The Announcement...

We had a young couple come to our church today. This young couple also came to the picnic we had afterward and at one point stood up, asked for everyone's attention and shared their special news.

Setting the stage: One of these young people is a young man I have known since he was born, nearly 20 years ago. The young lady I have known for about four years. She was one of my son's very good friends in high school and even dated my son for a few months. I love both of these young people and have been praying for them both.

Their announcement is that they are engaged and are planning to wed either this winter or next summer.

I should be blessed for them, and I seek with my heart to bless them, yet deep within me is a lot of concern for them for many reasons. I'll not go into those reasons here, but suffice to say that I shall be praying for them all the more, and even more than that I shall be praying for God's timing for them, and for them to hear God's timing for them.
I know so well that it is easy to be anxious and impatient when we are young and desiring to be with someone that we care about, that we love. We were there once too.
I also know how difficult the road is, and can be, if we are moving forward without vision and especially without God's vision.


Lord God, I trust you with this young couple; with their lives; with their love for one another. You know that they are dear to my heart, and I know that they are even more dear to Yours.
I know Lord Jesus that they both love You and desire for You to be first in their lives. Help them to hear Your voice above all the voices that are speaking to them. I pray, Father, for Godly counsel and wisdom to be spoken to them from those to whom they will listen. I ask, Lord, that their ears won't be closed to the words spoken to them that may not agree with what they think and feel.
Please, dear God glorify Yourself and Your Name, for Your sake and Your testimony in their lives.
--Amen

Hi - It's Me Again

I'm here to make a posting. Shocking! Yes?

I didn't even look to see when my last post was. I know it's been a while.
Summertime has been here and I have not been on my home computer much. I hit it a couple times a week and that's about all it seems that I have time for. Check the email, sit down to pay bills, maybe try to read a blog here and there...
Tonight was pay bills and since I'm still on and Kerry went to pick up our youngest from youth group, I figured I'd do something strange and actually "POST."

I have been wanting to post this family picture we had taken while we were in Jackson, Wyoming (a.k.a. Jackson Hole, Wyoming). It is one of those rare times when we are (were) actually together as a family this year. We had a wonderful family vacation time and I am so grateful to God for allowing us the opportunity to have it. I had wanted to take my family to Yellowstone for many, many years and we were finally able to go, in what may have been the last family vacation for just the five of us.


Daughter number one (our middle child) started college (see last post) a few weeks ago. Though she calls frequently and isn't far away, I know this is the beginning of her independence and she is starting to learn to exercise it.
Our oldest is now in his junior year of college. He is working as a resident assistant (RA) this year and probably won't be home until Christmas and even then it will be right about on Christmas because he has some friends getting married in Texas earlier that week. One of these days some fortunate young lady is going to figure out what a catch he is and to latch on to him and he will be off somewhere else forever thereafter.
As for our youngest, she is always busy. She has a pretty tough class load, so she is often doing homework. She loves doing the school musicals and got a chorus part (extra) in this years production of Hello Dolly. She also has a job that she works on weekends. So we are already getting used to not seeing her around.
My wife has started a new job, putting her freelance days behind her for now. By working from home she was lacking for socialization (it's important for kids to be able to socialize, it helps them be well adjusted). I think she is enjoying the new job, but sometimes it is difficult to be certain. She did receive some encouraging news that one of her submissions going to be published in "Chicken Soup for the Empty Nester's Soul." Pretty cool! As our youngest stated, "Now you can be published like me!" Which for clarification, youngest had a poem of hers about the "Heroes of 9/11" published a few years back.

As for me these days... I go to work, try to get out and ride my bicycle at lunch, go back to work, go home, sleep, and then repeat that cycle. The most excitement is, as my wife says, playing connect the dots with the latest scratches and scrapes accumulated from the days bike ride. It's not quite that bad really, but sometimes it seems she is right.

That's all for tonight.

May God richly bless you and lead you in His wonderful paths of life.

Changin' Times

Our lives changed today.
Not in a bad way.
It is a good way really.
But change they did.

It wasn't easy; but it wasn't as hard as the last time.
Maybe having experienced it once already helped this time.

We helped move our second child into a dorm room at college.

The first time was with our son two years ago. It was hard because he was the first to leave the nest; and it was hard because the school he went to was about 800 miles away. We knew that seeing him after that would be for short periods of time with many months in between. That's how it has been.

This time was similar, but different. Our oldest daughter (our second child) is attending a university here in town. She could have lived at home, but (with some help from her mother) decided it was important to "experience" typical college life. So today we helped her move up to the campus and into her dorm room. In the helping her move in, this day was similar to helping move our son into his dorm. Carrying belongings up to the room, helping set up computer, finding a couple things that would be helpful and making a run to the store to pick them up, and attempting to minimally help her get things set up - but attempting to let her decide what to put where... and trying to keep her mama from "helping" too much. All a very familiar scenario.

It was/is different this time because, even though we drove away and left our girl someplace that isn't home, she is close to home. The college is about half-way between home and my work and is a mere 15-20 minutes away. This papa knows that a phone call can arrange lunch with her anytime. Having her come to the house for dinner, if she want to, is easy. Seeing her on weekends is not out of the question. These things make it a lot easier!

I know that we will miss her being around. Having those daily talks about how the day has been, what was interesting about it, etcetera. But it is good for her to be stepping out into having her own life - apart from us; even though not easy for us.
I know God will give us all the grace to walk through this with His perfect peace.

That's about all I can write about it for now.

Maybe next time I'll share a bit about how she has tried, and succeeded in, making her papa cry by emailing country song lyrics to him about somebody needing to spread their wings and leave home...

Grace and peace to all.

Wow! What A Ride!

Wow! What a ride!

That could be said about life because it truly is an awesome ride that we get to spend on this planet. God is so good!

It can also be said about the ride I took today on my mountain bike with some co-workers. We traveled to a much heralded location (a couple hours from home) to take an epic mountain bike ride (31 miles) and enjoy some of the magnificent scenery that we are blessed with here in Colorado.

The ride is the Continental Divide Trail from the Summit of Monarch Pass, it is also called the Monarch Crest ride. The average elevation of the trail is right around 11,900 feet above sea level; some places it gets higher and some places it goes lower but it is pretty high in elevation for riding a bike.
It was beautiful and spectacular, and a great time. This is NOT a trip for the faint of heart, nor for those without above average bike handling skills. Riding across high Rocky Mountain terrain - which includes slopes, rocks, roots, streams, mud puddles, and more... not to leave out some incredibly steep uphills and downhills - on a mountain bike requires some decent fitness and a heart for adventure.

We had a few mishaps, though none serious. I took a tumble early on and bent my front rim, which made for a tough start, but with some work got it ridable. A couple others in our group got flat tires, which were quickly repaired and we continued on. One had some problems with his dérailleur, but not enough to keep him from going on.

If I can get some pictures from the event, I'll post them in another post.

Blessings to all.

Out of Touch

Life is funny sometimes. There are seasons in life where one can be so busy that you barely feel like you can keep your head above water and there are times when everything is pretty relaxed and easy going. The latter has not been seen in this neighborhood in a while. Seems to have disappeared with the demise of Mr. Rogers.
For the last several weeks I've been working quite a bit and when I have been home I have NOT really felt like looking at a computer any more. Did I mention that I am a computer programmer? It isn't a good thing when somebody who makes a living working on a computer, doesn't want to look at a computer!
So for those of you out there that occasionally visit my blog, I know it has been pretty dry the last several weeks. Sorry! Life happens.
Tonights post isn't going to be much, but at least I'm putting something out. I just wish it might have more substance that it does. That would require thinking and I'm not sure how much of that I can really do at the moment.
I'll be trying to catch up with your blogs as well.

So in the infamous words of Tigger - TTFN

Rocky Mountain National Park

As my wife Kerry posted on her blog, we enjoyed a wonderful time in the outdoors. Here are a few of the 200+ pictures I took. I brought the resolution way down for the sake of uploading and viewing.

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In case you didn't know, you can click on the pictures for a larger view.
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The picture on the left is one that I just thought was really cool. I love streams and the depth that they reveal as it winds its way back into the woods behind.

This picture on the right is of Morraine Lake. It is a very picturesque setting. The water is only about five to six feet deep across much of it, but looking at it from different angles reveals that there are definitely some much deeper spots.
And the water is VERY COLD, it is fed by melting snow, some of which can be seen on the high peaks in the background.

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The shot below shows a small pondlike area a little below the Morraine Lake.
Trout could be seen swimming around in it.

Too bad I didn't bring a fishing pole. ;)

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Another photo of the same area from a different angle with different light.
The white in the upper right (back in the trees) is snow. The snow is melting and dripping down the rocks into the pool.
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I couldn't resist this shot on the left with the leaning tree and the reflections captured on the water. It is one of my favorites.

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The photo on the right shows the dark storm clouds that form quickly over the Colorado mountains.
Severe thunderstorms can occur quickly and the lightning at these high altitudes is extremely dangerous. Shortly after this picture was taken my wife and I found shelter in a cave to wait out the storm. It rained for about 45 minutes and we witnessed a terrific display of lightning flashing all around us.

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One of the many elk that roam the park. While they look like deer, and are related, they are much, much larger.

This big fellow on the left was nice enough to smile for the camera. At least that is the way it turned out looking like.

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Bugling Bull?
Not this time.
This big bull let out a big yawn...
All the laying around in the sun, munching on grass and letting people take pictures gets tiring.

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It is always a special treat for an amateur photographer like myself to be fortunate enough to catch moments like these.

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A Classic Shot

If I Only Knew...

How many times, I wonder, have I said, "If I only knew then what I know now, I would have done things so differently."

I just caught myself thinking it again about something. Not anything really important, but just that thought crossed my mind.

I've thought it a couple different times lately with regard to the mountain bike I bought. If I only knew a year ago that I would have gotten into it like I have, I would have purchased a higher end bicycle... one with rear suspension and higher quality shifters, derailleurs, and brakes. But as my friend at the bike store reminded me, there wasn't any way to know. Not that the bicycle I bought was not a good one, it is just that there are things I've learned since that would have affected the decision I made at the time.

I know I have thought it many times over the past couple years regarding some really stupid choices I was making a few years ago; thoughts about quitting on God, my marriage, my kids, and my church. I got burned out on the boring doldrums of day-to-day life. I was looking to see what my life was about. Had I done anything worthwhile? Was I a success or was I a failure? I was trying to find my worth in the world. The events of September 11, 2001 kind of kicked it off. All of a sudden everything that I thought had been secure, wasn't feeling so secure any more. I thought I might be able to find my self-worth somewhere else, maybe with someone else. --- Lot's of nonsense really. Thankfully God kept me and showed me very clearly how foolishly I was thinking and acting. Thankfully He also restored all that I had considered throwing away. I have since seen through eyes of His Spirit how much would have been, not just lost, but destroyed. So now, with 20-20 hindsight, I look back and can say "If I only knew then what I know now, I sure would have done it differently."

Of course God knows and I have to remind myself of that.

So now I am trying to be attentive to those times when I am apt to utter the phrase, or even to think it, that I am to take every thought captive unto the obedience of Christ Jesus and demolish every lofty thought and speculation that would raise itself up against God...

Thankfully, every time I consider "If I only knew...", it just means I've learned something important and I need to be mindful of the lessons that God teaches me through the life He has given me to live. I'm pretty sure He meant for me to live it in fullness. After all Jeremiah 29:11 says that God has a plan for our lives that include a future and a hope.
-- This is something that I'm glad I already know!