Happy Monday 8.23.10

So near to missing all of Monday, to post this new weekly addition... Sorry about the wait (if there are those out there waiting)

I went home this weekend! Loved it! I miss the solitude and peace.

• If you have a home...be thankful. There are many who do not.

• Raced in the local 5k and placed 1st, as well as taking first in the amazing race. Thanks to my partner, Tanner! Next month is a great month for entering and completing a race!

• Be thankful for your ability to do things...whatever you do.

• One of my favorite shows to watch (in the seldom event I choose to watch something other than what is around me) Survivorman. If you get the chance check it out.

• Today, a few of my friends and I invited a hitch-hicker to a bible study. His name was George Nelson. And he certainly was not by any means a Christian. If you would I ask that you pray for him as you think about it. I hope that our time with him will be used by God in a good and positive way, and that it may help him find salvation in Christ.

If you are curious of my faith, please check it out. Feel free to ask me any questions you would like.
Since there is no greater blessing than Salvation in Christ, I will leave it there.

Have a beautiful, wonderful week. If you come to troubles, know you come to them not alone. :)

Friday Funny! 8.20.10

As I am now picking up a routine for every Monday with 'Happy Mondays', I have decided to begin a rountine for my Friday aswell.

Welcome to the first 'Friday Funny', I got my idea from fellow blogger 'Steve in a Speedo.

Monkey Butt

Happy Monday!

Hello Everybody!

It's MONDAY! Yea, I know sometimes Mondays are a drag...they are the day that stifles the fun of the weekend, and brings us all to yet another week of work or school. But, there are so many good things and blessings, within this day too!!! At times it's just difficult to remember that.
So, this is the beginning of 'Happy Monday!'!!! I will be blogging weekly on this day with the simple purpose of sharing with you all the things I have found to be happy about. These blogs may be small in length, but I hope you will leave them smiling and more fully aware of how great a day it really is! I stole the idea from Snippet & Ink, whom I enjoy following, and it will be in a format that is a bit erratic; you may find everything from, short statements to lengthy stories, links to funny sites to verses from the Bible.


Welcome, to Happy Monday!

• Before I leave this world I really would like to learn to juggle...since I woke again today, I have another chance to learn!

• This past week was a great opportunity to view meteors, check out these 12 awesome meteor photos. If you have kids, and have not given them the opportunity to see this amazing view created by God, please give them that chance. :) 

• Cardinals fans be excited! Even as we have fallen to number two in the division, we are still fighting hard and Albert is helping us with his record setting homeruns!

• Since I have bought the new Apple, I have started listening to Podcasts, and absolutly love them! If you too listen to podcasts, I highly recommend Tommy Nelson's podcast at Denton Bible Church. If you get a chance, check it out, I think you will like it.

• If you are in the Weatherford area on Thursday night, come check out my friends from Green Corn Revival, perform at my number one hang-out spot The Cup. They perform at 7 P.M.

• 'always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy' Philippians 1:4

• If you have things that are making you happy this day, or if you have something share with others, please feel free to post!

In closing,

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself 

any direction you choose.

You're on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

-Oh the Places You Will GO - Dr. Seuss

Window to My Day

Just a random picture, I miss the old crew... :)

Good Sunday, everybody!

Boy this week has been tiring, with move-in here on campus and all of the work it takes to prepare for another school year. Stewart hall now has all but our last forty (or so) residents moved in, and have completed our first event of the semester; NoonCakes!
We served around seventy-five residents and others this morning at noon following church. I think it went well and is the beginning to a great year!

Tonight, I will be playing OOZEBALL with the 'DawgDays Committee'! Really looking forward to winning the oozeball tournament :), I will be adding pictures soon!

On other notes.
I will begin once again running. These past couple of weeks since the 'Tinhorn incident', I have not ran even one mile!!! Crazy, I know. It is the longest break I have had (I think) in the last three years!

Yesterday, I began reading Jungle Pilot, the story about Nate Saint; his life, and missionary journey in Ecuador. I really enjoy it, as I figured I would as it is the writing that encouraged the making of End of the Spear, which is one of my favorite films!

Well, to all you in the Weatherford area; come join the fun tonight! Hope your day is grand!

Please Watch

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=455621345922

Everyone, please watch this video. I could not help but tear up throughout it all...
Please thank the men and women who serve you and this country.

After you watch it, ask yourself why you don't cling to our Heavenly Father, as we cling to our eathly fathers...I want to run into the arms of my Savior every morning, I want clasp Him with my legs and crawl up to have Him hold me.

I realize that to watch this video you must have facebook...I am sorry if you don't.

Guess it was time for a slowdown (forced).

Well, as usual I have been running around crazy these last few weeks... That however, has changed a little this week. Although things have still been hectic, they are slower. This is how they got that way...

Saturday July 31, began with me and nine of my close friends setting out to float the Lower Illinois River. Things were awesome, sitting in the country-side of Talequah, Oklahoma, about to relax and just bask in the sun for a few hours.

We started our float trip slightly before ten that morning. At about ten after ten, I was about to begin telling everyone to watch out for all the unseen debris in the water (as I was wearing polarized sunglasses and could see the bottom quite well). 'About', because I never started voicing this warning. See at the same time I thought "I ought address this.", I also spotted a very nice sized channel cat in a deep pool.
Upon seeing this catfish, I imagined a picture with me broad-smiling and holding this beast! So, of course I dove in after him.
A split-second after my feet left the raft, my left hair line met the sharp edge of a thrown away tinhorn. :(

While still beneath the surface, I lifted my hand to feel the cut. My immediate thought and those that followed went like this, "That's four inches...I am going to the ER...well maybe not...maybe it's just a scrape." So I open my eyes, and as I see the clear water in the far corners of my vision growing steadily dark red, I realize my initial analysis was spot on.

So, I rose at the bank of the water and begin to relay my new found reality to the others; who scammer and squirm to help me back in the raft. Then, they quickly throw shirts to me...which even though I never placed them on my wound still became soaked in my vital liquid.

Once situated squarely in the raft...perched on the bow, I ask for the gauze and first aid kit. Then, I proceeded to bandage the two lacerations (which I am proud only took about ninety seconds, and stood not only the test of stopping the faucet, but also received complements from the Talequah ER staff).

So, after all this excitement we continued to float down till we were able to see vehicles. Where,  I exited our vessel and allowed the others to continue on the adventure of our remaining five and half miles of float trip.

Upon walking toward a group, I found, a gentleman willing to drive me to my vehicle downstream!!! Thank you, Chris Raines!
 Then we drove to town and to the ER, where greater treatment was administered.

All in all. The trip was good! The injury was eye opening. The story is a good one to tell...
God was looking after me!

19 stitches total...at least the swelling is now reducing.
(If you want photos of the original doctoring or the covered t-shirts, let me know...but for the sake of the others, I am refraining from placing those photos up.)

Readers: Do you have any stories of injury, whether to your body, pride, or both? If so please share!

I Believe...

I do not mean for this to be some choring read. Nor do I mean it specifically for pleasure either. Rather, I recently realized that I have never expressed to you my beliefs, or where I stand on this topic; that is of top importance to me. So in short I believe:

• there is only one God, who exists as three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I believe that He is fully perfect. I believe that He created the earth, universe, and all other matter (for that matter :). Including us. 
• man was made in His image and likeness, and that we choose to disobey, incurring death. Therefore, now since man's first sin, all people are born sinful.
• the only way to be saved from our incurred (spiritual) death is through the work of Jesus Christ (God the Son) by His death upon the cross.
• that by His (Christ's) perfect life and sacrificial death, salvation has been provided for all people; and those who repent of their sinful/imperfect life and believe that He died for them, receive eternal life!
• that the will of God is for all people to come to know Him in a personal/interactive way.
• that once one comes to know Him that they might become evermore of His character, and that this coupled with a growing heart for others, will be a way for others to know Him personally.
• that God the Son, will return in future days. This is our (believer's) blessed hope! 
• that those who know Christ will live for eternity in heaven, and those who do not know Him and believe in His work on the cross, will experience death for all time.

I have only written quick, short bullets...If you have any questions at all, please ask. I would love nothing more than to talk with you about this subject!

On Paths.

A stream. A river. A trickle.

Water, will travel where it traveled yesterday. As will you. People, like water, will travel the path which is found simplest. This path, this is the path you are on.

Please, look around. What was your yesterday, what was your today?


My path is one of sin. As is yours. That is what we have throughout our lives. Because of Adam's first sin, we too walk this way.  My gravest error it at times seems is not my sinful state in of itself, but rather, my acceptance of that state.

To break free of this acceptance, is only to be able through choosing. Choosing is only able through a low and contrite heart. A low and contrite heart, can only be given by the Holy Spirt through Christ's death on the cross. No amount of effort or talk by me, changes my heart.

So the choice is not, to change, but to give all my will to Him. So that, He makes me more like Him!

'Lord, constantly guide my life. Take me from paths not of Your will.'
'Lord, that my life might be fully given to You. Please, take it, all of it. i fall, daily, and in all i do. Please forgive me, and continue this work that You have begun in me until i am found complete by You. Thank  You for Your abounding grace, and Your precious Gift.'

Running 2011, The Year Ahead!

So...2010 is almost over.

OK, not really, rather only a little over halfway over. However, my running goals for the 2010 year are almost finished. The only remaining major goal is to run the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon, in Georgia, on November 13th; with a negative split.

As for smaller racing goals this year.
Run the 'Spirt of Survival' Superhero 5k' in Lawton, OK, on October 10. This race is to replace my beloved Mount Scott 5k, but should still be a blast as many racers (yours truly included) will be racing while being dressed as superheros! Bring on the SPANDEX! not really a good thing.

1. Run Weatherford YMCA's annual 'Chili Run', although I don't know the date, I am sure it will prove to be yet another great race!
2. Run Arnett Chamber's inaugural 5k! This is monumental for me, my passion of running meeting my hometown!!! Couldn't get better than this!
3. And lastly enjoy training for all these wonderful events, beside all the amazing people I have come to know and grow closer to due to this sport.

Back to the Chickamauga race, this race will serve several purposes;
One, I will be using this race as a 'training' run for my 2011 season!
Two, I will knock Georgia off my 'states to do' list and end the year with only forty-five remaining!!! Third, it will be yet another opportunity to spend some time encouraging and running with my good friend Kelsey (who ran New Orleans with in February and who also just yesterday morning had breakfast with myself and Jamie in the great town of Weatherford, OK!)
And fourth, but certainly not last (drumroll please) I will be (hopefully) running the first portion of this race with the 'Great' Jamie Leigh Rice!
AWESOME HUH?

SO...on to 2011.
This is my tentative schedule and respective personal goals:

• January 16 - P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon; Scottsdale, AZ

• April 30 - Country Music Marathon; Nashville, TN

•  June 25 (Happy Birthday Dad) - Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon; Seattle WA

• September 5 - Rock 'n' Roll Marathon; Virginia Beach, VA

(Not encouraging the beer in the shoes, but rather the sand around the shoes...and the relaxation of a small vacation and a great run!!!)

• December 5 - Rock 'n' Roll Marathon; Las Vegas, NV

SO! A few notes in closing!!!

1. YOU are invited to each one of these... (just let me know in advance)
2. Feel free to ask how training/running/racing is going
3. If you are interested in running or racing please let me know, I would love to help get you started (just ask Brantley, Joshua, Jamie, Erin, Kyle, or Allen, they all know)
4. Why all the "Rock 'n' Roll" races...because if I do complete them all I get this on top!

              

Rock Star

Complete FIVE Rock ‘n’ Roll events (1/2 or full marathons) in a calendar year and earn the medal as proof of your ROCKSTAR status.

Long Time, No Post, Lots New!

Sorry about the time since my last post, and for the shortness of this one too.

Just a couple quick updates:

I have just purchased and begun using my new computer! She is a MacBook Pro, and she is beaut!!! I am very excited about all the new tools and capabilities I have, on top of the shear excitement of removing myself from using the ole beast who often would not turn on, semi regularly had a fuzzy greenish screen, and who always was missing three buttons.
I am considering different names for the Mac...if you have any ideas, feel free to share!


Lastly,

Just finished my fourth marathon! Traveled twenty hours straight to Missoula, Montana, for a race I did not train for, but all went well! I did not die and I was able to travel through both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Forest on the return!!!

Here is a taste of the weekend:

(brantley = driver, me = lazy, sunset on the way up, Yellowstone Rainbow, Elk, Mad Elk, Bison, Ole Faithful at Sunset x 2, Kansas Sunflower, Kansas Windmill)

Solid Ground?

Reputation and Character

"The circumstances amid which you live determine your reputation; the truth you believe determines your character. 

Reputation is what you are suppose to be; character is what you are.

Reputation is the photograph; character is the face.
Reputation comes over one from without; character grows from within.
Reputation is what you have when you come to a new community; character is what you have when you go away.

Your reputation is learned in an hour; your character does not come to light for a year.

Reputation is made in a moment; character is built in a lifetime.

Reputation grows like a mushroom; character grows like the oak.

A single newspaper report gives you your reputation; a life of toil gives you your character.

Reputation makes you rich or makes you poor; character makes you happy or makes you miserable.

Reputation is what men say about you on your tombstone; character is what angels say about you before God."

- William Hersey Davis

Wonder where you stand?
If so, worry about you reputation little, but constantly assess your character!

Grounded by Eyjafjallaokull

As many of you know in April and early May, there were hundreds of travelers grounded because of volcanic eruptions in Iceland.

Those eruptions were from the volcano Eyjafallaajokull. They were small in size, by volcanic eruption standards...but yet they were monumental in the trouble they caused for air travel to, fro, and within Europe, creating the highest level of disruption since the Second World War.

Here is a shot of the Northern Lights seen above the ash plume of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano in the evening April 22, 2010.

Absolutly amazing huh!

Let this photo cause us to be grounded in the knowledge of how absolutly amazing out Lord and Creator is!

Thanks be to His Son!

Happy Wednesday to all!

Captured.

Yesterday, I had a bit of free time. I decided to spend that time catching up with the ole' kayak! It was good and very nice...relaxing as always. I took Jabe along with me, so that made it an adventure for sure. :)

It's always such a deep breath of calming silence to be outside in God's creation! I find it so interesting how easily we forget that.

Just yesterday, I was out on the water in awe of our Creator, and His great Gift, and the Grace that He has given me through Him. Just yesterday, I was SO struck by the soft warmth of the sun, the gentle touch of the Oklahoma breeze, the many pieces of cotton riding on those gusts...and the overall magnificence of all that He has created and placed around us. Yet even as it was so recent that He has captured me with these awe-inspiring things, I have already forgotten so much.

If I were to return today...I would yet again be left saying, 'I forgot just how beautiful His creation was', 'I forgot just how fully His forgiveness is given', 'I forgot just how much love He has for me'.

Absolutely crazy!

I am unable to comprehend Him. Even when I begin to have a greater depth of understanding, if I were to try to commit that understanding to memory...then recall it tomorrow, (just like my memories of His grand creation) I would be so far from true understanding...so far from the reality that really He is.

The coolest thing about it all.

If I allow myself time in His creation, I will again be captured once again by it's beauty, I will once again be at a level of understanding that I am unable to place words to what I see...I will be taken aback, I will breathe deep...

Likewise,
If I allow myself time with Him, I will again be captured once again by His grace, love, forgiveness, beauty. I will once again be at a level of understanding that I am unable to place words to what I see, feel, understand...I will be taken aback, I will breathe deep...CAPTURED BY HIM!

Please take the time to know Him.

Beautiful Things

God. Thank you for all the things you have blessed me with...

Family.

Friends.

The ability to meet with You...

 

The abilty to run...

Your creation.

Goofy-ness...

The list goes on...
THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING.