Tuesday, August 5. 2008A different perspective of death.....I found this Upwords essay by Max Lucado powerful reading. (Sorry Max, I can't find the direct link to send readers to your site.) It reminded me of my post from last year -- If I Died Today..... . When Death Becomes Birth How cool! By the way, I highly encourage you to sign up for his daily or weekly messages and devotionals. They provide great insight and are a good regular dosing of much needed "spiritual" food we all need. .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Monday, August 4. 2008I'll wear this Obama button.....A big prayer day.....
I began my day with two big prayers. The first is for British Dave. I wrote a post last month about his unit's reactivation. He was in Iraq several years ago and is now being called to Afghanistan. His departure was delayed by 24 hours yesterday so he was able to soak up more family time. Please keep him, his family, and his unit in your prayers for safety, performing their jobs, and a safe return home to loved ones.
The second prayer is for a family friend of ours who is having corrective surgery. He was involved in a horrific accident a year ago and has healed pretty good. However, one of the rods in his leg needs to be replaced which they are doing today. They say it should be pretty quick and easy but those tend to be warning words, not reality. Please keep him and his family in your prayers for a successful surgery and quick healing. .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Sunday, August 3. 2008One thing I love.....
A new tradition my wife and I have recently integrated into our worship is holding hands for a dual quiet prayer right after we return to our seats after communion. The Last Supper meal is a very important covenant in our church and faith and it is a quiet reflective time to connect with God, confess sins, seek forgiveness, and work towards a clean start and new hope. To share that special God time with my partner in life is very powerful.
Today while holding my wife's hand in prayer together after communion I realized that it has become something very special to me. .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Cool town square.....
I thought this was a nice picture. Lots of vibrant colors and life. It sure beats boring grey concrete.
![]() People walk over a copy of Vassily Kandinsky's painting, "Weilheim-Maria's Square", on the pavement of the market square in the Bavarian town of Weilheim. About 500 students and citizens painted the 2,100 square meter area, with about 8,000 paving stones, to produce the world's largest copy of a Kandinsky painting. .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Saturday, August 2. 2008Country drive.....Here were the happenings on my country drive to church for the Men's breakfast and Bible study.
It's gonna be a hot one today. It is supposed to be the hottest day of the year so far. I'm gonna be hanging out in the basement or pool to compensate. And later tonight all the neighbor couples are going out for dinner and then bowling. I'm the designated driver and it should be a good time for everyone. .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Friday, August 1. 2008Goodbye July, Hello August.....
It's a Friday, it's August, we had good friends join us for a dinner celebration -- what's not to like. Because it is August in Kentucky it has been rather hot but the kids stayed in the pool until they were prunes. We had 9 total, they all got along and there was somebody for every age group. And we had my favorite dessert -- strawberry tallcake.
What a great kickoff to the weekend. Happy early birthday, Stephen! (he's my birthday twin along with British Dave) .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Thursday, July 31. 2008Very interesting essay.....Beware Charismatic Men Who Preach 'Change' .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Monday, July 28. 2008A sign from God.....#59"If Christianity were outlawed tomorrow, would there be enough evidence to convict you? .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Sunday, July 27. 2008Answered prayers.....
As I have blogged before, my Dad had prostate cancer recently and completed his last treatment back in April. He won't know the final outcome for 6 months after the last treatment but so far everything looks great. So recently he took part in a Survivor lap for the Relay for Life. See picture below.
![]() Thank you for your prayers and concern. I know prayer works and this is just additional proof of it. .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Saturday, July 26. 2008Mission Trip - Taking it home.....
Saturday provided us no relief on the early wakeups. We were all up by 6am for an early start on hitting the road. Our target was to leave between 6:45 and 7:00am. The guys (me and my fellow camper) were up, bathroomed, packed, and loaded into the truck by 6:18am -- like good Boy Scouts. The girls on the other hand pushed the envelope although I do have to give it to them -- they made the goal and we departed the church parking lot with 4 minutes to spare.
Eastwood Baptist, thank you for being generous stewards and sharing your wonderful facilities with us and KHO. You were great hosts and we are truly grateful. If you are ever up in Louisville, drop me a note and please come worship with us at Ascension Lutheran. Now comes a different challenge. We had challenges of the physical nature all week - heat, strength, construction skills, stamina, hydration, hunger, and energy. We also had spiritual enlightenment and growth as we soaked up our mountaintop experience during worship, devotions, and serving others with God's love. Now our challenge is to take our mountaintop experience and incorporate it back into our daily lives. While we would love to live on top of the mountain all the time (the view is great, you feel closer to God and it feels wonderful), living on a mountain is not practical. It also is not what God calls us to do. We are to love others around us (which is hard to do on a mountain). So we are challenged to bring his love and word to others around us. We are to sow, fertilize, and harvest his seeds that were sown -- and not all at once. Our job is to listen to God, be obedient, and play our role he is calling us to do. God will take care of the rest. Read the book of Jonah for more insight into this calling and obedience. ![]() .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Friday, July 25. 2008Mission trip - Highs and lows.....Each night after worship each youth group goes off into their own groups for group devotions. It has been an enjoyable time each evening to chat with the youth hearing their perspectives, ideas, and thoughts on the preaching and the days events. Our youth group has a tradition that they incorporated into the evening's devotions. It is the sharing of each person's highs and lows. Tonight we did something a little different. Not only did we share highs and lows for today, but we also shared the peaks and valleys for the entire week. Below are mine. Interestingly, for today both my highs and lows brought tears to my eyes. ----- tangeant ----- It has amazed me at the emotion I have been experiencing in my walk with God this week. Shattered are the societal myths that men don't cry, must keep their emotions in check and don't communicate. This week's evening worships and songs have really touched me. I love to sing and there are some songs that hit me and have deep meaning for me. To hear the praise band loudly praising the Lord with those songs have enveloped me with joy and, at times, have brought tears to my eyes as I am thankful for the relationship I have with Christ. To let that emotion be freed and not bottled up starts off as an uncomfortable and unfamiliar feeling but turns to a freeing sensation as I worship God. I cannot quite describe it but it is not like my normal Sunday worship -- especially being Lutheran. I'm not saying that all worship has to be dramatic, tear jerking displays of emotion. But I am saying that to truly feel God's presence is to release the bounds of societal expectations and allow yourself to truly feel the emotions God has placed in you. ----- end of tangeant ----- Friday's low
Friday's high
Other week's highs
This week's lows
.....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Mission trip - day 5.....We're done!Today was our last opportunity to tackle the roof job and "git r done". The morning drizzle made for a great work day with cool temps and cloud cover. But it also made the roof and tools a bit slick. Soon after we arrived, we all began our comfortable routines of setting up ladders, getting out tools, parading shingles up the roof, and general set up. It is really satisfying to see a team of unrelated, unfamiliar people from different parts of the country gel together under one common purpose to achieve a higher goal of serving others. As time marched closer to lunch, we were on the cusp of completing the entire project when we ran out of shingles. We only had a small back section to go but were stopped dead in our tracks. A quick jaunt over to a nearby project site of another group gained us the remaining shingles we needed. I joined one of our crew leads, Melissa, for the ride so I could see my oldest daughter working at the site. R was quite surprised to see me when we pulled up. It was neat to see her navigating the roof like a pro with dirty hands and jeans. I am so proud of her! We grabbed the packs of shingles and I took the opportunity to inspect their lunch/snack bin for any Little Debbie Nutty Bars which I relieved them of (yum!). With shingles in hand, we stopped for a quick lunch break to refill our belly tanks. Unfortunately, right after we started work back up it began to rain. It wasn't a downpour or anything, but heavier than a drizzle. That motivated us all to push for the project finish. Those who weren't on the roof were grabbing tools and putting them away while others were cleaning up and the rest were shingling. Timing was perfect as we got everything taken care of and the roofing completed. The rain then eased up as we put all the remaining tools and supplies away and dumpstered all the trash. With the project complete, it was time to say a prayer blessing for the house. We invited Mary the homeowner into our prayer circle and began thanks and praise prayers. Mary said a prayer of thanks and was tearfully appreciative of all of our efforts. It really made the entire week worth it. The heat, bad weather, scrapes, knocks, sweat, blood, and hard work were forgotten as the serving love we had bestowed upon the house was planted into Mary. I hope that roof is only a beginning of the love growing in that home.
The ride home was tiring and long due to a stop at Sonic for drinks and Split Tree BBQ for a pork sandwich (very good by the way -- I look forward to returning for a sit down dinner). And now you are caught up on Friday. I need to leave so I can catch the showers before they close. Also, as I've been here writing this post in the foyer of Eastwood Baptist Church, I have had some very fulfilling conversations with a few folks who are members here. I am very grateful for them having opened up their church to host KHO (Kentucky Heartland Outreach) and their volunteer youth groups. It's not easy to offer out your facilities to other groups, much less youth groups who tend to be harder on facilities than other groups. Eastwood Baptist has been a wonderful host and is fulfilling their mission of loving others. The conversations I had with a few of them show they are deeply rooted in serving the Lord by loving others. I enjoyed the quick chats and look forward to visiting in the future. Who knows -- it'd be kinda cool to come down here for a service (and follow it up with a visit to the Corvette Museum and a BBQ lunch at Split Tree BBQ). Tomorrow I hope for an uneventful ride home to return us all to our loving families. Please also keep my father-in-law in your prayers. On Monday he was hospitalized and is having issues with his Alzheimer's. My wife has been a trooper all week dealing with this on top of our absence. Pray for strength, comfort, and solace as we deal with this important family issue. .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Thursday, July 24. 2008Mission trip - day 4 -- Breezes and overcast skies.....I will try to catch up later. However, I also didn't want another day to slip by just because I hadn't continued the story from the previous days. Day 4 and counting -- today was a very productive day for probably every crew. The morning temps began in the 60's -- a nice relief from the recent 70's and 80's. The beautiful blue morning skies gradually gave way to high overcast clouds. Nothing rain threatening, but enough to shade us from the suns pounding rays. The forecast called for temps only in the 80's -- again a nice relief from the previous 90's and 100's. So with God taking care of the weather, we took care of the work. The "shingles fairies" had shown up and completely shingled our previous days work of demolition, wood slat repair, and felting. We were all ready to go and focus on shingling when we showed up, only to find out the shingle fairies did it for us. So we immediately went to work demoing and repairing the one large front section of roof left. Demoing went quickly, however, it also revealed the very poor condition the wood slats were in. In fact, I almost fell through one when the board I stepped on snapped and gave way. I luckily fell only up to the top of my boot and not all the way in. I now know how firefighters feel when they are fighting a fire from the roof. We ended up replacing 33 of the boards on that roof. Each one had to be individually cut and it really slowed us down. Even when we thought we got them all and began shingling, we would inadvertently pound through a board and have to remove the shingles, cut out the bad wood, replace it with a custom cut, repaper and reshingle. It slowed our progress but we still were able to get within a shot of being able to finish the entire job if we really work hard tomorrow. We are tired but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Thursday is also the traditional homeowner's banquet. All the homeowners from each crew and project are invited to the church for a celebratory banquet. The kids all serve them a wonderful dinner and share testimony with them on how God has changed their lives -- in effect their physically needs are taken care of first so their spiritual needs can be tended to. Some of the homeowners even joined us for worship after dinner and let us get to know them even more. Unfortunately, my crew's homeowner did not make it. We were disappointed but really tried hard to have an open mind and not judge (discussed here on this post from the 2006 Hurricane Katrina mission trip). We look forward to seeing our homeowner tomorrow so we can give her the framed group picture gift of all of us with her in addition to some devotional material. I must admit, this is my biggest challenge in working for others in that I see some of the wrong choices they are making and my group, crew or team is having to fix. But I also realize that, like Jonah (who we have been following all this week), my part is just one piece to God's plan. My job is just to do my piece and let God take care of the rest. As I have said before, "I don't have to have the answer to the problem to be a part of the solution". After dinner and worship, our youth group had another wonderful, touching devotional that I will look back on fondly. These days and this week has been very tough physically. But it's been emotionally and spiritually uplifting. Tonight I'm not waiting until lights out. I'm going in an hour early. .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com A sign from God.....#58
I saw the sign below on the way to the job site today. I thought it was very appropriate because of yesterday's small miracle (see post).
"Prayer is a spiritual exercise. Are you in shape?" .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com A small miracle.....
Yesterday I was blessed with a small miracle. Nothing big, mind you. But just a simple reminder of who is looking out for me and my family. I'll set the stage for you.
Because of the work and temperatures involved, my wife insisted that I take her Chevy Tahoe which has all the amenities one would need after a hard summer work day fixing roofs in southern Kentucky -- namely, the air conditioning spits ice cubes. That was not the case on my old farm Suburban where the A/C only blew moderately cool air. And because of my wife's sacrifice and concern for our comfort, she gets to drive my 24 year old diesel car she hates. She also reasoned that she would only be going out once or twice during our trip so it wouldn't be a big deal. Normally, I carry my cellphone in my back pocket so I can either feel it vibrate or hear it ring. However, when I am driving it is inconvenient to put it back into the pocket after use so instead I put it on the center console.....where I then forgot it all morning. So now you see that my wife is driving an old, unfamiliar vehicle and I am not wired to the outside world. She took the car out to the grocery store with K and D. She was unable to restart the car due to a peculiarity with the transmission gear selector -- something I have gotten used to and unconsciously deal with. She was now stuck in town with two kids and a non-working car. Of course, she calls me to see if I can help her. The call goes to voicemail on my phone which is on the center console, not in my pocket. (Now for those of you non-believers, I realize this is not a perilous situation. No lives were threatened. No harm was imminent. It was just an everyday situation that could have easily been remedied by her calling AAA. While that is true, we all need to realize that God doesn't just need to play a grandiose role in our lives like Superman would. He is always with us and loves us. He will help us through ANY circumstance, not just the huge ones.) Around that same time, our pretty solid cloud cover (which postponed my normal ritual application of sunscreen) revealed a hole which allowed the bright, shining sun to shine through. It was enough to make me head towards the truck for sunscreen. Also, our crew leader said earlier in the trip to constantly remind him to put it on because he has a bad habit of forgetting and getting burned (I guess he has never been burned bad enough to stop forgetting). Before I went to put my sunscreen on, I yelled up to him so I could get his. Once I got that taken care of, I proceeded to the Tahoe. When I lifted the liftgate, I heard my phone's voicemail reminder -- the loud one that beeps upon initial voicemail notification. (This is louder than the single beep repetitive reminder that I probably wouldn't have heard.) I checked it and only missed my wife's call by a minute or two. I called her right back and was able to remedy her situation getting the car started. What amazed me was the timing of it all. Had I not taken the time to get my crew leader his sunscreen, I would have missed my wife's call and voicemail and it would have sat there on the phone until lunchtime (which means she would have been stuck for quite a while). It was a nice reminder that God is looking out for me and my family while I am away helping others. Even though it seems like a simple "coincidence", I firmly belief God is involved in all the little things in our lives. It is just up to us if we want to accept them, or push them aside. I found the statement below from worship earlier in the week very profound. It describes God speaking to us. "Louder than a thought, softer than a whisper." .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Wednesday, July 23. 2008Mission trip - day 3.....To catch y'all up on all the happenings of our youth mission trip, I'm going to compress Tuesday's happenings with today's Wednesday blog posting. Internet access here is spotty -- whether physically or because all of the evening worships, devotions, and fun and games gets in the way. Such is life when you are around teenagers. I will say this -- I continue to be amazed at these fine young disciples who have such a zest for life and for serving God. They are creative, fun, spontaneous, and energetic -- so much so that you can't help but shave a few years off how you feel. If you are feeling blah and old and lifeless, go hang out with a church youth group! Tuesday we arrived at our service home with the skills we needed to really make some headway. We knew each other as a team, we knew each other's roles, we were more comfortable with scampering around a steep roof (make that an 8 pitch roof -- steep enough to need toeboards), and we all knew better what needed to be done. We had made significant progress on shingling the back part of the roof when a storm approached. Remember the day before when we were chased from the roof due to lightning. Well, yesterday we were chased from the roof by lightning, torrential downpours, hail, and severe wind. We were all motivated and barely finished the last few courses of shingles when the downpour hit. We retreated to the vehicles and because it was lunch, found shelter under the awnings at a local Baptist church where we could grub lunch. The storm cooled things off, so after sandwiches and a few games, we returned to the house. Unfortunately, we couldn't start on much because of the slick roof and another potential approaching storm. We finalized the last of that section of roof so we could check it off our list and cleaned everything up so we'd be ready for the next day. We returned a bit early which allowed us to get cleaned up without having to bear the shower lines of the camp. Another enjoyable dinner was had followed by a deep worship service and some small group devotions. I unexpectedly had to lead the youth group devotion and was impressed by their insight, honesty, and contributions. We are blessed to have such great youth in our church -- especially the kind that are willing to learn, be vulnerable, be real, and challenge themselves. After devotion, we made our 2nd trip to Walmart in as many days. Previously it was for an air matress upgrade for me. This time it was a necessity for my daughter. In our small group devotions, each youth has to share their high and low point of the day with the group. My daughter spent all day laying shingles on the roof so her low point was that she had bruises on her knees. So, being the loving Dad I am, I was on a mission to Walmart to buy her the kneepads she needed so she wouldn't have to repeat that low point again. The funny thing was that her friend and her joined me and the other lone male member of the youth group. On the way there, we played "the Alphabet game". This is an addictive, competitive game that you play while driving. You first start with "A" and you need to find a word that starts with "A". It can be "Acura", "AAA", bump "ahead" -- as long as the word is outside the vehicle. After you check off "A", you move to "B" and so on. Depending on your surroundings it can be quite challenging. Watch out with "Q", "X", and "Z" because they are quite difficult. On to today. Wednesdays are half days which everyone looks forward to. Our crew got to work early and demolished two whole sides of roof for shingling. To be continued.....(due to lights out policy)..... Until then, below are a few pix. ![]() ![]() ![]() .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Monday, July 21. 2008Mission trip - day 1 -- I'm beat.....So I'm down here with a bunch of church youth -- some from my church and many others from all over Kentucky and as far away as Columbus, Ohio, North Carolina, and Maryland. The mood is very energetic. It is exciting to see so many youth fired up for the Lord and eager to step outside of themselves and help others less fortunate. And that is very difficult for today's youth because of the secular messages they feed from our society. Today's activities included:
.....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Sunday, July 20. 2008Change.....Last week, while working in the garden, the kids found worms stripping the leaves from the carrots. They put them in a jar so I could see them when I got home from work. The worms looked more like fat wormy caterpillars so rather than kill them I suggested we put holes in the lid and leaves in the jar for them to eat. That way we could see what they turned into if they truly were caterpillars. We tried looking them up in our garden book with no luck. They also had very huge appetites stripping the leaves of every leaf and twig we put in there. We even debated on whether they were butterflies, moths, or nothing -- just plain ol' worms. Well, look what we woke up to this morning. A beautiful butterfly was emerging from its cocoon and firming up its wings. The kids were very excited to see such a transformation. When we returned home, it was gone. It had grown strong enough to fly away and continue on the cycle. I hope someone sees it and it brightens their day -- that's what butterflies do you know. It is a very interesting parallel for the departure of today's mission trip with the church youth group. I hope this trip changes the folks we will be helping out. I hope this experience changes the youth we are taking. And I hope this journey changes me for the better so I can continue fulfilling my mission to "have a positive impact". Enough with talking about change. Let's do it. Please say a prayer for safe travels and that our hearts are open to discipleship, and our hands are open to fixing/healing/mending. .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Saturday, July 19. 2008Take me out to the ball game.....We're leaving for here in a few minutes. ![]() Friends of ours were kind enough to invite us to their company's box with their extra tickets. All five of us are meeting them down there for some good time minor league baseball, hotdogs, peanuts, and hopefully a souvenir ball. While I don't follow baseball like I do NASCAR or pro football, I played it in high school and I love going to games. The ambiance is red blooded American and it always makes for a good time. Plus, the venue here in town -- Slugger Field -- is a great place to see a game. It is easy to get to and from, there's not a bad seat in the house, and it is very affordable for the whole family. You really can't beat it. Go Bats! .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com UPDATE: the Bats won 5-2. We had a great time and were very spoiled. We had a club suite all to ourselves. It was around 100F degrees and the air conditioned suite was a nice place for the ladies to hang out and enjoy the game and each other (not necessarily in that order). My son was surprisingly very into the game so I took the opportunity to instruct him on all of the nuances of the American pasttime. It was cool to see his excitement when a player stole 2nd base (as I was setting it up for him) or when they hit a runner in for an RBI or when the likelyhood was greater for a foul ball to come up our way (when a left handed batter was up). Foul balls came within 20-30 ft on each side which was exciting for the guys but mayhem for the girls. We all really enjoyed ourselves and the kids all played and behaved. I am looking forward to more outings to see if my son warms up to more baseball games and instruction. Also, afterwards the Louisville Slugger field personnel cordoned off a huge section of the outfield -- about 2/3s -- for the Boy Scouts who were going to be spending the night camping there and watching movies on the big screen. How cool is that!?!?! What a great community outreach and experience for those young scouts. UPDATE 2: A sign from God.....#57
This is a nice interesting variant from my usual series.
![]() .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Friday, July 18. 2008A great devotional.....
The devotional below was passed on to me from someone on my team at work. It is a great read. I have felt this way and instinctively acted upon it but the clarity didn't come until I read this piece. At that point, the rings of focus turned to sharpen my perspective and allowed me to understand and enjoy the pleasures we are to God in our everyday lives.
Here is the link to the original online if you need it. God Smiles When We Use Our Abilities That's great stuff there, folks! I hope it gives you what you need to enjoy the weekend and be a pleasure to God. .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Wednesday, July 16. 2008Tellin' it like it is.....This headline and excerpted quote cracked me up. ![]() H/T to Dad .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Tuesday, July 15. 2008A Sign From God.....#56I saw this one on the way to lunch yesterday. "Do not ask God to guide your steps if you are not willing to move your feet." .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com Monday, July 14. 2008Another enjoyable country weekend.....I was able to start and finish building my cornhole set this weekend. I haven't settled on a paint scheme yet but my wife was able to make the beanbags out of some old jeans we had. It wasn't too difficult and the process was enjoyable. ![]() Here it is in the backyard by the smoker. We immediately began playing on it and honing our bag tossing skills. It's great because it is a game that the whole family can play. Afterwards, I continued my building skills and mated a large rocket motor to a snaplight glow stick. I cut out some fins and made a nosecone for our evening test launch. Alas, the glow stick was old and didn't glow when I snapped it. But we tested it anyway. It didn't go up as high as our big rocket even though it was smaller. It got up to 200-400 feet and began spiraling against the night sky. It wasn't what I wanted but looked cool. And the separation explosion sent a shower of sparks -- like our own firework. And no parachute for the little test missile so it quickly came back down to earth. I'm going to build another one for a launch tonight or tomorrow night. But this time I'll snap the glow stick and make it glow before I put all that time into building it. Such is fun in the country. .....Dan at aslowerpace dot com |