family

A FOOT CENTERED FAMILY?

For more than a quarter of a century Brenda and I have taught people in seminars, in marriage and family sessions, this very important principle: “Become a family-centered family”.

Selfishness can cause us as families to get so out of focus and off track. You see, it can creep up on you without you even knowing it.

What do I mean? Well, when you first get married you fall in love with the most importantant person in your life, right? Your spouse becomes the most important person in your life. Then….a few months can go by and instead of staying a family-centered family, we get the new job and we become a “JOB-CENTERED FAMILY“. Not on purpose,it just becomes the most important thing.

Then we buy a new house and we become a “HOUSE-CENTERED FAMILY“.

Then we have children, and it seems everything else gets put on the back shelf because the children have so many needs that are so urgent, so we become a CHILD-CENTERED FAMILY.

So many things get us off track from staying a FAMILY-CENTERED FAMILY… where every member of the family countsand no one becomes more important than anyone else in the family.

In our family, we always joke about becoming a “DOG-CENTERED FAMILY” because we have two golden retrievers that seem to get alot of our attention a lot of the time. They are important to us but not more important than the human members of the family.

Anything can get in the way of the most important thing. (boats, bikes, mortorcycles, hobbies, you name it).

These past few days because of my injury and surgery, my pain levels have been off the charts and everyone in the house (even the dogs) know not to hit dad’s foot.

I laughed a couple of hours ago when my two adult children, Brenda,the dogs, and the cat were in our bedroom and there it was larger than life……my big fat throbbing, aching, hurting, suffering foot!

There it was in the middle of the room and everyone was concerned about the foot to make sure IT was o.k. and IT was comfortable.

I laughed and told everyone that we had become a “FOOT-CENTERED FAMILY”.

One of my goals during this recovery season is going to make sure we don’t become a “FOOT CENTERED FAMILY” …..but we stay a “FAMILY-CENTERED FAMILY” where everyone counts and everyone matters.

Life experiences

BROKEN

Sorry for the weblog delay but last Saturday morning I took a detour from normal life.

The morning was a great start to a group mountain bike ride through one of my favorite Arizona single track trails.

We started at 7:00 AM up the 396 climb and two hours later came to the end of our venture with one last episode.

At 9:00 am I bumped the riders wheel in front of me and in a matter of three seconds found myself laying on trail 396 with what doctor Pfluger later told me was a Broken Ankle – Displaced Trimalleolar Fracture.

In everday language, I broke three bones in my right ankle.

From the time of the ankle break to the xray taken at the hospital pictured below was 56 minutes.

I want to thank the four mountain bike buddies for the excellent way they handled my outdoor emergency.

Robert middlemore for the carry out to the SUV and excellent 4 wheel
out.
Scott Lopeman for the carry out to the SUV.
Billy Reagan for the ride to the hopital.
Robert Coomsie for the help and encouraging words.
YOU GUYS SAVED THE DAY FOR ME.

My docter tells me that I have two plates and seven screws holding my right ankle together and the recovery process could be 10 to 12 weeks before I could start to get back on my bike again.

I will keep an update about the recovery process as the days go along.

Just for kicks, here is a medical diagram of the surgey doctor Pfluger did on me this past Saturday.

family, Ministry

Coffee Roasters is our third place

The Third Place
As a kid growing up in the west end of Davenport Iowa, I used to love going to places that my friends and I would go to just to hang out. Nothing really important happened there ……or did it?
Places like the friends garage that had everything from an old stereo in the corner playing the best 70’s rock n roll KSTT had to offer to bicycle parts and everything you could imagine that kids love to tinker with. An old couch, or a wood burning stove that gave off the best smell in the world, firewood smoke.
Another place was our favorite tree house in the oak tree just outside the view of civilization and our neighbors view. In that tree house we could dream of anything and spend hours talking about the possibilities.
I guess those places still exist today. They are known as your “third place”.
Our family loves our third place here in Prescott Arizona, Coffee Roasters is a place to connect and have conversations that keep us connected to the people we love and cherish. http://www.prescottcoffeeroasters.com/

Brenda and Caleb enjoy a “third place” day

at Coffee Roasters.

Many others more gifted than I have described just what a third place is and how important it is for us to find one.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – The third place is a term used in the concept of community building to refer to social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace. In his influential book The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg (1989, 1991) argues that third places are important for civil society, democracy, civic engagement, and establishing feelings of a sense of place.
Oldenburg calls one’s “first place” the home and those that one lives with. The “second place” is the workplace — where people may actually spend most of their time. Third places, then, are “anchors” of community life and facilitate and foster broader, more creative interaction. All societies already have informal meeting places; what is new in modern times is the intentionality of seeking them out as vital to current societal needs. Oldenburg suggests these hallmarks of a true “third place”: free or inexpensive; food and drink, while not essential, are important; highly accessible: proximate for many (walking distance); involve regulars – those who habitually congregate there; welcoming and comfortable; both new friends and old should be found there.

Starbucks speaks the “third place” language.
Starbucks uses the term the third place in its marketing because it vies to be the “extra place” people frequent after home and work. This idea came from a marketing concept by Howard Schultz. In an attempt to make Starbucks a “home away from home”, the café section of the store is often outfitted with comfortable chairs, as well as the usual tables and hard-backed chairs found in cafés. Free electricity outlets are provided for patrons, and many branches also have wireless internet access, provided on a charge basis by T-Mobile and AT&T. Many larger retail stores also host “mini-concerts” for local musicians.

Further reading
Oldenburg, Ray (2000). Celebrating the Third Place: Inspiring Stories about the “Great Good Places” at the Heart of Our Communities. New York: Marlowe & Company. ISBN 978-1569246122.
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Place”

Also, Mark Batterson’s blog talks about the churches roll in our culture of creating a third place for people to connect and stay connected.

http://www.evotional.com/2006/05/third-place.html

I think great dreams come from your third place. Look for one and stay fresh.

Mountain biking

20 things mountain biking teaches you about life

Here are 20 Things Mountain Biking Teaches You About Life – by Steve Kohler

Big thinkers and good writers have often used sport as a metaphor for life: the lessons of the playing field or arena applied to daily living.
If Norman Mailer (boxing), William Kennedy (baseball) and John Irving (wrestling) had spent time on a mountain bike, they would have learned that:

Boldness pays.
Desperation breeds mistakes.
The hardest parts are also the loneliest.
There’s fresh horse flop in the trail ahead.
Balance is first among the virtues; momentum is second.
Success requires confidence, but cockiness invites failure.
Sometimes, the best way past an obstacle is straight through it.
Some people get lucky at parts; nobody gets lucky at everything.
It’s all about the being and the going, not the having and the arriving.
At each intersection, there’s the easy way and the hard, rewarding way.
It’s tempting to focus on the immediate problem to the exclusion of the big picture.
The thing that nails you is the one you don’t see coming.
It’s worth stopping for a breather to see where you are.
Thousands of tiny decisions shape the trip.
The fun starts when you push the limits.
You can get hurt, heal and go again.
Ups are followed by downs.
Practice makes you better.
No quitting allowed.
Love hurts.

Tonight I mountain biked with five guys that I consider way above average riders.

We left the parking lot at 5:30 and headed for the dusty single track in the Prescott National Forest.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/prescott/

The great thing about tonights ride was that we climbed high , descended fast and took the long way through stuff I had not seen before.

I love riding with guys younger than me, faster than me and stronger than me……because it pushes me.

I also love riding the 23 pound carbon fiber Trek Top Fuel mountain bike. It is great on the ascent and handles the down hill like a dream.

http://www.thebikinghub.com/mtb/dream-cross-country-bikes

www.trekbikes.com

Anyway, Thank you Brenda for the great birthday present. The trail performance of the Trek Top Fuel works absolutley fantastic.

Just one more thing…. Just like in life ….mountian biking can’t teach you anything unless you are teachable.

Staying teachable, bendable and flexable alows me to look forward to the next adventure.

Time for a shower and some pasta.

family

Two big events in 2008

Brenda and I experienced watching our two adult children come to some life changing events in 2008.

Our son Caleb, graduated with honors with a Digital Arts degree from Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida this past April.

http://www.fullsail.edu/

Words on this blog cannot begin to express how proud we are of Caleb…….man, you talk about bold faith and risk! This guy has it.

Caleb currently is working as a digital designer with Deckers Corporation in Flagstaff, Arizona. The great part about this job for him is he is close to home, close to trout streams, and living in the pines of Northren Arizona.

Another “biggie” for our family was our daughter Natascha was engaged this May to our youth pastor Adam Kling.

It is absolutely endearing to see them work on their wedding, look for a place to live, and start their journey together.

The date is set for October 25th here in Prescott, Arizona and guess who gets to give the bride away and at the same time perform the ceremony?

Really proud of these two kids and their undying love for each other and the God they serve!

God has really been faithful to help Brenda and I with the responsibilty of parenting.

All I can say when I think about it, is “Thank you Lord for your help, strength, insight, and resources.”

what I am working on right now

First Blog entry 6/23/08

Steve Lummer has officially entered blog world.

So with no trainning wheels here we go!

Living with no trainning wheels is a great way to look at life. It is having the ability to risk all that you have, all that you are, all that seems safe and secure.

I like people who have this faith to risk new adventures, new paths and new levels of life that can take them to places worth the risk.

Training wheels are great for a while but some times we keep them on way too long and never trust our abilities and miss the opportunities of living at full throttle.

This blog will be about those kinds of people and events.

A NO TRAINNING WHEELS APPROACH TO LIFE IS FOR ME A GREAT WAY TO RIDE EVEN IF YOU GET SOME SCRAPS ALONG THE WAY.