losing your enthusiasm.”

Winston Churchill

Enthusiasm (ἐνθουσιασμός) root – en-theos = in God. An enthusiast is a person inspired by god. *see: Biblical inspiration – (inspiration Greek – θεοπνευστος – Theopneustos = literally God breathed) When the early Christians would see someone convert to Christianity there was this overwhelming joy that followed the gift of Salvation but they had a problem there was no word to describe this feeling so they combined the two words (in God) creating the word (entheos) from which we get the English word Enthusiasm.

Long term leadership requires lots of “en-theos”!

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