Category Archives: Life experiences

family, Life experiences, marriage

DAY OF REST

Just a few pics of today in Sedona and Flagstaff with Brenda.

Great to get the whole day with just her.

First stop – THE BLUEMOON CAFE

Next Stop – BIKE & BEAN for a great coffee and bike buds banter.

Oakcreek never dissapoints. The leaves are starting to turn and the trout are still swimming.

It was great to see where our son Caleb is working. Deckers Coorporation is parked perfectly in the college town of Flagstaff Az. Only 90 minutes from mom and dad.

I have learned in 28 years of ministry to “come apart”, so I don’t “come apart”.

“Come ye apart into a desert place, and rest a while. ” Mark 6:31

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Life experiences, Ministry

FIRST TIME – FIRST RESPONSE

For the first time outside of a “church context”I had someone ask me today what my life verse was.

Without hesitation I qouted back to him:

1 Corinthians 15:58 “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

It has been my CORE VALUES VERSE for the past 20 years of ministry and basically defines my approach to life and ministry.

I love talking to people about stuff like this out in mainstreet.

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family, Life experiences, marriage, Ministry

A PERFECT FIT

This afternoon we went to Phoenix to get fitted for our tuxedo’s for my daughter’s wedding.

I learned something from my tailor.

He told me, Your tuxedo fitting is very important. Without a good fitting, your tux will not hang right on your body and will not be comfortable. You should have two fittings. The first fitting happens when you first order your tuxedo. It shouldn’t take more than 10 to 20 minutes to get your initial fitting. The tailor will take your neck and sleeve size for your shirt, your waist and out seam for your trousers and chest for your coat size. The second final fitting will occur usually when you pick up the tuxedo to bring it home. It is basically a check of the first fitting to make sure everything fits correctly. A good fitting will insure the following:

1. The tuxedo jacket should allow for free movement in the arms and should lay smoothly along the back.

2. Tuxedo pants should just barely touch the top of your shoe and should be hemmed with no cuff.

It reminds me of the story in the Old Testament where King Saul tries to help David fight Goliath by giving him his armor to wear.

“Saul outfitted David as a soldier in armor. He put his bronze helmet on his head and belted his sword on

him over the armor. David tried to walk but he could hardly budge. David told Saul, “I can’t even move with all this stuff on me. I’m not used to this.” And he took it all off. ” 1 Samuel 17:38,39 (message)

David couldn’t move around comfortably in “hand me downs”. He had to get out of  another person’s armor to fight effectively.

The same is true for all of us. We have got to have a tailor made faith that fits us perfectly. We can’t live a life based on another persons faith or beliefs.

WHEN IT COMES TO OUR FAITH, ITS ALL GOT TO BE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC AND NOT BORROWED.

A good fitting faith is a personal tailor made faith.

I like what John Mason says; “We are all born originals…don’t die a copy.”

 

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Life experiences

9/11 Remembered

In 1978 I was part of an ministry outreach to New York City and New Jersey.

The ministry experience was awesome and as I remember the entire trip was a memory maker for me and my friends.

I remember standing between the Twin Towers on our day off and thinking to myself how great it was to be standing in such a fantastic place.

Then 23 years later on September 11th things drastically changed for all of us. I remember like every other American how evil has such a devastating effect on the planet.

Today September 11th, 2008 I am still reminded that evil does exist and it is very powerful.

I am also reminded that there always has been evil but “greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.” 1 John 4:4

This morning as I watched the memorials that took place on the East coast I prayed for the leadership of this nation and the men and women serving us in the military.

My prayers are also with one of the spiritual sons of our church. This week, Bobby Snyder leaves for Iraq.

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Life experiences

ORIGINS part 2

Amazing how where you live in the world affects your outlook and outcome.

I have always enjoyed the outdoors, the woods and streams.

To this day it seems whenever we are on a trip or going from one place to another and we pass over a river or go through a forest, I have an urge to stop everything and take the time to explore the place.

Any place I have had opportunity to travel to, whether it was South America, Mexico,Canada, Alaska or my own back yard I have been curious about the habitat.

Here is a picture of a place I would spend hours at a time as a boy growing up in eastern Iowa.

I knew it as “the swamp” next to my first job at the Scott County Sportsman Club. Now it is known as Nahant Marsh.

What a great place to grow up as a child. Little did I realize at the time, but that place of adventure and exploring was a set up by God.

I found an amazing passage this morning out of Acts 17:26,27 that explains why we live where we do and why we live when we do.

According to Acts 17, God places us in certain geographical locations at certain times in history for a real specific reason.

“From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him.”

Pretty cool stuff ! From this perspective I conclude that where we live has a lot to do with how we live.

Here’s a little post script;   About a mile away from Nahant Marsh is a church that was very instrumental in my pursuit and search for a real relationship with the Creator.

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Life experiences, Ministry

“ORIGINS”

I want to dedicate a few blog post to what I am going to term “origins”. By that I mean I am going to be a little reflective in a way that might explain how history helps direct our future.

This month is really special to Brenda and I . It was 18 years ago this week that we planted and began LakeCrest Church in Lake Saint Loius Missouri.

Our first Sunday service was September 8th, 1991 at the Lakeside Fitness Center in Lake Saint Louis.

Over those 14 years, we poured everything we had into that ministry with a core group of people that had a passion to reach their community with the good news.

I can sum up that time in three phrases; HARD WORK, MUCH FAITH and GREAT MEMORIES.

I learned so much during that season of my life. I learned that God never waste your efforts and experiences. He tends to use past challenges to prepare you for future ones. In other words, he uses one season to get you ready to handle a greater one. That is a good thing because I don’t think we could handle the end result all at once. He grows us gradually.

From what I hear, the church is doing good now and that means a lot.

God was really faithful to meet all of our needs during those years.

“Your faithfulness endures to all generations.” Psalm119:90

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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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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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Life experiences

SINGING IN THE PAIN

Monday was a great learning experience for me.

I went to Doctor Phluger’s office to get the “hard cast” on my right leg.

To fit the cast, doctor Phluger needed to bend the recovering ankle in a position that would allow it to heal right.

It was at that point that I began to appreciate the gift of singing.

As my doctor began to do his work I had a choice. I could concentrate on the pain or I could focus on something else.

In my best attempt to not be a “baby”….I looked to the other side of the room and began to sing to myself a song.  Not loud enough to distract anyone in the doctors office but enough to get through the needed tansition until the artist finished his work.

Lesson learned:

It is better to worship than it is to whine.

I think SINGING IN THE PAIN would be a great book title….. But it has already been written by a pastor friend of mine.

Walt Weaver pastor’s Faith Assembly of God in Indiana. Walt’s story of falling from a construction sight mutiple stories to the ground is an amazing story.

Here are some pictures of my reason to sing. (music not included)

click the pic to enlarge if you like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I want to thank Doctor Paul Phluger for his part in getting me to this point.

He is a good doctor with some great fishing stories.

Thumbs up to you doc!

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