Author Archives: Lummer Steve
Exiting 2011
A friend of mine told me once, ” How you exit one thing will determine how you enter another”.
As we leave 2011 remember to do it with dignity, grace and a good healthy sense of humor.
2011 might have been a real challenge for a lot of us but the fact of the matter is good has happened and you are still moving forward.
If 2011 was a year of TRIAL & PRUNING then 2012 can be a year of NEW LIFE & GROWTH.
It has been said that for every door that closes, there is a new one that opens. That being said, Then knowing how we leave one thing will greatly effect how we are going to enter another.
Here are a few nuggets to help you leave 2011 and enter 2012
1. Don’t enter a NEW year with OLD negative attitudes.
2. Look forward to another opportunity to get it right.
3. Last year’s words belong to last year’s language – Learn a new language of hope of and some new words in 2012.
4. Change of PLACE + change of PACE = change of PERSPECTIVE. (Mark Batterson)
5. Continue to do WHATS RIGHT, then WHATS WRONG and WHOSE WRONG will eventually leave your life. (David Blunt)
6. New Year’s Day is every man’s birthday.
7. When it comes to New Year’s resolutions; Integrity – the ability to not promise something you can’t come through on.
8. It’s O.K. to have a new definition of success.
9. Keep up with technology.
10. FORGIVE – It will keep you moving forward.
Happy New Year
Steve
California Coastal Trail
Biking sections of the California Coastal Trail gets put on the list.
(half moon bay section the CCT)
Its time to start investigating what sections of the CCT to ride in the next couple of years.
This page of stevelummer.com will be dedicated to mapping that route.
The California Coastal Trail (CCT) is a network of public trails for walkers, bikers, equestrians, wheelchair riders and others along the 1200-mile California coastline. It is currently more than half complete. Coastwalk California is a volunteer organization that advocates for completion of the Trail.
(Muir Woods to Stinson Beach)
Here is the county by county map for the CCT – (click on the county to view the trail)
http://californiacoastaltrail.info/hikers/hikers_main.php
For example, here is the Mendocino County map section 5
http://californiacoastaltrail.info/hikers/hikers_main.php?DisplayAction=DisplayCounty&CountyId=4
A section of the CCT in Marian County.
Now for the research and development of these trips.
Photo above taken from bowcycle.com
Yes, this is what I am talkin bout.
The options are plenty – Bike Packing, Travel trailer or travel by SUV and hotel it. I prefer one and two.
Pics for follow from the CCT.
Steve
ADVENTURE TRIPS = CONNECTING PEOPLE
Over the past 30 years I have been privileged to lead and be on some amazing adventures with some amazing people.
From deep sea fishing with my wife in the Pacific Ocean / mountain biking in Mexico, the Iditirod trail in Alaska and Arizona / climbing Half Dome in Yosemite / fishing the amazing waters of Canada / getting to Espejo Peak in the Venezuelan Andes @15,633 ft / scuba diving and canoeing the Ozarks / hiking into the Grand Canyon or riding a bike across Iowa … all of these adventures had one thing in common. Friends to enjoy it with.
It is amazing how you get to know someone when you get out of your routine. Being in the outdoors helps open doors to new and lasting relationships with family and friends.
When John Muir said; “most people live on the earth not in it”, I think he nailed it by describing how easy it is to miss an amazing place called planet earth. We live on the only living planet in the universe, (that we know of), with 7 billion other people. What a shame to miss out on the greatest gift in the universe, people and the planet we live on.
The adventure is great! But it is amazing when it is experienced with people of like hearts and passion.
If you are reading this blog, you are a member of an elite group. A group of adventure types that love being outside the walls of a mall or structure that has your view clouded by ceilings and walls.
We believe that God gave us the outdoors to help us see the bigger picture He has designed for us.
Church settings are nice but the roof is to low. God took Abraham of the Old Testament outside his tent and told him to look up at the stars in the sky and God told him that his offspring would outnumber the stars. What God did is just as significant as what he said. He led Abraham outside for an object lesson that he would never forget. Why did God take him outside? Because inside the tent, Abraham’s vision of God and God’s amazing future for him was limited. He could not see the potential of God’s promises displayed against the backdrop of God’s creation.
God wanted him to get a glimpse of just how big a God he was. Taking Abraham outside was God’s way of telling him not to put limits and ceilings on what God wanted to do through him and for him.
Get yourself outside yourself and mix it up with some good friends or good strangers for a change…. Get outside and adventure yourself.
Here are a few opportunities we are putting together over the next year for you to connect through some amazing adventure trips.
Upcoming trips in 2012/13
Connection Expeditions – Marriage Adventure May 2012 – Sedona, Arizona
Connection Expeditions – Grand Canyon Adventure September 2012 – Grand Canyon National Park
Connection Expeditions – Yosemite National Park/Halfdome- September 2013
For more outdoor adventures contact Pastor Steve Lummer @ 928-710-0750 or go to Connections web site at: http://www.connectionexpedition.com/
FAT TIRE SNOW RIDE
A friend of mine let me use his Salsa Mukluk Fat tire bike for a couple of days while we have snow here in Prescott.
In our neck of the woods we still have about five to six inches of the frozen H20 up in the pines.
I wanted to test ride the fat tire bike to see how she does in the deeper snow before I actually pull the trigger and get one.
When going up any incline with deeper snow you really need to have some momentum and legs. The fat tires do actually get through snow pretty good.
The 82mm rim/3.8″ tire combo was created to go where standard “all terrain” bikes flounder. The floatation and traction afforded by large-volume, low-pressure tires can get you over and through otherwise unrideable terrain…sand, mud, wet rocks and roots, ice and many kinds of snow.
The Mukluk on John’s bike is a 1×9 and does well in most snow conditions.
The ideal snow level is in my opinion 1- three inches or a mix of decomposed granite/mud.
The fat tire is a great option for riding when a conventional mountain could not cut it. – I think for the money FAT IS WERE IT’S AT….to give you another riding opportunity in rain/snow and slightly muddy conditions.
I loved having the option to get out on the snowy singletrack and not having to sit on my bike in the garage for another boring spin video.
The actual fat tire bike I am looking into in the Surly Moonlander. It has even a wider bigger tire for getting you through snow with better traction.
Here is the beta on the Moonlander from Surly’s web site.
http://surlybikes.com/bikes/moonlander
Steve
Sedona Mountain Bike Adventure
I just wanted to share a few pics of our December 2011 Sedona mountain bike adventure.
Sedona is one of those treasures that keeps you on a quest to discover more each time you visit.
Our group of ten started around 11:30 in the morning at the Bike and Bean in the Village of Oak Creek
.
http://www.bike bean.com/Sedona_Bike_%26_Bean_Sedona_Mountain_biking_and_Coffee/Enter.html
The plan was to start at the “made in the shade” trailhead and get to chicken point and then back to the parking lot.
Here is a map provided by Cosmic Ray.
The actual route we ended up taking was: Made in the shade” – “Slim shady” – “HT” – “Little horse” – to Chicken point – Llama – “Little bell loop” – Bell rock loop and back to the parking lot.
The “made in the Shade/Slim shady section in one of my favorites.
Here our group stops for a photo op.
The “HT” (highway tunnel) trail travel under highway 179 and over to the Little Horse trail.
After “HT” things get a little technical and steep on the Little Horse”
No one cleaned this section but they gave it a good try.
Chicken Point is a destination and point of interest for hikers, Jeeps and mountain bikers.
The views are amazing and give you a “back country” view that most Sedona visitors don’t experience by traveling up and down the main roads and tourist shops.
Chicken Point is a playground on the hidden side of Sedona.
A couple of our braver souls attempted ti ride part of the “white line” pictured below. (double click the image with your mouse for the bigger pic)
The “white line” is not really a shelf ledge …. but rather according to Rob H. more like just a sloped part of the rock formation that is “steeper than it looks”.
Here is a youtube video of the entire “white line” by a couple of crazies.
The entire day was awesome with the exception of a mechanical small ring failure on the way back to the cars.
Looking forward to getting back to another Sedona adventure real soon.
Steve
PRAYERS KIDS PRAY
Brenda and i have pastored for over thirty years and we have heard some pretty crazy stuff come out of the mouths of people.
We have also heard some amazing stuff come out of the mouths of people but the ones we really love are the prayers kids pray.
Here are some examples.
Dear God: Please send a new baby for Mommy. The new baby you sent last week cries too much. Debbie, 7
Dear God: Who did you make smarter? Boys or girls? My sister and I want to know. Jimmy, 6
Dear God: How many angels are there in heaven? I would like to be the first kid in my class to know the answer. Norma, 8
Dear God: This is my prayer. Could you please give my brother some brains. So far he doesn’t have any. Angela, 8
Dear Lord: Thank you for the nice day today. You even fooled the TV weather man. Hank, 7
Dear God: Please bring me a new brother. The one I got socks me all the time. Agnes, 6
Dear God: Please help me is school. I need help in spelling, adding, history, geography and writing. I don’t need help in anything else. Lois, 9
Dear God: Do you have any helpers in Heaven? I would like to be one of Your helpers in Heaven when I have summer vacation. Natalie, 7
Dear Lord; Tomorrow is my birthday. Could you please put a rainbow in the sky? Susan, 9
Dear God: I need a raise in my allowance. Could you have one of your angels tell my father. Thank you. David, 7
Dear God; I am saying my prayers for me and my brother, Billy, because Billy is six months old and he can’t do anything but sleep and wet his diapers. Diane, 8
Thank God for Kids.
Pastor Steve
“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 18:3
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Three Cents And A Dream
In 1910, a baby girl named Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born in Albania. As a teenager she felt called to ministry. She did her training in Ireland and India. One day she approached her superiors and said, “I have three pennies and a dream from God to build an orphanage.” Her superiors said, “You can’t build an orphanage with three pennies. With three pennies you can’t do anything.” Agnes smiled and said, “I know. But with God and three pennies I can do anything.” For fifty years, Agnes worked among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta, India. In 1979, Agnes, known to the rest of the world as Mother Teresa, won the Nobel Peace Prize.
How does such a diminutive woman become one of the most recognizable and most revered women in the world? How does a woman with three pennies end up inspiring people to give billions of dollars to charity?
Never underestimate someone with a God-given dream!
Pastor Steve
“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”
“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”
“Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own.”
“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”
“I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No, I wouldn’t touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God.
“I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?”
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”
“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”
Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa)
ARE YOU A PILGRIM?
Have you ever felt uncomfortable or cramped while traveling with friends on a long trip?
Maybe you had to travel in a van or bus with a bunch of people and you just wanted to “get there” or at least get out and stretch your legs.
On this Thanksgiving morning I wanted to think back about 400 years in history to the Pilgrim’s journey on the Mayflower.
Here are a few “Mayflower Facts”
THE PILGRIMS IN THE MAYFLOWER – 1620
During the voyage, the 102 Mayflower passengers lived primarily on the gun deck. The length of the deck from stem to stern was about 80 feet, of which about 12 feet at the back belonged to the gun room and was probably off-limits to the passengers. The width at the widest part was about 24 feet. Various hatches provided access to the cargo hold below. The windlass and capstan, both used to haul heavy items by rope between the decks, also took up floor-space, as did the main mast in the middle, and the sprit sail mast in the front. Many of the families built themselves small little “cabins,” simple wooden dividers nailed together, to provide a small amount of privacy. 102 passengers – 42 of the 102 were pilgrims.
20 crew members
The cargo ship Mayflower was constantly leaking
It took nine and half weeks to get to the new land.
Here is a cross section of what the Pilgrims living quarters looked like.
80 feet long 24 feet wide
Maybe things are tight for you right now. Maybe you feel like life is closing in around you, or you feel stuck.
God can bring you through situations you think you won’t survive, or feel you’ll be stuck in forever. He can make you comfortable in the most uncomfortable places, and give you peace in the midst of trauma. Before your life is over you’ll live, love, and experience loss. Losing some things will actually help you to appreciate the things you still have. It’s the taste of failure that makes success sweet. You’ll live each day not knowing what tomorrow holds, but confident that God has your tomorrows all planned out. They’re not in the hands of your boss or your banker or your mate or anybody else. Nor are they in your own hands to manipulate and control. No, all your tomorrows are in God’s hands.
Just because you don’t recognize the path you’re on doesn’t mean that God’s not leading you. He promises, “I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them” (Isa 42:16 NKJV). So get to know God – you’ll need Him. And He’ll be there for you. He’ll be there when everybody and everything else has failed you. He’ll be there for you in the tight, cramped and dark places.
Your new and fresh future will be worth your temporary troubles.
Keep moving forward toward your destination. Keep the forward progress in your spiritual journey.
I am a pilgrim.
1 Peter 2:11
Happy Thanksgiving 2011
Steve
APACHE KIDS TOYS DRIVE
Prescott First Assembly of God is partnering with White River Assembly of God church in collecting toys for their annual Apache Kids Toy Drive. The event takes place on the White Mountain Apache indian Reservation which is currently suffering through a 92% unemployment rate. This toy drive is vital to showing the children of that area that there is a wonderful season called Christmas.
Through us all pulling together, we can make a huge difference in many lives and many families again this year.
The toys collected for the children and teens will be distributed on December 18th, 2011 during the churches annual toy give away program.
Our church will be driving a truck load of toys up the week of December 7 th. – If you would like to donate to the effort you can bring your donations of toys by the church on Sundays between now and then. – Please have the gifts wrapped and mark by age and gender.
You can also mail you gifts to:
White River Assembly of God Church
701 N Chief Ave. or P.O. box 597
White River Arizona 85941
We are really looking forward to partnering with pastor Jeminez and his congregation in blessing and ministering to the people of White River Arizona this Christmas.
If you have any questions post them to this blog.
Thank you for joining us this year.
Pastor Steve Lummer
Prescott First Assembly
stevelummer.com 