Running in the Snow

Today I went out for a run after work.

It was the first time I have gone running outside since the snow storm a week ago.
By the way, I hate running on the treadmill. This was confirmed several times in the last week.

Anyway, I went out for a run on the route I usually take when I do a short run. Part of the route is on city property along the creek. The city doesn't plow the trail. So it was covered with about four inches of snow. And this was the part with the biggest hill.

Running up the hill was like running up a sand dune.

I have run up sand dunes in the past.

I don't like running up sand dunes.

But I sure like running outside a lot better than I like running on snow...

Coyotes

I've seen coyotes around here over the years.

There was one that came up out of a creek a few miles north of here.
I've seen them in various fields as we've driven on country roads usually skulking along a tree or brush line.

And I've seen them on the road as roadkill.

A couple of years ago we were camping up in Nebraska and I heard a pack howling at night. It was awesome to hear them calling. I asked at the campground office the next day and the staff said that there were two packs in and near the park.

The other night I was having some trouble sleeping. And around 123o in the morning, I heard the distinctive sound of a coyote howling. It was quickly joined by another and then another. In the end there were at least four all howling.

It sounded like it was right behind us but I know it was further away. My wife slept through it. The dog slept through it.

And I was blessed to hear the call. It was a reminder that the wild is not very far away, even though I may try to push it away.

And I slept well after that...

You Can Be Everything God Wants You to Be

You Can Be Everything God Wants You to Be is by Max Lucado.

This is a short easy read suitable for a gift especially for graduation. The various passages in the book are taken from his 2005 book: Cure for the Common Life. I haven't read that book but I enjoyed this one.

The book itself is very quick and easy to read. It encourages us to find our uniqueness in life and to live out that uniqueness in all that we do.

We are created as individuals. As a unique individual. And there are things that only each of us can do in our unique way in our unique situation and time and place. It may be something great or it may be something small but it is one-of-a-kind for each of us.

The book also goes to great lengths to point out that you can not be anything you want to be. This is contrary to many of the contemporary books out there. But it is a very refreshing point of view.

I recommend this book especially as a gift for a graduate.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Snow

Snowing today. Pretty much snowed all day.

Five to seven inches.

School canceled all over the place.

Crummy roads.

I love it.

So far I have utterly destroyed the neighbors in the annual "Keeping the Driveway and Sidewalk Clean" contest. Problem is that I don't think that the neighbors know there is a contest.

Anyway, so far I have shoveled four times and have at least one more time to go tonight (another inch or so on the way).

I believe in the shovel early, shovel often method of snow shoveling rather than the more common (in Kansas at least) of shovel once no matter how much snow we get method.

Must be a hold over from my Dad getting me up early (and at least once late at night) to shovel during the Minnesota blizzards we had during the evening.

Kind of a scary thought.

Better go shovel again.

I need to keep a firm lead in the this contest...

A Week and a Day

Over the past seventeen years or so, I have read through the entire Bible twelve or thirteen times and the New Testament about 15 or 16 times. I have followed a plan that I found in a long forgotten book. I started at Genesis, Job and Matthew and read a chapter or two a day out of the Old Testament books and one a day out of the New Testament ones. When I finished one section I went back and started again.

So I ended up reading a lot of different books together over the years.

Over the years this has served me well. I began to see how the Bible is a whole, how the Old Testament ties into the New Testament, how much prophecy there is, how God uses really flawed people.

For the most part I have not been dogmatic about reading every day and have long stretches where I have not been very faithful at daily reading.

Recently, we started going to a church where they have developed a plan to take the whole church through the Bible in a year. It is called OWNit365 and can be found at OWNit365.com.

This plan starts at Genesis and Job and you read a couple of chapters a day. You get to take Sunday off or use it as a catch up day. You are reading from the Old Testament and from either the Wisdom books (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, etc) or the New Testament each day.

The sermons are based on readings for the week, the Sunday school lessons are based on the readings for the week, small group curriculum is based on the readings. There are tip sheets and pod casts and there a tremendous amount of work has gone into the program.

So Loralie and I have decided to do the program.

I have been at it for a week and a day. Started on 1 January.

What I have found so far: I love this plan.

I am taking more notes on each days reading and going deeper into each passage than I have at other times. I am learning more. And I am praying more.

Those are good things by the way.

But I have had to add in a chapter from the New Testament each day. I ended last year at Colossians 3 so I started this year reading from Colossians 4 along with the daily readings from the plan. I just couldn't abandon what I have been doing for the past seventeen or so years. I'll modify my reading so that I can stay on track with the plan as we go through this.

It will be very interesting to see how this all plays out through the year. The idea of taking a whole (semi-large) church through the Bible in year is pretty incredible.

There are several thousand people from around the world taking part in this. I will be interested in seeing how many are in this at the end of the year.

By the way, as I was talking with Loralie this morning, I told her: "I have to go get my Bible reading done for the day so i don't have to read the Bible on the Sabbath"

Gotta admit: that sounded a bit strange even to me...

Surrender

Surrender is not in my nature. Part of the reason may be my history as a marine officer. Part of the reason may be that I just don't like to lose. And surrender seems a lot like losing.

But lately, I've been reminded that I just have to surrender to God. And by doing so I can be a winner.

For the past two years we've been looking for a church home. The reasons are not important, lets just say that we've been looking. And we've visited a lot of churches.

We thought that we had found a church home. We (my wife and I) were both serving in roles that we were used to and good at doing. But then it all turned south.

My wife found herself shut out of her ministry. Friends and prayer partners told her that she absolutely should be using her gifts in the local church. But here she was shut out with her talents and gifts not being utilized while I was being used a lot.

One morning, very early, I was out running and I heard God tell me: find a new church. It was very distinct. A few weeks later we met with the pastor and the Director of Education (DCE) to talk about the situation. The pastor asked us what was on our minds with regards to the church so I told him what God had told me.

It kind of stopped the conversation for a while

But the conversation just confirmed to me that it was time to go.

We were both deeply wounded by events and people at our past two churches. It took a while for me to realize that I was also wounded. I am a little slow sometimes. We are not blameless in how we have handled things but we have attempted to resolve things in a biblical manner.

It is interesting though. As we quit beating our heads against the door of the local church God has opened up doors outside the church for my wife to use her gifts in ministry to others. Some of these have been in church settings and some of these have been in secular settings.

You see it is the surrender to God's will that made the difference.

So now we are in attending a non denominational church where there is no chance (right now) of my wife using her gifts. But we are being fed God's Word in huge, heaping spoonfuls.

And that is OK.

Because God is still opening doors and showing us where to use the gifts He gives us. Sometimes the way is clear and sometimes it is just the next step that is clear and sometimes it is pretty dark and cloudy and we just have to trust that there is a stepping stone in the fog.

And that is way better than butting our heads against institutions and religion and closed doors.

And way more exciting too...

Numbers

It is common at the end of a year to reflect back on what has happened over the course of the year. I came up with a bunch of numbers.

One is 1000. I reffed my 1000th career soccer match last year. I also reffed 127 matches. Lot of time spent on the pitch.

I also ran 544.14 miles last year. It took 80 hours 52 minutes and 16 seconds of running time. This is in addition to the time spent in soccer matches.

Then there is 3.375. We refinanced the house and got that interest rate late in the year. That number truly boggles my mind.

And there is 87, the number of Insanity workouts that I did early in the year.

Four came up as the number of times I donated blood. One was the time rejected for being too healthy.

Oh, and three wrestling meets with a total of 120 matches reffed.

47 Bible studies were led on Tuesday mornings at Denny's for CBMC. Missed five for various reasons.

My Dad turned 80 this year, a true milestone. Fun to celebrate at Mahoney State Park in Nebraska.

Speaking of Nebraska, the number one comes to mind, since both kids survived a one car rollover on the way to Mahoney on Father's Day. The One True God was certainly in evidence that day.

These are the numbers that came easily to mind (or to hand from the computer). Truly mind boggling.

Looking forward to 2011...