"How in the world did I get talked into this!"

I've been in training! Somehow I've been talked into riding this big bicycle ride from Columbus to Portsmouth next month. For a while, when I would get on my bike to ride, the first few miles I would be thinking, "How in the world did I get talked into this!" Saturday morning I rode with some friends about 30 miles up and down some pretty good hills and I did better than I thought I would. I actually liked the ride! Then I got this great idea to train on this big hill that is close to where I work. I mean it's a big hill - actually it's two hills and my thought was I would get as far up it as I could the first few times then see how much farther I could go as my training progressed. Well, I just got back from riding to the top of the big hill on the first try! Then I rode another ten miles afterward! I guess I can do more than I think I can.

It's kinda like that with me and God. When I follow his lead and looking out over where he's taking me I think I'll never make it. But as you work your way along, downshifting when you need, keeping a steady pace, pretty soon you are looking over the valley on the other side. And that hill just didn't seem as big as I was making it. God created the hills! He knew what he was doing and I like relying on him to get me up to the top!

Death is NOT the end.

Another one of the men who had a great influence on my life was laid to rest today. His passing was a bitter/sweet event. I spoke to his wife the other evening and she talked for forty five minutes telling how she read his favorite chapters in the Bible to him, held his hand, and he squeezed hers with warm compassion just as he took his last breath.
His last words were "I just want to go home to be with the Lord." He was sure of that! He had lived a good life, supported many missionaries, preached, raised two wonderful daughters, and was loved by many. He had a great love for his wife and you could see that everywhere they went.

I pray these things can be said of me when I go to be with the Lord.

Fred was a good example to look to.

Luke 9:23-25
Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?

I'm learning more and more each day just how hard it is to deny myself. There are so many wants that the world puts out there, that in normal daily life seem so important... but they're not. I used to wonder what it meant to take up my cross... now I think that the very act of denying myself is taking up that cross. I want to follow Jesus, I believe him to be the son of God. I believe in what he teaches and I want to teach others his good news. That's a cross to take up, because the worldly man in me wants a more comfortable earthly life. More money, a new car, a nice vacation in the sun, these are the cravings that I must put aside daily. It's hard because there are so many "Christians" that are following the worldly things and are not following Christ. I will pray each day that God will lead me in the right paths that I need to follow.

Another video

My son recently sang in the Scioto County Honors Chorus.
That's him waving!

I put a recording of one of their songs with some pictures we got while in Haiti in January this year. I think it went together very well. See what you think.