The Noblest Invention

A friend at work gave me a book entitled The Noblest Invention. This illustrated history of the bicycle is very well done.

The forward by Lance Armstrong reminded me of the first bike (red, white and blue banana seat) my parents bought for me.

It reminded me of the freedom that a Free Spirit ten speed from Sears gave me to ride anywhere in Elkhart County to bail hay all day and return that night. It reminded me of friends that I used to ride with when I was a boy.

It reminded me of my habit to repack bearings regularly so I could ride every Sunday without too much resistance or crank noise.

It reminded me that I was on my bike when I knew that Jackie was God's gift to me long before she accepted that dreaded fact.

It reminded me of the first high end road bike, Schwinn Le Tour, that I purchased used from a guy that needed $50 and didn't need the bike that his parents bought for him for closer to $500. Later when I took that bike to Purdue, it was too high end and all I had left was a cut cable lock hanging on a bike rack at married student housing. I remember staring at the empty rack, wishing that I hadn't sold my Free Spirit for $25 a few years back.

It reminded me of my first vehicle that required insurance and a license, which happened to be a Honda CM400. A simple iteration that allowed me to go to farther places faster.

It reminded me of my second motorcycle, a Night Hawk that I rode two hours every weekend from Purdue to wherever Jackie was in whatever whether was between us. After we were married, I rode it to work and remember a day when Jackie had to wear a snowmobile suit behind me when her car wouldn't start one winter day in Lafayette.

It reminded me of a tall skinny friend on a big orange rode bike that rode everyday when I first moved to Lexington and how I struggled to keep up with him one day while we traveled 134 miles to Bloomington. I foolishly dropped out of the pack two hours into the ride, and had to skip pitstops to catch up or else I would not have made it. After catching them, I never left the pack again.

It reminded me of a friend that invited me to mountain bike for the first time in Albequeque and how cactus thorns release air pressure that makes carrying a bike easier than riding it.

It reminded me of the cost of freedom and independence and how dangerous that can be if not handled responsibly.

I will never be known as a bike racer, let alone the greatest cyclist to ever walk the earth like Lance, but I do agree that a bike has got to be near the top of the invention list. However, like all things created, obsessions can be destructive and erase all the freedom that was originally experienced.

I'm glad that the friends that I rode with last Saturday understand how a bike can be used for real freedom.

Riding, Riding and River's End

On Tuesday morning, we separated the family based on interests and ability.

Adam, Carmen and I rode the Thompson loop which is south of the Murphy branch and the Mouse branch trail. We rode it counter clock wise so most of the technical work was going up and most of the speed was coming down the old logging roads in the sun. It was a nice ride even though we had to race under time pressure.

Jackie and Becca rode horses at Nantahala Village while we mountain biked. We dropped them off, drove 15 minutes to the Tsali, rode the loop and packed up the bikes and 15 minutes back to Nantahala Village by noon.

After we picked up Jackie and Becca, we went to the River's End restuarant at Nantahala Outdoor Center for lunch. After lunch we sat briefly in the sun, resting and watching other people get cold and wet below us.

Tsali Recreation Area

While most people prefer to vacate or amuse, my favorite thing to do on vacation is to recreate. The Tsali Recreation Area provided an excellent place to do so.

Mountain bikers from around the world come here to ride their $4,000 mountain bikes but we didn't ride as much as they do.

If you added up all the cost of all five of our bikes and helmets and tools for packing and maintaining bikes on a trip, we might be able to reach half that amount, so we felt really good about our decision to start with the easiest route on Sunday.

The whole family rode "together" on a 4 mile portion of the right loop (Blue) on Sunday. Adam led the way and I brought up the rear making sure that everyone made it safely. There was great disparity in the rate at which Adam traveled and the rate at which Jackie traveled.

So much disparity, that we believe Adam and Carmen reached the 3.5 mile mark about the same time as Jackie and I reached the 1.5 mile mark. Becca was somewhere in the middle.

Jackie and I conquered the mountain air with lots of stops and walking up steep portions. We then found Becca at about the 2.5 mile mark, and forged ahead until we reached Adam and Carmen at the 3.5 mile marker where the trail split so we could all ride down the last half mile together.

Lands Creek Log Cabins

We all headed for the south side of the Great Smoky Mountains for vacation this year. It saved on gas and other expenses associated with vacations like eating out and other entertainment.

We stayed at Lands Creek Log Cabins just North of Bryson City and loved it.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon and unloaded all our mountain bikes, clothes and snacks and climbed to the top of the hill to sit on a swing. Carmen, Adam and I road bike a little that afternoon and it didn't take long to find out that Carmen would need new brake pads if she was going survive all the trips. We went to town to buy groceries for the week and Adam grilled some steaks for supper.

After supper we watched some of the sunset from the porch, but later moved to the picnic table to play Phase 10 near the campfire.

Jackie wanted a campfire every night in order to have s'mores. We all enjoyed the warmth and light it provided as the sun went down in the thin mountain air.

In addition to having clean air to breathe, we also enjoyed some breathtaking purple mountain sunsets when a mountain storm wasn't blowing through. It was amazing to me how easy it was to start a fire with all that wind and I now understand how lightning strikes on a dry mountain can start a forest fire. Wind...

Rob and Sue and everyone at Lands Creek have done a marvelous job of positioning each cabin to be private for the family but sharing the same great sunset and ridge top views. We stayed in the Bobcat and loved it for a family of five.

Happy Birthday Kim!

For Dr. Kim's birthday, a group of us went riding in the mud. I had to get the bikes down from the ceiling of the garage, put air in the tires and oil the chains and derailures since we didn't ride very much in 2006.

In fact, I think that our ride today was longer than the total for 2006, so we're off to a good start for 2007.

It was good to have Kelly with us. Matt and Kim are great mountain bikers in terms of strength, stamina and technical riding skills, but Kelly throws in some additional entertainment by jumping his bike over things. It was really amazing to me that he could do that with a muddy bike. I have never been able to do it with a clean bike.

Carmen and Matt headed home after our first two loops and Kim, Kelly and I took a third loop. I told Matt that I wanted to take pictures of the muddy bikes and people so he was stuck with the assignment of keeping Carmen from washing her bike when she got home.

As you can see from the photos, Matt completed his mission.

Church Campout

Last weekend was the church campout at Aldersgate. Adam ran around with a pack of kids that were catching crawdads and cooking them during free time. Carmen and Jackie got there a day late so Carmen could attend volleyball conditioning. Becca followed goats around the campground.

Josh introduced his "Eagle Song" to us. We all played too much ultimate frisbee. Eva wore Scott and I out on a fast paced bike ride. Emily did a great job hosting the talent show. Most of all, we just spent time together in the heat (and sometimes rain).

Thanks Matt & Kim for all the hard work that went into this.

Here are all the pictures that I took:
Aldersgate 2006

Wouldn't it be amazing if ....

God had used the grandfather of a boy that I grew up to help pave the way for Dr. Scott and Dr. Kim to reach the Awa in Ecuador?
Engineering Mission Center for HCJB

Richard Moore in the center of this photo, played defensive tackle in front of me. His father Clyde Moore was the son of Clarence Moore who was one of the key contributors to HCJB in Ecuador.

Crown International and the Moore family got me into engineering. Their radio station (WFRN) kept me focused on positive Christian music and their amplifiers busted my ears in a Larry Norman concert at the Notre Dame Convention Center. To this day, their Crown amplifiers are powering God's message in the church I attend in Lexington.

Stephen Phipps on the left, played nose guard and gave me the title "Glory Grabber" because the better he executed, the more tackles I got. He was a friend that rode bike with me nearly every Sunday afternoon. Due to the biking, he and I could squat more weight than anyone else on the team.

His father, Ron Phipps, was a pastor in the missionary church and sponsored a few cross country bike trips. I think the group was called "Wondering Wheels" and then changed to "Out Spoken". I also told Steve that I got a better work out than he did because I rode a Sears Free Spirit while he rode one of the high end, foreign, super lightweight bikes with more gears.

Both of these guys made a significant impact on my life.

Church around the small world

Today, Dr. Kim Hind and Dr. Tim Scott headed for Ecuador to help take care of the medical needs of the Awa. Dr. Scott has been doing mission work like this for years and has a good relationship with missionaries in different areas of the world.

Why do I call it a small world?

Dr. Scott started out as my doctor, but I only visited him once when we first moved to Lexington. About ten years later, he and the pastor of new church plant and their wives visited Tatesbrook as they were waiting on the Lord to provide a church sponsor for their plant.

Today, I still rarely visit Dr. Scott at his practice, but we pray together nearly every Monday night. He and I share many common desires. We both love Michael Card. We both love to serve. We both came from rural communities. We both care for the weak. The biggest difference I see is his wisdom vs my self confidence and his peaceful nature versus my disturbing nature.

Kim Bell visited Tatesbrook as a medical student who knew the remarkable Dr. Eric Bandy, who attended a youth group led by Mike Brady as teenager. When Eric headed to UK, he attended Tatesbrook and brought a few of his fellow college students.

As we grew to love the very special Kim Bell and her friend Angela, we prayed for her boyfriend who lived back in New Mexico. Kim loved him, but she did not want to further a relationship with a man that was not equally committed to Jesus Christ.

It was with great joy that Kim told us one day that her boyfriend had committed himself to Christ and asked her to marry him. A group of eight people headed down to Albuquerque for the wedding. ( a good section of the "Old Mules" of Tatesbrook )

Returning to Lexington, Dr. Kim and Matt Hind settled into a home in a nearby town that split the commute between work and church. Over the years, Matt has served in many roles and has found his calling as our youth pastor.

Matt is one of my greatest friends (outside of my family) today. I know that I can count on him for anything. He is one of the few people that can convince me to exercise when I think that my old body needs to rest. Matt and Kim both love to mountain bike. In fact, Kim's brother started me on mountain biking on the day of Matt and Kim's wedding. ( lots of stories there, but I'll save that for another time )

I trust Matt and Kim with my children, they are doing a wonderful job.

As I write this, in this small world, Dr. Tim and Dr. Kim are together serving the Lord at the equator near the edge of a different mountain range and you can read about their experiences on their blog: Ecuador Mission Trip (Kim & Tim)

Happy Birthday to Becca

We celebrated Becca's birthday this month. We had the first celebration Friday night where she opened a few of the smaller gifts and cards that she received from grandparents and also some of the clothes that her mother wanted her to wear to school on her birthday.

Tonight, Becca had Emily come over to celebrate her birthday with her. They didn't wait to long to start watching the movie that Emily got for her. Mom, Carmen, Adam and I ate the birthday cake in the kitchen without the birthday girl.

One of her other presents this year was a girly mountain bike so that she can ride with the rest of the family. She saw right through the bribery and told me that receiving this gift was not a guarantee that she was going to go riding every time someone in the family jumps on a bike.

Christmas Card 2005

We have really enjoyed receiving all the updates from old friends and distant family this year via the Christmas letters. This year I've decided to post the contents of the Christmas letter here for wider distribution.

Family is very important to us today. It also played an essential role in the first Christmas. The lineage of the Christ child was one of the longest promised, most prophesied blessings a family has ever received.

Adam (the first Adam, not ours), Noah, Abraham, Ruth, David and many more were among the ancestors of Christ that celebrated the Savior’s birth to the virgin Mary.

I’ve been converting VHS and 8mm videos to DVD so that we can all remember special moments like first birthdays, first steps, first bike rides, baptisms, programs, sports and other memories. We are still making family memories everyday. That is the life and hope that Christ offered to us that first Christmas and even more so in His death on a cross and His resurrection. One of our favorite memories this year was our family vacation to Maui. The weather and natural beauty was breathtaking.

Jackie and I both turned 40 this year and we are looking forward to celebrating our 20th anniversary in 2006. We are proud of the choices are children are making in this world that is full of negative influences due to the fallen nature of each of our physical births.
In varying degrees, everyone that we send this letter to has an impact on our family and we thank you for being a part of the antidote to those negative influences of society.

Spiritually, we celebrated the rebirth of our youngest daughter, Becca and her baptism this year.

Physically in the last few years, Jackie’s sister has made it through a near fatal infection and Jackie’s mother has finished cancer treatments successfully and is now regaining her strength.

We are thankful for family and life.

Christmas Card 1994

In years past, Jackie has always written a long letter and I have edited it to the point that it is a short letter from both us. This year Jackie has been extremely busy as the director of the Children's Christmas Program at church so I am in charge of the letter. The program was spectacular, the highlight was the five year old cancer patient angel narrator who was released from the hospital the day before the program.

Keeping up with two children has been very time consuming but we would not trade the time for anything else. Carmen is currently sitting beside me with her Bible, she noticed mine open on the couch and has come to my assistance. Her conversations are very interesting. Jackie and I often stop and observe her carrying on a conversation with Adam and imaginary friends.

Adam has been bruised and abused his first year. His older sister is quite the ruffian and he takes it very well. Adam has jumped off the couch, climbed over the back of the chair, somehow made it out of his crib with an assistant, and just this morning flopped out of the bath tub. He regularly attended the adult cantata practices this year where he fell off many items providing comic relief for the choir.

Probably the most significant thing that we have experienced this year is the new ministry at our church that Jackie and I have prayed for and longed for since 1992. We began meeting in January and multiplied that single group of fourteen people into seven groups of 70 people in September. We meet weekly, rotating the location to each member's home. When one member is struggling, stretching, learning or growing, all the other members are there to aid or encourage them on a daily basis.

Three years of deaconing has brought many blessings as we have seen God carry Christians through some very difficult circumstances but this last year has been so much more fulfilling as we minister to each other.

Jackie is doing a tremendous job of training our children. I wish that I could spend more time helping her. I often get wrapped up in work and neglect my family but I never come home and wish I had stayed longer. Four and sometimes six arms reach up for hugs and kisses to greet me when I open the kitchen door.

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes has been a big part of my life for almost two years. We work in prison ministry, sports camps, and fund raisers for FCA staff and ministry. This year, I decided to ride bike with FCA to Indianapolis for Promise Keepers. We left from the South side of Louisville early Thursday morning and rode through 50 degree rain until noon. We completed 134 miles to Bloomington that evening. We then rode another 65 miles to Indianapolis on Friday. The time I spent with my brothers on the trip was as valuable as the conference. The conference was incredible. 62,000 men sang praises to God, committed to keep promises to God, their wives, families and churches.

Keep the Faith, don't let the greatest gift ever given go to waste in your life.