Broken down, about as simply as I can put it.

I wrote an article a while ago called "Brain Spill" in which I was working out what it means to live life to the fullest. In that article I mentioned at the end that Jesus puts us in a right relationship God. I think that needs to be fleshed out a little further in order to understand what it means to live life to the fullest.

(Remember my initial premise is that Jesus is Lord, so everything cascades from that for me)

Most people have heard the term sin and thus have a idea of what sin "is". The problem is, many people define what sin is differently. I find it easier to start with the root of sin, instead of a list of sins. The root of sin is: drum roll please........Not placing God, the Creator of Universe, as God in a person's life every moment of the day. Another way to look at it would be to place the priorities of anyone or anything else other than the priorities of God, the Creator of the Universe, as one's first priority. Sin spirals out of that reality.

God, the Creator of the Universe, appalls sin and will not tolerate it forever. Eventually, God will separate himself from it completely. And here is the kicker, if you think about it, the root of sin is a condition, one of which we all have. So much so that we cannot fathom what life without it is like. Which means that when God separates himself from sin forever, we too will be cast out of his presence. God is present with us now albeit in a sin-filtered way, so if you think the world can suck now, you probably don't want to imagine what life completely separated from him will be like--much less experience it.

This is where Jesus enters the picture but this is getting long again, so I will finish it tomorrow.

A Challenge

Taking care of the poor and outcasts in society are clear ways to serve God. In fact, he tells us so to do. But what do you do when have no poor or outcasts among you. What if you live in a small town? What if you in a area where such people just aren’t readily available for you to serve? Well, you can seek them out. You can make special plans to help so and so, at such and such time. This is most definitely service, but I am not convinced it is the best or only way.

What about cutting a check? The money aspect of serving people. There is, and rightfully so, a consistent movement in the church for people to give their time and not just money. However, there are people in our world and society that need our money! There are whole agencies and programs set up in order to help people, but they need money in order to survive. But don’t just give, give like it isn’t your money anyway–trust me you won’t miss it.

So what about time? This is both harder an easier than we usually think. I am not talking about special group organized time. I am talking ways to serve weekly and daily. There are people in our lives that we don’t spend enough time with, whom have needs we may not even know about. I think that we often serve such people without thinking because many are close friends and family. However, here is the rub and the root of the challenge: how often do we not show our love for these people because we don’t have time or we are too tired, or don’t want to be bothered?

So here is challenge (I am going to try as well), every week think of someone in your life that you can serve by visiting, or by doing their chores, or anything basically putting them before yourself. As you plan your week, make that one of your top priorities, not the last. Such a way of life will take discipline. But come on, what are just a few hours out of your week? Just cut out some tele time.

Who’s with me?

Saturday Night

Long Wong's to bowl and eat egg rolls

Bad Genie to hear some friends.

Good Times.

The Southern Kettles in Spring

Yesterday, I got out to the Southern Kettles and it was beautiful and fast. It's amazing how much greener it has gotten in a week, it really changes the flow of the trail because it is harder to anticipate what is coming.

This post it has a dual purpose. First, I have to thank the folks at the Southern Kettle Moraine chapter of WORBA. The work they have done out there in the past year is awesome. The Emma is sure to become a destination for riding and the new stuff on the orange adds a level of difficulty that the Muir end was missing. I will at some point actually get out to help you guys one of these days.

Second, the Muir WEMS race is about a month off and the organizers released the course. I did a lap of it yesterday (yes, I did the short backwards on the orange, slowly and ready to walk if someone was coming the correct way) and the lap is sweet! Pretty much all the fun and climbing that Muir has to offer packed into one lap. Now, if there was just some way to cut out the half mile of fire road...

That is all, continue your day.

Pet Projects

I started playing music when I was 25, and went a little crazy with it. If you scroll down and look at the right you will see some music that I have written and recorded. I figure that I could share it after all the time I put into them. They are all quite different from each other.

I'll add songs here and there.

Getting back at it

For the past month or so things have been hectic for me. Organizing and running a conference, having friends stay with us for 4 days (twice), trying to find a locale for worship for Reconcile, and trying to stay on top of training. Training has certainly taken a back seat, I was supposed to be racing already which would allow me fewer hours on the bike per week. But that has all changed and it looks like my first race won't be until late June. So now I have to stay motivated a month longer before the real fun starts.

I'm not complaining, it has been good, just not what I had planned. It is all just a part of life, which with every day I am more convinced to live one day at a time. People make plans and God laughs.

So no race reports yet, but if you like the theological side of this blog keep an eye out. I have more of that coming soon...

High Wind Motivation

If you rode a bicycle in the Milwaukee area Wednesday you know that it was ridiculously windy out. Like blow you off your wheels windy, which is probably why I saw less roadies out than usual. As for me, I went to Crystal Ridge to check out the bike setup one last time before racing on Saturday. That and to see if it's allergies or the cold my wife brought back as a souvenir from the Brooklyn office. The jury is still out on that one.

It was an eventful ride for being Crystal Ridge. Scott got a pinch flat on the new single track. Word to the wise, there is a dip-down with some rocks as a bridge where the first rock you hit has a tube eating-rim-bending sharp front edge. We tried to buffer it with a few logs but the next lap they were already gone. Well, Scott didn't bring anything and I forgot my pump, so Scott had the long walk--at least it was nice out. I continued onward.

After popping out of the new section I started up a longish climb. No leg buster, but steep and long enough to get your attention. That is when I heard a horrible grinding pop and click sound. When I looked up to see what it was, I saw the tallest tree in the area was very dead and a burst of high wind was making it groan. I simultaneously had thoughts of the stories of people being killed by tree-fall in storms and sprinted as hard as I could up the hill (as the dead tree was already slightly downhill). I could feel that part, if not all of that dead tree, was coming down.

It was, I glanced back as the groaning got worse and saw a huge branch break off from the trunk. I mashed the pedals again, which doesn't do much in 2:1 uphill from a basic standstill. Thankfully, nothing fell my way, because it sounds pretty absurd to answer the question "What happened to you?" with "Oh, I was hit by a tree."

The rest of the ride was plagued by an annoying brake pad on the front, which fell completely out at some point on the car ride home. I have about 12 rides on these brakes and I am going from happy to not sure about them pretty quick.