Slow to Blog

I just noticed that I have not blogged since Saturday. Since that time, I have run a 20-miler that went pretty well; enjoyed some down time on Sunday afternoon; hung out at the pool on Memorial Day and enjoyed grilling chicken and ribs; run a 10-miler and played 27 holes of golf. The shoulder is doing well which is really good news.

Yesterday my dad called to let me know that my mom is not doing very well and they are going to run some CT scans on her abdomen. Mom was diagnosed with an aggresive form of breast cancer about 14 months ago, has undergone chemo and radiation and has been experiencing significant weight loss and fatigue the last three months or so. We will know more after tests later this week, but pray for my mom Frances as she comes to your mind. I am very thankful for her but know that she is not well.

And . . . we need rain in middle Tennessee. The drought conditions are getting worse and in a dangerous zone. Fear of fires is high.

Tennesse State Championship in Tennis

I got to be a part of some fun tennis watching yesterday. One of our oldest daughter's friend from DCA, Michael Yokusuk, played in the state championship game and won. He played really well. I had not seen him play this year, but it is obvious that he has greatly improved over the last year. He has trained hard in the off season and had a good run through district and regionals and played well in the quarters, semis, and especially in the finals. On Thursday in the semis, he suffered through some warm weather, cramps, and soreness from a car accident on Weds.

He is a very good tennis player, has a great demeanor on and off the court, but what I like about him the best is that he is just a great kid. He is always polite, has a good sense of humor, and is not cocky at all. Congrats Michael on your state championship. Thanks for representing your family and your school well.

Doing a Good Job

I am one of those guys who learned early on that if I was going to be involved in anything, I needed to make sure that I was committed to doing a good job. Now, to be honest, in most things I have done a good job, but I have missed it a few times.

I admire people who bring a high level of commitment to anything they are involved in. People like my parents, my in-laws, some co-workers I have had, but I especially want to mention two people who are setting the pace for the mid-2os pack of the demographic.

Our youth minister, Justin Heap, and his wife, Trisha, are two people who are committed to excellence and are doing a good job in influencing lives. Justin and Trisha have been at our church for almost three years now and the influence they have had on our students and their parents is invaluable. Justin especially has taught me how to stay grounded and to be willing to change methods to teach truth. I have included their picture that they probably had taken in Mexico or somewhere fun while on vacation. He also deserves credit for the photo of me in the suit on my last post.

Thanks to Justin and Trisha for investing in the lives of our students and the lives of us parents who are willing to take assistance from anyone who desires to see our kids become more like Christ.

And . . . I know that Justin will read this because he is one of the three or so of you who read this blog faithfully. Thanks again Justin for all that you do.

A Rare Event

Things like a solar or lunar eclipse, blue moon, conservative Democrat, etc. come to mind when you read a title like the one above but I thought I would post a picture of me wearing a suit. I am really not opposed to wearing a suit, I would just rather not. Coats and ties are really not my idea of a good time, but in this picture, you see me in a suit with a tie at DCA's graduation this past weekend.

Actually this occurrence was followed up the next day by me wearing a suit to preach at Victory. Wearing a suit one day is not totally rare, but two days in a row is almost unheard of for me.

Things are going well. Work is very busy with some new initiatives that are going on that I am included in. They are exciting I might add but have created some additional work. I am not work adverse, so . . . it is all good.

I ran 5 yesterday and 10 day and will run 10 on Thursday and 20 on Saturday. Twenty seems like a long way to run because it is a long way to run.

Busy Weekend

It is a beautiful afternoon in middle Tennessee and almost the end of a good weekend. Friday night was spent with Sondra and the girls at Panera and then over to a graduation party for a girl we have known since we moved here. She and her family are good friends and it was nice to celebrate with her. They offered some of the best chocolate covered strawberries I have ever had. They were wonderful.

Saturday morning began with a 10-miler and then off to speak at DCA's graduation. What an honor to celebrate with the class of 2007. I gave them a short challenge from Scripture and then got to greet each of them as they received their diplomas.

This morning was spent at Victory where I have been helping out on Sunday and Wednesday nights. Chuck Groover, their pastor, was away with family celebrating the graduation of their daughter from Union University and invited me to preach for him. I believe his job is safe and I was no threat whatsoever. I was honored to be asked to preach.

Dr. Jerry Falwell

It has been pretty interesting to hear different people reflect on the death of Dr. Falwell. Many villify him, while others praise him as one of the greatest leaders of the last few decades. There is no denying that Dr. Falwell impacted the American culture in a very strong way. What he did politically will be remembered for generations. Some of the things he said were a bit stronger than I would have personally said, but he was a person that was not above admitting if he said something in the wrong spirit.

I first met Dr. Falwell as a teenager in Kansas City, Missouri. Dr. Falwell's college roommate, Dr. Truman Dollar, was then pastor of Kansas City Baptist Temple. Dr. Dollar's daughter and I were friends and I was at the Dollar's one afternoon when low and behold, Dr. Falwell was sitting on the couch as I entered the house. It is safe to say that I was completely surprised. It was during the beginnings of the Moral Majority and Dr. Falwell was all over the news. He was very kind and very approachable that afternoon. He acted like he was genuinely interested in knowing about me and did not view me as a potential religious right vote. Just a guy that was interested in what was going on in a preacher's kid teenage life.

I will always remember Dr. Falwell as a man who was down-to-earth, personable and genuinely interested in a teenage kid. Dr. Falwell, you will be missed. Thanks for showing me the importance of investing in lives.

Nice to Be Home

I arrived back in TN on Thurs. afternoon and then Shelbi and I headed to Union for a college visit and for a couple of contacts that I needed to make for work. It all went well but it was good to get home Fri. afternoon to stay for awhile.

Sondra and I celebrated our 22nd anniversary Friday night by going to Sakura and eating some good Japanese food and then headed home to watch a movie. It was nice relaxing night. Saturday was different since I woke up with some incredible dizziness (must have been from sinus and all the flying) so I just laid around most of the day and did get an 8 miler in late in the afternoon and then Sondra and I headed to see Spiderman 3. Mediocre at best. The special effects were good, but the story line dragged too much for me. Sunday morning I got up and ran 10 (trying to trick my body that I ran 18 in less than 24 hours) and then headed to church and enjoyed being there after being away for two weeks.

I think Sondra had a good Mother's Day. I had gotten her an iPod Shuffle for our anniversary so Morgan got her an iTunes card and Shelbi got her a nice candle. We ate at Calypso and had Lucayan salads so she was happy. She loves those salads.

Ran 5 this morning and settled into the office to get caught up on some stuff here. It will be a busy few weeks. Glad to be home.

Headed Home

I will be glad to board the plane tonight and head home to Tennessee. The trip to Hawaii has been very productive and I had some great meetings. It is refreshing to meet people who do ministry out of a love for people and a sense of calling. I had lunch with 6 youth guys yesterday who all have a heart for doing good ministry. They each minister in a very different situation to different cultures and they love doing it. We even let a Calvary Chapel guy in who is a great guy.

Shelbi and I head to Union on Friday for a college visit and I have a couple of meetings while I am there for work so it is good to be able to kill multiple birds with one trip. Looking forward to being home. It has been good but being out here without my family is not my idea of a vacation but it is a good working trip with some wonderful scenery.

The installation service on Sunday for my buddy David Crim went great. It was quite an honor to be a part of that service for him. He is pastoring Lana'i Baptist Church and is the church's first full-time pastor in her history. I think the church was started in the late 40s. David and Cindy are excited and the church is very excited as well.

If you caught the finale of the Amazing Race on Sunday night you saw Lana'i. The teams did a feat that involved going out to a buoy by a shipwreck out off the coast. David and I did a short hike on Monday and made it to Shipwreck Beach. Kinda cool.

Hope to write more on Fri./Sat. I have kept my running up and have hit all of my plans in the running schedule. It is very easy to run hills in Hawai'i and I ran up to Diamond Head the last couple of days and along Waikiki Beach. It is time to go home.

Aloha

After a long flight yesterday, I arrived in Honolulu around 3p Hawaii time. All of the flights were uneventful and we even arrived a little early. I got my luggage pretty quickly, headed over to Hertz to get the rental (a real nice Lincoln at a mid-size price and I do not know why) and checked into an airport hotel. It actually is a pretty nice hotel even though it is located in a somewhat noisy area.

I cleaned up, headed up to the church where the conference is being held and then headed over to Chili's to grab some dinner. It had been a long time since I had eaten since the flight only served snack stuff. Dinner was good and then the conference went really well last night. I had seven in my conference which is great here in Hawaii. They are a great group and we meet again today from 9-12noon. I head to Lanai later today to visit some friends and do a meeting on that island and then head back to Oahu Monday night for a couple of more meetings. I hope to make it to the beach or the pool at least once while I am here.

So far the weather is good and is forecasted to stay that way.

Veiled Warnings

After running 12 today I found myself really tired and it has carried over into tonight. I am even starting to fight a little bit of a cold it seems. Not the most exciting thing to have when you are scheduled to climb on a plane for 10 hours or so. I have invested in Airborne and plenty of vitamin C to do my best to ward off this dreaded malady. Maybe my body is telling me it is about time to slow down a little. After Sat. around noon, I can kick back for a couple of days. I am speaking Sunday, but it is not too long.

"Oh, be careful little fingers what you blog" is the latest advice I got today. Not that I blog about controversial things but evidently I need to be careful that what I blog cannot be misconstrued. Part of me says anything you write or say can be misconstrued, but I will be careful as I normally am.

The youth group that I am working with at Victory is a great bunch of students that I really enjoy spending time with. Last night we prepared for the National Day of Prayer that is observed today and we just spent some time sharing about prayer and then praying. The more I am around them, the more I like them. They are a great group who have been through some pretty tough stuff and are hanging in there beautifully.

It may be a couple of days before I get the chance to blog again, so both of you that read this blog every once in awhile, just hang in there and I will blog again soon.

Awards

Today was awards day at DCA where our daughters go to school and they both came home with some decent awards for academics. We are always proud of the girls and we walk a little taller when they are recognized for their accomplishments.

I did hill repeats yesterday and it always feels like someone has hammered my legs into my hips the next day. So . . . that is the way my hips feel today. I ran 9 miles in all yesterday, 5 this am, and have 12 scheduled for tomorrow and it will more than likely be 12 in the rain.

I have a busy day tomorrow and then pack for the week in Hawaii. It is always hard for me to pack for that long but shorts are in the luggage for sure.