A Voyage beyond anything imaginable...something called life.

A Change in Seasons

2010-12-04T13:20:00.002-06:00

The seasons have been steadily changing. Here's a few pictures.

A Sunset captured from my apartment

Flying last week

And, this past week, snow came streaming down. Winter is here.

Flying

2010-11-27T09:44:00.002-06:00

Well, as most of you know, winter has set in here. Ice is forming on the lakes and rivers, touches of snow glisten the ground and cold winds keep people indoors under blankets. It's a time of year that is bitter sweet to me as I have to put my motorcycle away for the year, but I can also look forward to ice fishing. Bittersweet.

Today, though, tempteratures are supposed to be up and the wind down, so I am going to take the opportunity and do a little flying and see God's creation from the air once again.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Tim

Paintings from above

2010-10-09T19:39:00.000-05:00

Tonight I grilled. As I was doing so, the sun was setting and I am not going to begin trying to describe what it looked like because my descriptions would be completely inadequate. Let's just say that it was a sunset, not altogether uncommon, but one that brought out all colors of the spectrum, mixed in with streaks of light shimmering through clouds at different intervals. For any of you who take the time to watch sunsets (or sunrises for that matter), they are like paintings forever changing at any given second. One moment, they spread one collage of color down and a few seconds later, everything has shifted. As I watched the colors change, something hit me... I am the only one on planet earth seeing this exact sunset. Everyone might be looking at the same sun and maybe even the same clouds, but the angles are all different. For some, the sun sits lower in the sky, for some, higher. The clouds may be different shapes and the colors may be brighter or dimmer.

I am the only one on the entire planet seeing this sunset...

To go another step, God specifically created this sunset for me to watch and enjoy. He also created another sunset for someone else to watch and enjoy. The same sun, the same clouds (possibly), but a completely different result. Interesting.

Bring forth The Kingdom!!

2010-09-21T22:54:00.001-05:00

The past couple weeks have given me some good thoughts to reflect on. Many of them have been about how God advances His kingdom in this world. I've seen 2 examples of this lately that made that picture more clear.

One person was a guy named Nic. I saw him on TV and he is a man with no arms and no legs, yet he can stand up and move around using twisting motions of his torso. The only time he does this though is when he is speaking to groups of people. Nic travels the world, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, telling his story of hope and waiting on God.

The other example in Brian “Head” Welch. Formerly the lead guitar for the almost satanic group, “Korn”, Welch was into the rock and roll life of drugs, alcohol, parties not to mention, being addicted to meth. Yet, Welch found himself searching and, long story short, he found Jesus. Since, he quit Korn, kicked drugs (cold turkey) and has been pursuing a solo career, writing “metal” songs about God, forgiveness and love instead of drugs and sex. God is using him to do some powerful things in an arena most of our churches could never reach.

The way of the world is to find a charismatic, fine-looking leader; one who is big and strong and knows all the right answers. We flock after people who can talk their way out of any jam and who hold power, but in God's kingdom he uses a man with no limbs and the last man I would have expected to see come to Christ. Why? Because it doesn't make sense. Nothing human can explain it! God can use whoever, whenever and often, he uses the last people we expect to bring forth his kingdom.

To you “last people,” weak, burdened, broken and hurting... shine on! God has big things for you!

Burning the Koran

2010-09-08T22:49:00.000-05:00

Today, I saw a news report that tore the heart from my chest. The past few days, on the news, there has been a story about a pastor from Florida who is planning on burning copies of the Koran on September 11 to prove some kind of point to extreme Islam. This man claims to be a Christian. Now the good thing, from my perspective, is how different church faces, such as the pope and Franklin Graham have publicly denounced what this pastor is doing. Yet, the fact still remains is that a man that claims to be Christian is doing something so anti-Christ. What does he hope to accomplish?

The other thing that made me happy and yet extremely sad was how an Islamic church leader, went over to this man to offer him some explanations and support. He reached out to this “Christian extremist” in order to diffuse the situation. Thanks be to God for that! Yet, it makes me so angry because he is doing exactly what Christians should have been doing all along, ever since 9/11/01.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Rom. 12:21

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Proverbs 25:21-22

Why haven't the Christians stood up and embraced Muslims, especially those who live right next door? Where has the power of the gospel gone that one “Christian” man wants to repay evil with evil and where a Muslim embraces him in the love, fulfilling the very mandates in our own Bible? Stand up, Christians! Bring the Love of Christ to the world!

To you Muslims and others who have been hurt by Christians, I apologize from the bottom of my heart for “Christians” like this preacher from Florida. Our king, Jesus the Christ, does not teach what this man teaches. Jesus teaches a love that is so deep and so wide, we can't even express it in human words. The two passages above are a glimpse of what Jesus taught.

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned.” John 3:14-18

Jesus, God's only Son, loved us so much, that he took all our sins, placed them on his shoulders, and became a sacrifice of atonement for everyone who believe in him. That is the love that Christians are supposed to be showing. We are supposed to give our very lives, in order to save our brothers and sisters around us.

Again, to those of you who have been hurt by the church and Christians, I apologize. Please forgive us.

Summer storms

2010-07-26T10:16:00.002-05:00

Friday night, we had an incredible storm that knocked out the power. Here's a few pictures of the storm and having fun with a candle. I'll try post a video later...

Rolling Thunder

2010-06-28T23:13:00.000-05:00

This past week, powerful thunderstorms flowed through our area. Many produced large amounts of rain, some hail, strong winds, dangerous lightening and some damaging tornadoes. One of those nights was Saturday night. That evening, some friends and I went and had supper for one of our friends birthday. While we enjoyed each others company, one of these storms roared through. Trees bent to the ground, their roots attempting to hold them down. Rain pelted the windows as if flowed through the sky in sheets, quickly forming rivers in place of streets. Deafening thunder and lightening powered its way through the sky. We hung tight until the storm had subsided.

After the evening of fun, we drove home. At this point, the storm that has passed over us several hours earlier was off to the southeast and as we drove, lightening could still be seen, flashing through the clouds, maybe a hundred miles away. With every flash, we could see the cauliflower shape of the clouds as they towered above the earth. Experiencing the storms the past weeks and watching that light show got me thinking about how amazing God is. Just think about the amount of power in those storms. Lightening flashes hold thousands of joules of energy that man would love to replicate, but we can't. All we can do is imitate God's power. God created lightening, we make electricity by burning fossil fuels. God made the sun, a self-sufficient source, and moon for light. We made light bulbs. All we can really do is try to imitate the things that God has already created for us.

Setting all the damage and loss of life aside, part of me thinks that God brings those thunderstorms to say, “Look, I'm God. You still can't do this! Try as you might, you can't even come close to making what I have already made.”

To A Land Up North, Eh?

2010-06-03T10:26:00.003-05:00

Well, the rubber will be hitting the road, once again in a short while. The road before me is a long one and at the other end lies the celebration of a friends wedding. The wedding is in Alberta, Canada so it will be quite a drive (1,300 miles one way, roughly) and should be a good time. Really, at this point, I don't have a lot to say about it except that I am excited to see some college friends again and I am excited to do a little more travelling to places I've never been before.
Peace.

2010-05-19T20:53:00.002-05:00

Lake Michigan

It has been quite some time since I have blogged. That seems to be a regular theme. It's not that I'm neglecting the blog, it's just the fact that not a whole lot of interesting things happen in my life and, on top of that, often I don't have much to say. There are far wiser words to read. Maybe sometime in the future, there will be more interesting times to write about, but, who knows?

This past weekend, I went on a “short” trek out to Calvin Sem and Chicago to visit friends. Maybe “short” isn't the right word. “Quick” would be a better word. My parents asked if they could ride along, since they have relatives and friends out there to visit so I said, “sure” and welcomed the company.

Overall, it was a great trip filled with good conversations, frisbee, hiking, food, baseball, bags, trains, movies and many miles. The basic overview of the trip had us leaving at 5:30, Thursday morning and driving all the way to Grand Rapids, Michigan, staying there through Friday, then driving back to Chicago Saturday morning and then home on Sunday. All in all a great trip filled with great friends.

For those of you wondering, No, I'm not going to seminary.

Yearning for a Call

2010-04-12T23:03:00.001-05:00

Have you ever been waiting for a phone call or a letter or an email? Have you ever been waiting and yearning for someone to come and talk with you? Maybe you've waited for a call from that special someone or from the doctor. In waiting, maybe you wondered, “do they even like me anymore? What did I say to tick them off? Why don't they call me and talk with me?”

This subject was in my mind tonight and for devotions, I read Amos. Amos is a book with some very strong language, both positive and negative. But, the parts that got me were the parts where God called out for Israel to “Seek the Lord and live... yet you have not returned to me.” There is a deep yearning by God for the love of his people. He wants their (our) hearts to call out to him so bad, it is indescribable. Imagine a Father, looking at his rebellious, sinful, dirty son. The father has outstretched arms and tears in his eyes and he says, “Come to me. My strong arms will love and uphold you. Come to me and live.” A tear slowly rolls down his cheek as the son turns his head to the side, still not willing to give in to the father's love. So often, I am that son.

Spring

2010-03-17T19:15:00.000-05:00

By my calender, spring is now here. Today, the weather rose to beautiful clarity and temperatures. With that, my motorcycle made it's exit from the garage making it officially spring in my book. The time has come to put the ice fishing supplies away and enjoy the wind and the smells of the open road.

By no means was it hot today, but with a coat and some gloves, riding was very comfortable. Riding the roads of Minnesota with snow melting in the ditches and flocks of geese cruising overhead calmed me. Not that I was uptight or stressed, but feeling the wind, hearing the engine and singing on the road possess a way of relaxing me. In the cool air, I traveled about 50 miles, more than I planned, but something that felt great.

Upon arriving home, I noticed more signs of spring. Kids played outside, adults walked along the streets and birds chirped in the trees. I love winter, but spring brings great joy as temperatures rise and snow melts. To spring!

Olympics!!!

2010-02-24T21:32:00.002-06:00

A little while back, I had the honor of attending the Olympics games in Vancouver, British Columbia. All in all, it was an awesome experience and the only way it could have been better would have been to stay another week. Here's some pictures and a link to some more pictures! Enjoy!

Oh Yeah!

2010-02-11T21:57:00.001-06:00

Snow falls lightly outside blanketing everything in a fresh, clean layer. Large flakes flutter slowly towards the earth in a peaceful, quiet manner uncommon to this area of the world. Watching the scene quiets the soul and soothes muscles.
A Root Beer sits next to me, sizzling slightly as my brain slowly covers all the items needed for the trip. Come morning, my Blazer will carry me to the airport where an airplane will take me to Seattle and eventually, the Olympics in Vancouver.
I love the Olympics. They rise above the self glorification seen in the NBA and NFL to a celebration of the human capability, rising on a world stage. There is national pride and yet, even bigger, world pride.
In a few short hours, I will be enjoying the atmosphere of friends and the worlds greatest games!

Ice Fishing

2010-01-17T21:52:00.005-06:00

A few pictures from the annual fishing trip... I'll maybe write some "literature" about the trip later...

Setting up to fish

Sunrise 3rd day

Sunrise 2nd day

Nearing sunset 1st day

Perch caught 3rd day

The Ice is upon us!

2009-12-09T17:01:00.003-06:00

Today, it was cold... so cold in fact, we decided to take the day off. Yesterday held blizzard-like conditions making it somewhat dicey hanging from rafters, 15-20 feet up in the air with coveralls, snow boots, gloves and a ski mask on. The great thing about this weather is the fact that we are making ice! Ice fishing will be happening quite soon and for those of you who don't know, this is an activity that I look forward to year around!

It was nice to have a little break and have a day to stay warm and get a few things done. Hopefully, this evening will be just as relaxing and constructive as the day has been. Tomorrow, back to work and winter.

In other news, I started reading "The Power of Prayer," by E.M. Bounds. I have never read a book that is so convicting/challenging concerning prayer. It is fabulous!

Fighting Fire With Fire

2009-11-17T23:09:00.001-06:00

What is it about fighting fire with fire?

Tonight, I went to a presentation done by a professor from Dordt College. The presentation was entitled, “How Christians Should Regard Islam.” This professor went through some of the history of Islam, through Muhammad’s life and some of his actions as well as some world history which occurred to promote the growth of Islam. The presentation was fascinating! He spoke about points of where Christians and Muslims differ and then, in turn, spoke on ways that Christians should look at and interact with Muslims. In the end, one of his main points was that only by showing the love of Christ and the justice of God the Father towards all of mankind can we begin to bring Muslims to Christ, which I felt, was a great point. No amount of arguing will ever bring anyone to Christianity. Of course, he said this more eloquently than I ever could.

Yet, there were some in the group of observers that were set on making Muslims look like complete evil enemies and that they are using guns to fight “us,” (which the professor also said how our government twists this) then we should fight back as well. They wanted to fight fire with fire. When do we ever fight fire with fire? Sure, sometimes firefighters will burn off a chunk of forest so that a forest fire cannot go past that point, but that is a little different than sending one fire towards another and hoping they go out. Every time I have seen it done, the two fires become one huge fire.

Don’t we fight fire with water? If my memory serves me correctly, firefighters still use water to extinguish fires. The love of Christ, that this professor was talking about, is water; soothing, life-giving water; water that washes away even the dirtiest stains and that cools even the hottest tempers.

How often don’t we fight fire with fire? Someone is shouting at us, so we shout back. They push us, so we push back. They hit us, so we hit back. The scorn us behind our backs, so we scorn them behind theirs. What does it look like to fight fire with water in each of these situations?

The Bible I read says to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” and “when someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other as well.” Does this mean that we sit by and let evil happen? Absolutely not! But, what is the constructive, God honoring way to fight fire with water? Be creative and a great example to follow, Jesus the Christ.

More music!

2009-11-09T23:13:00.001-06:00

Tonight was somewhat of a flip of yesterday. Yesterday, I commented on how awesome it can be with “messy” worship because when it happens, so often it is straight from the heart. After all, the Bible says to “make a joyful noise...” Not song. Noise.

Anyway, tonight, I went to see Avalon and Selah perform together and it was nothing less of outstanding! These are the type of people that make me want to be a better musician because of how good they are. All their notes, their harmonies and their cords are practiced to perfection where the timing just clicks and they are allowed to worship without worrying about the music. It just flows. Obviously that comes after hours of practice. It was the type of music that sends chills reverberating through your entire body because of how sweet and melodious the music is.

I cannot wait until the day we are in the new creation and there are musicians from Adam to today. I want to hear the harps, lyres, drums, flutes, horns, guitars, pianos and any other instrument all join together to worship the King! I want to hear jazz, classical, rock; music from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

The last two days, God has once again showed me two awesome kinds of worship. One of pure heart, but not so musically, shall I say, pure. The other, almost painfully crisp and filled with energy pointing back towards heaven. Both have equal weight and both glorify God and I pray, that I can continue to love both my whole life.

Great

2009-11-08T17:04:00.000-06:00

This weekend has been great! Every other week, I go to a church service in the Sioux Falls State Penitentiary and this Friday was when I was going to head over there for some worship and fellowship. Well, on the way there, I was tired and kind of lazy, but once I stepped through those doors, God picked me up and instantly filled me with his joy. While there, God blessed us with great conversation, good worship, a sermon I needed to hear and some great fellowship with new friends. All in all, a great night.

Then, Saturday, I was finally able to take the last 2 tests for my pilot’s license. It was a gorgeous day with the sun shining and light winds. The whole process was quite time consuming but after several hours of an oral test and flight test, I can now say that I am a certified pilot! It feels great to finally get to this stage after wanting to fly my entire life.

As for today, I got to sleep in, go to worship God at his house, take a nap, and ride motorcycle. There were several things that happened at church today, but one of them was fabulous! We had baptism and the younger kids are always invited up to witness the baptism. After that, they also sang a song for us. Well, they get lined up and about 3 or 4 of them were looking for mom and dad and upon finding them, their eyes lit up and started waving like crazy, saying, “Hey mom and dad, check this out! Look where I’m at!” As the song began, there were a couple of the kids that knew that song and they were going to sing it as loud as they could. Well, in doing so, they were off a little on the timing, but it was still awesome. It seems like we get so tied up in notes and rhythms and such sometimes, that we forget to worship and sing with all our hearts. I think we need a few more “messy” worship services.

For the rest of the day, we have Young People’s tonight and a meeting with Pastor Brown, so more good should be on the way.

Mornings

2009-10-09T07:13:00.001-05:00

Lately, I have actually been enjoying my mornings. Sure, when that alarm goes off, all I want to do is role over and pull the covers tight over my face, especially now that the temperatures are dropping. It feels so good to stay in bed and feel the warmth and security.

Yet, lately, I have been enjoying my mornings a little more. When that alarm goes off and after pushing "snooze" a couple times, I sit up, say a little prayer to thank God for sleep and for a new day. The morning just feels like a new beginning. No matter what happened yesterday, it is in the past and now today, there are new things for God to use me to do and there are new tasks to be accomplished. There may have been sins and hard times the day before, but now, in the "new beginning," through God's grace, I am able to get up and join him once again in the war we are in.

I still love sleeping and don't like it too much when the alarm goes off, but the Lord definitely has pointed me more towards a positive outlook on the day; one of challenge and service.

Who knows? Maybe I'll start going to bed earlier so I can get to "tomorrow" faster.

Na... :)

2009-08-26T19:46:00.000-05:00

I just got back from flying. Right now, I'm sitting outside, next to the grill as a few brats roast to perfection. The crickets are chirping as the light fades slowly with the falling sun. It is a beautiful evening!

Not a lot new has happened lately. At work, I finished putting trim and baseboard in one house and now I am moving to another one where the baseboard and trim will take much longer and probably be more frustrating, but it will look really nice when it's done. Hopefully.

Flying is going well. The end is near as I am within 5 hours and 3 tests from having my license. Stay tuned!

Here's a brief synopsis of what's going on...
Another church also approached me about doing a presentation on my trip last summer. It sounds like they would base their evening service around my talk, so we shall see what happens. Prison ministry continues to go well and one of the guys that I know is getting out next week. My church asked me to be a youth leader and I'm pretty sure I'll do that. Another church asked me to lead a young people's lesson. All in all, there are a lot of ways to serve and a lot of activities going on. Please pray for all those things.

That's about it. :)

Vacation

2009-08-23T16:22:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday, I returned from a vacation with some friends. We left last week Saturday and went up to Lake Reno, near Alexandria. It was an amazing vacation and one that I needed greatly. Our time was spent by eating (way too much), sleeping, fishing, swimming, playing football, sitting around campfires under the stars and playing cards. It was perfect.

Computer

2009-08-12T22:08:00.000-05:00

So, I decided to build a computer. It wasn't a spur of the moment type of thing because I was looking at buying something different, but after doing some reading about people saying how easy it was, I decided to give it a try. This is a picture of most of the parts pre-assembly and it was taken about a month ago probably.

Right now, the computer is complete and it is up and running marvelously.

Just a little project... fyi.

P.S. If you are impressed, don't be. It was incredibly easy and any one of you... I mean, any one of you, could do it. Seriously.

Flight, Military

2009-07-29T22:10:00.000-05:00

F-22 Raptor

P-51 Mustang

F-15 and F-18

P-38 Lightening and F-22

The Blue Angels

This past weekend, my parents and I went to an Air Show which contained various stunt planes, a sailplane, an F-22 Raptor and the Navy Blue Angels. Being a lover of aviation, I was enthralled! It was an awesome show that made me want to fly even more.

Much of the show was very pro-America, which there is nothing wrong with because I believe every country should have national pride. National pride is a great thing and can bring about some awesome people and great events. Look at what the Olympics does.

On the flip side, the national pride being pushed that day was all military might, which I have a huge problem with. The F-22 and the Blue Angels were awesome to see and I would absolutely love to fly them, but they are machines built for a single purpose: to win wars by killing people, or in other terms, “destroy a target.” That is the single reason I am not at the Navy now, trying to be a Naval Aviator, because no matter what the purpose, to win World War II or to defend ones country, killing is killing and as a Christ-follower, I can’t and won’t do it.

Throughout the afternoon, the announcer kept making the comment, “These machines are what keep our freedom alive and what makes peace around the world.”

Gag me.

When did a machine built for destruction ever make true peace? Not just a “you are stronger than we are so we surrender” type of peace, which really isn’t peace at all if you really think about it. Having a total and complete military advantage over someone doesn’t bring peace. It may stop the bullets from flying for a short while but that’s about it. What it does bring is a cease-fire because they know they can’t compete and that breads hate and resentment.

The Jesus I know didn’t come into the world, strong and powerful as the world sees power. He did not amass the largest army in the world so that he could overthrow Caesar and then the entire globe. He didn’t ride around on his horse and chariot yelling war cries of peace and prosperity through military might. Jesus knew exactly what true peace is. True peace is a place where bombs aren’t stockpiled everywhere. True peace is a place where people are filled up and not cut to the heart by words of others. It is a place where we build each other up and carry each other’s burdens. It is a place where guns aren’t needed. It is a place where kings kneel and wash the toilets of their subjects and where CEO’s work longer hours to give their secretaries an extra day off and where senators paint the fences of those they represent and where... we are all servants of each other and submissive to each other, even to death.

“If we want to be great in God’s kingdom, let us be the servants of all! If we want to be great in God’s kingdom, let us be the servants of all!”

That is why I love Christianity and why it is the only way: it is a way of life that goes against almost everything inside me, but in living that life, the more fulfilled and more edified I am. By denying myself, I meet Christ and in so doing, I live a happier, more fulfilling life.

To come full circle, I still love flying and would absolutely love to fly the F-22 Raptor or the F-18 Hornet or the F-14 Tomcat, but I think I will wait until the New Creation when Jesus is offering rides and where fireworks are shot from under the wings and where bombs are filled with flower petals. Oh, what a glorious day that will be! True peace, not a lie of what peace is.

Baptism

2009-07-25T16:29:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pictures from flying.I am getting dangerously close to being able to take my test (and hopefully pass), which means, I need to hit the books hard because I have been neglecting that more than I should. We will see how long it takes, but hopefully in the next month or so, I'll have my private pilot's license.

On a different note, in the past month, our church has baptized several little children. I kind of like it when the baby cries. :) I don't say that to be mean or anything of that sort, but isn't that what been washed by the blood of Christ is? Pain. In the Heidelberg Catechism, which is a great tool, it says that, "as surely as water washes away the dirt from the body, so certainly his blood and his Spirit wash away my soul's impurity," and then goes on to describe the washing of Christ's blood as atonement and to be washed by Christ's Spirit means that "the Holy Spirit has renewed me and set me apart to be a member of Christ so that more and more I become dead to sin and increasingly live a holy and blameless life." (Heidelberg Catechism, Q.A. 69-70).

Both of those describe pain. Christ suffered and died to give us atonement and send his Spirit. Now, we are dying to the sins in our lives, which is much more than scrubbing ourselves in the shower. It is a daily act of asking God to cut a piece of flesh from my sinful heart.

I love the description C.S. Lewis gives in "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." In the story, Eustace finds a treasure and his heart desires to hoard it all for himself. Well, he falls asleep and when he wakes up, he has become a dragon. "Sleeping on a dragon's hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart, he had become a dragon himself." To keep the long story short, Aslan comes to him and takes him to this pool to ease his pain but Aslan points out that he must undress Eustace before he could enter the pool. So, Eustace started scratching at his flesh and scales would come off until he could crawl out of his dragon skin, only to find, he was still covered by scales. He did this three times, but still was a dragon. Aslan said, "You will have to let me undress you."

Here, C.S. Lewis describes baptism of the Spirit, or sanctification, marvelously...

"I (Eustace) was afraid of his claws, but I was pretty hearly desperate now. So, I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it. The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure ofeeling the stuff peeel off...Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off and there is was, lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch...Then he caught hold of me...and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment...I turned into a boy again."

This short passage is chucked full of great stuff to bring out, but I wanted to emphasize the pain Eustace felt when Aslan was cleansing him. He clawed and tore at his very flesh until there wasn't a scale left on him and this is what we all need to allow Christ to do to us every day until we are clean. This is living a sanctified life. Sure, the baptism of Christ's blood instantly removes sin, but the baptism of the Christ's Spirit is a battle cry coming from the lungs of a crying child.

Story

2009-07-18T16:47:00.000-05:00

Here is a little story in one of our church newsletters a while back... I liked it.

This is a little story about four people: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done, and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

a whirlwind journey: in more ways than one!

2009-06-22T22:29:00.000-05:00

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I just had about a page written out and decided against it. So, you are getting the condensed version of a good weekend. A friend and I traveled to Chicago to visit some great friends. We spent the weekend talking, watching movies, going to garage sales and Bass Pro Shop, playing guitar hero, dominating in bags, playing volleyball, eating and through the baseball around. It was a great weekend of fellowship and I thank you for it and can’t wait until we do it again!

Also, on Friday, I traveled to Michigan to visit a mission aviation school and also Calvin Seminary. If you want to know more, ask or email me. I ask for your prayers in my decisions about the future and where God’s kingdom needs me more. Actually, I would very much like to hear your thoughts as well, so feel free to email me.

On the way home Sunday, we enjoyed great times of conversation and listening to sermons by John Piper, but when we got west of Albert Lea, we came across something. We could see ahead that some very heavy rain was falling and sure enough, in a matter of minutes, rain pummeled the Blazer. With the windshield wipers on high, water flew everywhere as we exited the interstate and found a place to park. The monsoon continued. In 2 or 3 minutes, an all to familiar sound was heard: the high pitch wine of tornado sirens and also with that, the rain stopped.

I decided not to sit and wait for the storm and we left and only a few miles down the road, we saw the culprit. There, on the left side of the interstate, a funnel cloud slowly descended towards the earth, rotating as it went. Pulling over, we watched it come all the way to the ground and rotate in a leaning spiral out into the fields and within a few minutes, the tornado dissipated as quickly as it had come down. All in all, a sweet sight.

Here are a few pictures!

Wish you were there...

2009-06-01T22:19:00.000-05:00

No words or descriptions except sunset at the tail end of a thunderstorm. Enjoy.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Yet, it is nothing like being there... thunder rumbling, colors changing second by second revealing a new painting at every glance.

I wish you could have been there.

Rebuilding

2009-05-16T15:31:00.000-05:00

God truly is the great craftsman. With the warming temperatures, I decided it is time to get the Goldwing fully fixed up. So, I have been hacking away at it taking bolts and screws out and sanding down the parts in order to get them repainted.

Above is a picture of the Goldwing with various parts and pieces scattered on the floor of the garage. It's amazing how big the pile gets and what a mess it makes when you start taking things apart. The statement is true that things get worse before they get better.

This Goldwing used to be a complete, well working machine. The paint matched and all the pieces were in the right place. Then, there was an accident, causing much damage to the vehicle. Fiberglass shattered, metal bent and paint chipped. Now, as the owner, I have the task of pulling off the bad parts and replacing them with new; taking a hammer and beating bars back into place; sanding and grinding pieces until they are ready to be painted and put back where they belong. One day, the Goldwing will look the way it did before, but it can be a long process.

While working on this project with my dad the past few days, I thought about humans and I think I understand Jeremiah's picture of the potter and the clay a little bit better, except in a different concept.

We (as a human race) were at one time right with God, created good and full of beauty. Then, there was an "accident" and we are now damaged and broken, yet God saw us as valuable enough to take us and work on us as a craftsman fixing, say, a motorcycle. Throughout our lives, God takes the broken pieces of us and rips them off. A few screws loose here; brackets to bend back in place there; sanding, scraping, bending. It, this thing we call life, can be a painful process where, during years of our lives, God may be bending us back into shape. He may be scraping dirt out of our flesh or he may be sanding scrapes and gouges off our hearts. It hurts, but the end product will be so much better. Each day, each year, piece by piece, we will be shined up more and more as God removes our bad parts and replaces them with shining beautiful pieces. In the end, we will all be full and complete again, the way God wants us to be; shining as we stand in the glory of the Son.

The best part is, we are all works in progress and we will all hit the "paint shop" at the same time. On that last day, when the trumpet sounds, and the sky rolls back and the Son of Man descends from the heavenly throne room, I picture him holding a paint gun, smiling and saying, "are you ready for your final clear coat?"

Holiday

2009-05-09T21:05:00.000-05:00

Moon over the lake- 5:15 a.m.

Sleeping by the fire

Sunrise

The biggest holiday in Minnesota happened today: The Walleye Opener. It is a day where every angler of any age heads out to a local lake to try their hand at catching Minnesota's most prized fish. There are many fanatics who will be out on the water at midnight hoping to catch the first fish of the season. Well, we didn't get out that early because of some other details.

Last night, some friends and I helped chaperon the high school after-prom party here in town. It was a lot of fun to hang out with friends, talk with people I hadn't seen for a long time and meet some new people. At the after-prom, there are a bunch of different games for the students to play and we were in charge of running those games and the party lasted from about midnight until 3 in the morning. Since we were up at that time, we decided to go and fish. So, at 4 a.m., we piled in the pickup and headed for the lake.

Above are some pictures from the day. It was a long, but fun day. After all was said and done, we were up all night, with a few naps around the fire.

The worst part: no fish. I did catch a clam though.

2009-05-05T19:43:00.000-05:00

Nature amazes me.

Yesterday, I watched as a Robin bounced across the lawn, taking a break here and there to cock his head and listen. He stood as still as a statue and then one more bounce... listen. With a quick jab into the grass, his beak came out with a nice, juicy earthworm. This process was repeated several times.

On the Discovery Channel, I watched part of a show telling about animals and spring time. Two bear cubs rolled around in the grass, wrestling as brothers. One pushed the other over and ran off into the brush, quickly persued by his brother. Two bears so innocent and cuddly eventually will grow up to be one of the most feared beasts in the U.S.; and best fishermen.

Driving home from Bible study, lightening lit up the night sky. All would be dark, then a flash and the texture of height of the clouds would be illuminated for a split second, only to be lost again. More energy is stored up in those clouds than an atomic bomb.

Along with this, the fresh smell of rain. In my opinion, one of the best smells on the face of the earth. I'm convinced that fresh rain smell, is what God smells like.

I long for the day to hear the robins secret, to wrestle those bears, to understand lightening and to smell the fresh rain in the clothes of God Almighty.

Oh what a day that will be!

Update and Silence

2009-04-18T22:17:00.000-05:00

An interesting 24 hours. That's all I have to say.

Okay, maybe not. Actually, it wasn't that interesting, just a lot of good things.

Yesterday, on Friday, I went to do some more flying. The last 3 times I have gone, all we have done is takeoffs and landings, which is great because those two things are kind of important. Anyway, last night, we did 3 takeoffs and landings. After the third one, my instructor told me to taxi back to the hanger. I knew what was coming... and I was excited.

Well, we got back there and he opened the door.
"All right, now go and fly 3 touch and gos by yourself."

With that, I taxied back to the runway, took off and flew alone for the first time. It was great! I flew the Cessna 150 around the traffic pattern, lined up with the runway and made a perfect landing... 4 times. It truly was a blessed night!

As for today, I slept in, made a table, started another project until the belt sander broke with no parts to fix it, switched my fishing rods back for summer fishing and then went out and used them. All in all, a good day.

I've been thinking about many things, as usual. One of them has been silence. We live in a world of noise. Even as I sit by the computer, the dryer is tumbling upstairs, the fan in the computer hums softly and my fingers press the keys down, but besides that, I hear no sound. Even that, to most people, is too quiet. How often do we have music on or the tv? Honestly, when was the last time you sat in a place where no sound could be heard?

"Is there such a place?" I can hear many people say.

We are conditioned, in our culture, to hate silence. If the silent prayer goes too long before the organ plays "Lord, Listen to you children praying" people start rustling around and a choir of coughs comense. If we are home alone, the radio is always on or the tv, even though we may not be listening or watching. We are conditioned to hate silence.

Silence is a scary place. In this place, our own minds speak louder than we ever could imagine. We visit every conversation and every thought from the day. We think about our problems and are forced to interact with our emotions. In silence, we truly see or hear who we are.

I have been thinking how a lack of silence affects our Christian walk with each other and God Almighty. Some wonder why we don't feel God and why we don't hear his voice and why we don't see people do mighty things in the name of Jesus. I think, much of it comes down to silence. We don't take the time to quiet our minds and our hearts to hear God's voice. We are too scared to enter that space for fear of what my own mind might convict me of and also what God might say to me.

The story of Elijah on Mt. Sinai is the most striking example. There was wind, an earthquake and fire but the Lord was in none of them. "And after the fire came a gentle whisper...Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:12-13).

Stories of silence are everywhere in scripture, but the ones that strike me most are the ones involving Jesus. How many times do the gospels tell us that Jesus went to a place of solitude to pray, or, he got up before the sunrise to go out and pray. My favorite example of this is in Luke 6:12. Read it sometime. Jesus, the Son of God Most High, goes out by himself, and prays all night... not a 5 minutes or 1 minute... but all night! This entire night of prayer is focused on who he should choose as apostles. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, stayed up all night praying about a decision he had to make! He spent hours in silence and meditation seeking the guidance of God, his Father.

What am I missing out on by cheating myself of the time of silence? What is God waiting to say to me, if only I take the time and listen?

2009-04-16T08:17:00.001-05:00

With warm weather, melting snow and a short drizzle of rain yesterday, the grass is gaining a green-ish tint to it. Signs of spring are in the air and it is wonderful. At work, we have been shingling or on the roof for almost 2 weeks. This has it's pros and cons. The pros are we are getting the shingling done before it is 90 degrees. The cons are, well, we are on the roof. Waking up this morning, my body definitely told me what we have been doing.

This past weekend we celebrated Easter and quite often, when reading the stories of the Bible, my eyes fly through them and I don't stop and visualize what is going on. Other books use language to describe the look on someone's face or to describe the scene around them, but the Bible is a story book that doesn't give all those details. We are given the basics. This almost creates, in me, a sense of disconnectedness. It doesn't seem real. Yet, at other times, the story becomes more real than I ever could have imagined.

I've included the lyrics of a song our choir sang recently. It is one of my favorite songs and it helped me visualize the story of Jesus this Easter.

Oh, to see the dawn of the darkest day.
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
torn and beaten then,
nailed to a cross of wood.

This the power of cross.
Christ became sin for us.
He took the blame, bore the wrath.
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see the pain written on your face.
Bearing the awesome weight of all my sins.
Every bitter thought. Every evil deed.
Crowning your blood stained brow.

This the power of cross!
Christ became sin for us!
He took the blame and bore the wrath.
We stand forgiven at the cross!

Now the daylight flees, now the ground beneath,
quakes as it's maker bows his head.
Curtain torn in two, dead are raised to life.
Finished! The victory cry!

This the power of the cross!
Christ became sin for us!
He took the blame and bore the wrath!
We stand forgiven at the cross!

Oh to see my name written in the wounds.
For through your suffering, I am free!
Death is crushed to death!
Life is my to live!
Born through your selfless love!

This the power of the cross!
Son of God, slain for us!
What a plan, what a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross!

2009-04-01T11:42:00.000-05:00

I'm finding that I don't have a lot to write about. Usually I am thinking about stuff all day, but when I get home, I don't think about sharing my thoughts. They stay in my head. As for events going on in my life, well, there really isn't a whole lot happening. I am doing carpentry 5 days a week and flying as much as possible.

Actually, right now, I have been looking at and thinking about going to flight school this fall. My whole life, I had been enthralled with flying but have never pursued it until a couple months ago. Mission Aviation is something I'm looking at and so, I'm exploring my options with how to pursue that better. Moody Bible Institute in Spokane, WA is an option, but there are a few others around the country.

Who knows what will happen.

The moon

2009-03-16T18:56:00.000-05:00

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Friday night, I went out to look at the stars. I needed some time to reflect and take in some of God's beauty and what better way to do it than to look to the heavens. The night was calm and warm, still cooling off from the days heat (it reached about 50 degrees). Orion and The Big Dog still rode high in the sky and constellations like Cassiopia and the Big Dipper continued on their northern circuit. With my binoculars, I could see the stars clearer and closer. There were nebula to see along with star clusters. Truly, the heavens are amazing to behold if we actually take the time to look.

After I was there a little while, I glanced to the east and noticed an orange line on the horizon. "What is that?" In about a minute, I figured out it was the moon. It's huge arch continued to break out of the earth's crust and rise behind the windmills, into the heavens. The moons size (or apparent size) was huge and orange. Looking through my binoculars, I could see clearly the craters and mountains of the moon. Warm are flowed between me and the moon causing its edges to move like waves on a lake. Slowly, the moon climbed higher and higher. It was a great time of praise. God truly has made an awesome creation!

Beautiful Day

2009-03-08T22:09:00.000-05:00

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Today was a day of strange weather. The day started off cool, some might say cold. The gray clouds hung low and the weather man had predicted snow. Sure enough, during church some snow did fall, but upon walking home, the temperature was very comfortable. Actually, within and hour, most the snow had melted and in a couple more hours, clear blue skies roamed overhead and the temperature soared. Seeing the weather warm rejuvinated a desire to ride motorcycle. So, I had to.

A couple weeks ago, I tore most of the busted parts off the Goldwing and am now getting more serious about fixing it up before the warm weather is here to stay. As of right now, it is "ridable," and today, I took advantage of the weather to fire up the engine and burn out the winter cold. As the engine rumbled the street called my name. I had to go for a ride. I popped the Wing in gear and took off down the street. Now, I didn't go very far because it is highly illegal at this point.

1. no license plate
2. if it did have a license plate, the tags are expired
3. no tail light
4. no blinkers
5. I had no eye protection

With all this said, I only rode a couple of blocks, but even in those blocks, I yearned to hit the highway, get up to speed and go somewhere. The Goldwing has not been ridden anywhere since that day in Colorado and I am waiting for the day to ride comes again.

Below are a few pictures of what it looks like now. I took it apart and cleaned up the chrome, so actually, it looks pretty good right now.

Changing Seasons

2009-02-13T22:19:00.000-06:00

Lately, we have been having un-seasonably warm days. It has been above freezing and pushing 40 degrees most of this past week. Now, I love the changing of the seasons just as much as anyone else, it's just that I don't like getting my hopes up when it is still February. Remember last year? Yeah.

Seeing all the snow melt, made me remember how much I hate this part of "spring." A few days ago, it got to the point where all the snow was brown and crusty and the melting snow revealed mud along with the dead plants. Truly, it is depressing to look at such a muddy, filthy spectacle. And, as with everything else, it got me thinking.

In our lives, we tend to get caught up in the ways of life and habitual sins. We try to make things look good outside, but underneath, no life exists. White snow covers everything. We lose focus on the things that matter and things get colder and colder. This to me is kind of like winter about a month after New Years. The snow and cold is still there, but there isn't much to look forward to. It's dead and no rhythm to life.

Then, something happens and we pray to God to bring us back to a new life with him. Yet, at this point, it seems like things get worse and worse, like the nice white snow, melting and showing the true death underneath it. Now, the "badness" is out and we are confronted by the filth that has infiltrated our lives: a stinking, brown mess that looks impossible to clean up. This seems to be a breaking point of whether to press on or whether to fall back into "winter." In the movie, "The Dark Knight," there is a line that states, "The night is always darkest before the dawn." The context is that someone said things were worse at that point than ever before and they wanted to quit. Well, the leader stepped up and said the above line, pushing people to press on because the dawn is coming. To me, this "early spring" is that point.

If we press on, God continues to call and pull us though and as refreshing rains come, slowly, the filth is washed away and the dead plants underneath come to life. Out of the garbage, green plants begin to sprout, trees bud and flowers form. A new life is in the air and creatures come out of their slumber. A resurrection occurs.

I haven't thought about how fall fits in with this. I think this is where the comparisons stop. :)

wedding and flight

2009-02-09T18:40:00.000-06:00

My flight training began a few weeks ago and the above airplane is the same model as the one I am training in. It is a Cessna 150. Flying is something I absolutely love! This past Friday morning, I was able to go and fly for about an hour. We took off and flew around doing different turns, climbs, decents and even stalls. It was a great time and really made me want to get flying even more often!

In other, and much more exciting news, my sister got married this weekend! It was a great time setting up, taking pictures and seeing the service. We, as a family, had a great time together; at time that was greatly blessed.

Communion

2009-01-25T12:04:00.001-06:00

Today we partook of communion in our church. When I was younger, I always thought of communion as a solemn act of reflection about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It seemed dark and gloomy; not many people smiled or even looked up from the bread and "wine" (grape juice). The focus seemed to be on the first "Lord's Supper" on the night of Jesus betrayal and death. That night was very solemn and dark. It does need to be reflected on because we need to remember what agony Jesus went through for us on that night, but I don't think we can stay there.

A couple years ago, I read a book by Henri Nouwen, which the title escapes me at this point. I think it was, "Can you drink the cup I drink?" Anyway, at one point in the book, he talks about the cup, symbolizing Jesus' blood, as the cup of victory. Ater that night, Jesus blood was shed for the salvation of all of creation and it is a solemn, sobering act. Yet, look to his last breath. It is one of victory, "It is finished!" In this act, Jesus had won the war with Satan. In a few days, he would conquer death as the last enemy. The victory of Christ was so complete that it's sound has repercussions that blast through all time and all space: a shock wave the covers all of creation, now and forevermore, in a chance of sanctification. THAT Victory is what we celebrate at the Lord's Supper.

Today, as the Pastor said the words, "Take. Drink. Remember and believe that the precious blood of Christ was shed for the complete forgiveness of all our sins," I did as Nouwen suggested and lifted my glass a little higher in a toast and said, "Here is to Christ, the victorious Lamb, bottom's up!" A toast of humiliation, of confession, of forgiveness and of victory!

Some day, I picture the great banquet. When all the followers of Jesus Christ are gathered in the city of God at a great banquet. Food will line the tables and bread and wine will be present. The Lamb that was Slain will walk in and every voice will shout with a roar and every glass will be held at arms length, high, "to the Lamb that was Slain! Victory!"

Victory.

Porches

2009-01-21T21:36:00.000-06:00

Tonight was a beautiful night. It was about 25 degrees and no wind. Now, that is an extremely uncommon thing in Minnesota and I thought I would take advantage and go for a walk. At college, I went for a lot of walks, praying and thinking, but for whatever reason, I don't do that here.

Anyway, as I was walking, many thoughts and many prayers passed through my lips and I started looking at houses. Almost all the houses were dark except for a glow from the t.v. No lights on outside and not many on inside. I also looked at how houses were made. In about a mile and half of walking, there were two houses with front porches on them.

You say, "So what?" and I would too, except for that fact that I have talked about this with a few people. It used to be that people had front porches and would sit out in the evening, greeting people as they walked past. Now, I know, this isn't logical in winter, but bear with me. There was a sense of community. Guitars being played, conversations had and people laughing with each other.

Now, front porches have retreated to back patios, inviting lights have morphed to dull, dark windows. Only a slight glow from the t.v. shines through. Why? Because it's easy. It is easy to sit down in the recliner, push the power button and not have to worry about entertaining people.

Is t.v. in it of itself, bad? No. Can T.V. and movies be social times? Absolutely. But, honestly, why do most people sit in front of the tv on a week night?

Just a few thoughts and some things I am asking myself.

Return

2009-01-18T19:40:00.000-06:00

This weekend, a group of us went ice fishing. It is a trip that I look forward to all year and it always goes way too fast: this year was no different. We leave on a Wednesday evening and fish all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday; driving home on Sunday. The evenings are filled with relaxation, joking around and sleep.

This year, the weather was somewhat better than other years. Thursday held a high temp of about -11 and Friday morning was -38, but warmed up to 9 and Saturday was warmer, but it blew really hard.

A few more pictures. Sorry, no fish pictures, even though we did very well fishing.

Ice Fishing

2009-01-13T22:06:00.000-06:00

Some call me crazy, others say only one person does it and others say, "You do what?!" Wednesday, I embark on a journey to the northern confines of Minnesota, aka, "The Holy Land." Here, the water is clear, trees roam free and darkness reveals the true majesty of a crystal layer of snow and starry night combination. In this wonderland, ice fishing will commence.

This is a trip that I look forward to every year. Truly, I wish every one of you had the opportunity to ice fish and really partake in the beautiful aspects of it. A lot of times, (depending on who you are with) catching fish isn't necessarily the point. Great conversations can flow freely or authentic prayer times where the only sound around is the light flapping of the tarp on the ice house. If a person stays until after dark on a clear night, some of the best starry sky's can be seen from the ice, arising a moment of awe.

I hope all of you get an opportunity to go sometime and if you want to go, feel free to get a hold of me.

Local Poverty

2009-01-10T13:44:00.000-06:00

I did a young people's lesson this week and for part of a it, I looked up some stats on poverty in this area...

Poverty line for the United States of America, which basically means that if a person makes this much or less per year, they are considered impoverished...
single person- $10,787
Family of 4- $21,027

Poverty rate in Edgerton- 5% or 49 people
Luverne- 8.8% or 392 people
Pipestone- 9.7% or 397 people
Sioux Falls- 10.4% or 15,757 people

Also, numbers on people living on less than half the poverty line in our area...

Luverne- 3.3% or 147 people
Pipestone- 2.2% or 90 people
Sioux Falls- 4.2% or 6,363 people

That means that in Sioux Falls, there are over 6,000 people living on less than $5,000 a year.

Food for thought. Motivation for action. Because thought without action is pointless.

Prison and the working of Jesus

2008-12-29T23:45:00.000-06:00

It is way too late and I am actually kind of sick, so I should be sleeping, but I wanted to blog a few thoughts.

This Friday, I went to the Sioux Falls State Penitentiary. There are some amazing things happening there and since I started going, it has been quite a changing experience. There are several guys that I know quite well by this point. One of them, was diagnosed with a heart condition where there is nothing doctors can do and they give him a couple months to live. He has become a leader in this church and continues to teach lessons there, which is awesome, yet he is very alone and yearns for companionship. His story really is amazing from where he was to where he is now and now what he has to face.

Another man, told me that he woke up earlier this week and said "coming to prison has been the best thing that happened to me." I have heard that a lot from several inmates because in that prison is where they found Christ. There are some great stories to here.

Now, there are a lot of problems with the prison system and they definitely don't do what most "conservatives" hope they do which is to deter people from crimes. That's a crock. But, they are places where an amazing missionary opportunity presents itself and a few brave Christians have gone there to start these types of things. Praise Jesus that he can be found behind prison walls!!

Yet, why is it that so many of these men were turned off to the church? Why didn't they find Jesus in our churches or more importantly, why didn't they find Jesus in our Christians? Don't look at that person on the other side of the aisle or in that other church, look at yourself. I have to look myself in the mirror every day and ask, could someone see Jesus in me every moment of every day or do I do things that turn people off towards Jesus.

Babysitting

2008-12-24T19:20:00.000-06:00

This week, I am babysitting a dog, much like the one above. Today, I went out to feed him and was greeted at the door by a sniffing nose, longing eyes and a wagging rear end. He sniffed me to make sure I was safe and then wanted to go out to make sure that his territory was still marked. After attempting to mark my Blazer, he made his way to the tree and then back to me seeking attention. The whole time I was there, all the dog wanted was for me to pet him. He snuggled against my leg and shoved his nose into my coat wanting attention. As I stood by the door preparing to leave, he stood a couple feet back, looking at me with those sad brown eyes: no movement from the tail. Nothing like feeling loved.

As I sat petting the dog, I thought about Christmas and said to him, "Jesus came for you too." Does that sound weird? But he did. Sure, Christ came in a special way for humans because we were the ones who launched all of creation into death and decay and because we were also the ones set above creation to serve it and oversee it, but, he still did come for all of it. Often I think of Christ only coming to free me from my bondage to sin, but in reality, he came to free all of creation from it's bondage to decay. Tomorrow is a day of rejoicing for every created thing. All of creation, not just humans, will rejoice at the birth of the King!!

Fishing

2008-12-15T11:56:00.000-06:00

Winter, despite the date, has officially set in. Saturday was a beautiful day and I took advantage, going ice fishing for the first time of the year. The motorcycles and swimming suits were put away and the short rods, heaters and augers were cleaned off and prepared. Sitting on the ice reminded me of how relaxing ice fishing is: no hammers, no music, no voices. It was a beautiful day of about 35 degrees and I didn't even use and ice house. A 5 gallon bucket to sit on was just fine and even though I was only out there an hour, I returned relaxed.

This weekend also held a trip with friends to Sioux Falls to see "Quantum of Solice," which, surprising enough, I found a very good movie. There was a lot more going on, like defining Bonds character, than you usualy Bond movie. I enjoyed it.

Saturday night, the weather made a turn for the worse. The wind blew about 30 mph and the temp dropped. Today, we are not working because it is supposed to be a high of -5 degrees with 20-30 mph winds, making the wind chill somewhere between -30 and -40. Not good when you are working outside. So, today, relaxation as well as getting some other things done.

God bless you all!

Tim

Saturday...

2008-12-06T15:14:00.000-06:00

Saturday,
There is something beautiful about having a day where I don't have anything I NEED to do. Sure, there are plenty of things to get done and many of them do get done, but there is no schedule. It is something where I am not bound to the clock and where I can get things done in the time that it takes and not have to worry about it. I'm very thankful for Saturdays.

I made my first payments on my college loans. yay.

Tomorrow, I have to lead a lesson for the young people in my church. Hopefully, that goes well. The topic is going to be on getting out of our comfort zones and evangelism and what that means. We'll see what happens.

I was kind of down last night. Today, I was going to start my flying lessons. My words can't describe how excited I was to get started. Finally, after all these years, I am going to start the thing I wanted to do ever since I could remember! But, after work, I checked my email and was notified that today was not going to work... the excitement fell from my limbs. I have to wait another week? (sigh) Ok, I guess.

This week, we have been working about half an hour a way from home. On the way to and from work, we cross over I-90 and one day, I looked down at the cars running back and forth along the veins of the country and the trip was brought back to me. I do miss the feeling of the open road. I miss the wind, the destination and the trip: the smells, sights and sounds. My sight caught the horizon to the east and I thought of Boston and the Atlantic coast and then my gaze followed the asfalt to the west, and visions of the mountains and a sunset over the Pacific Ocean flooded into my memory.

Along with that, I "winterized" the Goldwing this week, at least partially. It hadn't run in almost 2 months, so I wanted to start it, warm the engine up and run some seafoam through it. After some messing around, exchanging batteries and jumpstarting, the engine fired. A cloud of blue smoke rolled out the tail pipes and then she purred like a kitten. Sound has a funny was of bringing back memories. Hearing that engine was like interacting with a friend you hadn't seen in years. The same familiar pur I had heard every day for 3 months and the life of the beast that had carried me around the country, now sprung through my ears once again. My eyes closed and I saw the mountains, winding roads, the ocean and deserts. The same smells, sights and sounds came to my ears as the sight of I-90. Off in the distance, the soft clanging of a buoy bell, bouncing on the ocean, could be heard over the slow crash of the waves...

Somewhat of an update

2008-11-29T18:11:00.000-06:00

It has been a long time since I have blogged. Maybe, there's not a lot going on, or maybe I just don't feel like sharing it or maybe, I'm just too lazy to write it all out... choose your verdict or create your own. :)

Currently, I am sitting by our kitchen on the bar stools, waiting for the wax to dry on my Blazer. The day has been spent doing many odd jobs around the house from cleaning to fixing to relaxing to waxing. It has been a nice day of tasks to accomplish.

By the way, for those of you who didn't make it to the presentation, it went pretty good. I got a lot of good feedback from people, so that is good. Afterward, I watched my dad's recording of it, and I was kind of bored watching the first part... what does that mean when I am bored watching my own presentation? Anyway, it went well and people seemed to enjoy it.

Thanksgiving... honestly... right now, I have many thoughts, but I need to get some wax off the Blazer. Stay tuned!

A Presentation

2008-11-19T21:27:00.000-06:00

For those of you who are still reading, and who care and who can make it, I will be doing a presentation on my trip at 8:15ish P.M. in 1st CRC, Edgerton, MN. There will be pictures and stories and quite a bit of time for questions. Come and listen and think of questions!

Tim

Sunset, fear and faith

2008-11-17T20:46:00.000-06:00

Today, it was cold. We worked in the snow and when we were driving home, the thermometer showed 24 degrees. It was a good day.
One wonderful thing about this time of year, is, as I have mentioned before, the ability to see the sun come up and the sun go down. Today, I was standing on the roof of a house watching the sun make it's last push to the horizon. The flames burned the sky, scorching clouds in reds and oranges. After cleaning up our tools and piling in the pickup, the drive home came. The sun, still in it's course below the horizon, continued to put on a show causing windmills and farmhouses to be silhouetted against it's dying brilliance. As I sat there, with the hum of the tires, the blowing warm air and the sound of country music in the background, I wondered how beauty like this could be orchestrated every day and yet not be the same as previous days. How could people believe it happens by accident? How could a world so steeped in brokenness, pain and destruction continually create breath-taking scenes? In my 3 months on the road this summer, I never stopped contemplating this point. Just in our small section of the world, there is unbelievable beauty, even in snow flakes gathering in the frozen mud of a farmplace.

Fear and Faith. This is another of many questions floating through the matter in my brain. I have heard many opinions about fear and faith and how the two fit together. My own opinions can only be based upon what I read in the Bible and what I have experienced in my own life. Some people will say that if you fear, then you have no faith, or at least, very little. I don't agree.

In the instances where God has asked me to do something, there is usually fear. This usually occurs because God asks me to do things outside my comfort zone and naturally, that produces fear in me. The times I obey, I feel like I was in the right, fear or not. To me, fear is something that makes me rely on God that much more because some of the things he has called me to do, there is no way I could have or would have ever done them. In this way, I know that it is only through God that I did those things. Otherwise, I could have made an argument that it was through MY will or MY power that I did them, but because of my fear, I know it was not I, but HIM.

Did David fear when he saw Goliath? Did Moses fear when he first stood before Pharoah? Did Elijah fear when he challenged the prophets of Baal on Mt. Caramel? Did Peter fear when imprisoned? Did Paul fear when he was being stoned?

I can't say for sure, but I know that they were all human, as we all are. Humans have fear and I believe it is something that drives us and makes us more reliant on God. We cannot deny something that is part of our makup as human beings. I will say this, as Christians, fear cannot be something that rules our lives, but it should be a motivator, a driving force to call on God, because when we do that, miracles happen, God works.

I get a picture of "Batman Begins." In the movie, Bruce Wayne is afraid of bats and there is a scene in the movie where he embraces that fear and chooses to push it on his enemies. He is in the soon to be "bat cave," and scares the bats with a light. The start fluttering and squealing and he falls to the ground in fear. But, he falls on what he has learned about himself and slowly begins to stand up in defiance and in absorbing his own fear. It is something he recognizes, acknowledges, and uses as a driving force to battle evil.

Maybe as James says "I'll show you my faith by what I do," I should say, "I'll show you my faith through my fear." Maybe that doesn't make sense. Heresy? Ah, there need to be a few heretics to liven things up... right?

Dreams

2008-11-12T21:53:00.000-06:00

I couldn't find a good picture for this post. I'm sorry.

Every night, I dream. Actually, I can't remember the last night I haven't had a dream. It's kind of weird and I don't really get it, but that's the way it is.

Last night, I had one of those dreams that was so real, I woke up wondering if it actually happened. Now, a full day after having the dream, it's impressions on me have dulled and I don't remember as much, but i remember the basics and some of the thoughts I had.

In this dream, I was partaking in some illegal activity that no one else knew about. I don't know exactly what I was doing. Towards the end of the dream, the cops found out as well as everyone I knew and I was so ashamed of what I had done. They came to a building that I was in and I tried to hide, but eventually had to turn myself over to them. I remember seeing faces and feeling the disappointment of the people around me. It was heart wrenching! Right before I woke up, I sat awaiting the verdict of what was to happen.

Then, I woke up with two thoughts planted in my head. The first thought held the truth of God, my Father, knowing and perceiving every hateful, perverse, non-God honoring thought and action, whether it was private or public. He knows everything that goes on and some day, I will have to stand before his throne and give account for all of those.

The second thought planted was that of the punishment. It was almost a vision of me standing before Christ and him looking into my eyes with an unblinking gaze filled with strain and yet deep affection. No words came, but just a knowledge of what he accomplished.

After waking up and letting these "thoughts" soak in, I fell to my knees in humility of my "badness" and yet in praise of ... well, my King and his gift.

It's my life...

2008-11-10T19:29:00.000-06:00

Greetings all!
Winter is here. Last week, the weather was crazy, as many of you know, since you live here. Monday and Tuesday, we were working outside in short sleeve t-shirts. Well, by Thursday night, snow began to fly and Friday was a day of wet sloppy snow causing ice to form on the roads. As of right now, it is in the teens and snow covers the ground. Oh, fall.

This weekend, I went down to Dordt to visit a bunch of people. It was a great time hanging out and talking with people. Pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday were spent walking around and socializing. Sunday, I went to the church I went to my whole time at Dordt and it was awesome to be back there. Honestly, being there really made me miss it a lot. I miss the people, the college atmosphere, the schedule, the ministry... pretty much, the college life in general. It was something I knew I missed a lot, but I kind of forgot about... you know how time dulls your mind to the way things were.

Now that I'm home, that transition is setting in a little more. For most of my memorable life, it has been a cycle of school, summer, school, summer. Now, that cycle is broken and a new phase of the journey kicks in and I'm trying to figure out exactly what that path looks like. How do I continue to minister in Edgerton? How do I fit flying in with my schedule and where exactly will that lead? At this point, many questions continue to fly and I guess, there are answers somewhere down the path.

Decisions...

2008-11-02T22:14:00.000-06:00

Decisions, Decisions...
Quite often, it seems like the picture above is so true. I know I almost always feel like I made the wrong decision whether it deals with construction or friends or life in general. Yet, decisions have to be made and the consequences, good or bad, must be lived with.

I have a few decisions to make in the near future. Currently, I am doing carpentry full time and I am hoping to start taking flying lessons in a couple of weeks to a month. The main decisions coming up step from how I want to be, or feel called to be, involved in this community. I have been approached by my high school to apply to coach the freshman basketball team. I think it would be a lot of fun working with high school students and being involved in that way, yet practice would be right in the middle of my afternoon of carpentry. I need work, to pay for my flying lessons. I also want to get involved in my home church and minister there. So, it seems like I need to make a decision about how much I can juggle and still be able to take flying lessons, which is one of my top priorities.

A week from Monday is when I need to let the school know whether I will coach or not. I am torn because I think it would be sweet and a great opportunity to minister, even though I'm not sure how good of a coach I would make. Yet, it is at a really bad time for work and flying lessons, which I was also hoping to do during the week.

That is one of the big decisions in my mind right now: how to manage my time and where do I feel called to minister?

Any suggestions? Thoughts? Observations?

In other news, the insurance company totaled out my motorcycle, but I bought it back and we settled on a price, so I got a good sized check yesterday. Fix up to follow.

Friday, I went to the prison to hang out with the inmates. Man did I miss that. Anyone want to come along in the future?

The weekend held warm temps, motorcycle rides, a little work and some ups and downs, joys and frustrations in church. Again, there is something here that just bugs me, but I can't put my finger on it.

Anyway, I have to pray and get to bed. Work comes tomorrow morning. May God continue to bless you all!

Tim

2008-10-28T18:53:00.000-05:00

No I did not take that picture.

The past couple days have been good. This morning, I woke up in the dark, as usual, and got ready for work. Well, it had frozen pretty hard last night and I thought it would be cold outside. It was about 22 degrees or something like that, but once we got to work, it was a beautiful morning with no wind at all. The sun started to rise, lighting the few clouds that were in the sky with a light shade of pink and eventually, the golden orange curl of the sun came over the horizon. That is one nice thing about getting to work before sunrise... every day we are outside (and it is clear) we get to see the sunrise. Just another blessing!

Today, it warmed up to the mid 50s or so. Upon arriving at home, the motorcycle was calling my name, so I decided to answer. I fired one of them up and got down and buzzed around town for a few minutes and then shot north out of town, putting a few miles of road behind me. It brought back the trip and it really hit me how much I miss traveling by motorcycle and seeing country. It guess that could be part of the mourning process of a change in life. Anyway, with winter approaching, I better ride as much as I can because soon, the cycles will have to rest for the winter. Sad day. On the other hand, that also means the ice fishing equipment comes out... yay! Oh, dilemmas!

A welcomed encounter

2008-10-24T21:25:00.000-05:00

I am now the happiest I have been in a while. I don't mean that I have been sad or depressed or anything, but that "higher" happiness after a great conversation.

Tonight, I went to the apartements in town and visited an elderly woman that I have known since high school. It was something I meant to do all week, but didn't for various, not so good, reasons. It's amazing how Satan can distract my mind even though I know exactly what God wants me to do.

Anyway, it was an encounter where we talked about family, prosperity, problems, God's leading, creation and a host of other topics. Sitting there, I wondered about her past and what she was like when she was my age. I also wondered, when I am in my upper 70s to 80, if I would have a friend who was in his 20s that would come and talk with me. It is interesting to think about how God has used me to touch her and also her to touch me and we are 50 to 60 years different in age.

So often, we think of God's "mission" work to be spreading the gospel off in a corner of the world with people who aren't as "fortunate" as we are. There are people who are called to that, but for the majority of the Christian population, is it only writing checks and attending church services? I could not have felt more in the will of God than I was tonight.

Who knows? Someone, who won't be born for another 30-40 years, may be used by God to come and visit with me and we can mutually encourage each other. Who knows? Well, only one does...

The Transition

2008-10-19T20:47:00.000-05:00

I have now been in Edgerton about 12 days. Since returning home, I relaxed and unpacked and attempted to wrap up my trip, which is an ongoing process. Also, a week of work is in the books and a couple weekends of hanging out with family and friends. It has been very good to be home.

Really, my transition to living back in Edgerton has been pretty easy and I think that is because I was so ready to get home. This week though, I thought about it some more and it is weird to think that this is my life for the next few years. For 17-18 years of my 23 years on earth have been a process of school, Christmas break, school, summer break, over and over again. There was change every few months. Now, I find myself looking at a future of "normal" life and I don't think it has really set in yet.

In reality, it excites me and scares me at the same time. Discontentment might set in and a search for more adventure might take a hold of me to the point where I want to leave, but really can't. On the other hand, God's work, here, in Edgerton and the surrounding area has been and continues to excite me. There is an amazing opportunity to serve here and I just pray God gives me a clearer picture of what that looks like.

So, I continue to think and feel my way through this transition. My devotions have taken somewhat of a hit since getting home and I have felt somewhat disconnected from God. Hopefully, that gets better soon.

God bless you all!

Tim

A time of thought

2008-10-11T09:24:00.000-05:00

I have now slept in the same bed for 3 nights in a row. One more, and that will be the longest I have been in one place since July 1-5. It feels kind of weird to be back.

Actually, my whole life, after reading stories such as the Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings, I always wondered what it would be like for those people to go on such a grand adventure and see amazing things, but then return to where they live and go back to normal life. For example, in C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe," the 4 children fight wars, become kings and queens and do all these amazing things, then they are back to ordinary life.

By no means was my adventure quite like theirs. There were no orcs trying to kill me, no ring to destroy, no battles against the white witch... yet, on the other hand... Satan was there, trying to discourage me, Jesus (Aslan) was also there whispering encouragement: part of me was lost, part of me was found anew...

As of now, I am in a transition time that most college graduates have gone through already. I am going to start work on Monday, the college loans come due in about a month and reality is reminding me that this is where I am going to live for at least a couple years. It's exciting and scary at the same time. I haven't lived, year around, in a place since high school, so it will be a new adjustment, but, I think, one that I will welcome.

Although, who knows when the open road will start a' knockin'...

Pictures

2008-10-08T21:22:00.000-05:00

Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
Here are some pictures of Rocky Mountain National Park, the accident and the Black Hills. Enjoy!

Link to Pictures :)

I'm planning on keeping the blog going for whatever thoughts and experiences come to mind, so you can keep reading if you wish. Otherwise, I would like to, again, thank all of you for your prayers throughout the entire trip. I feel like God richly blessed it! It may not have gone as I was originally planning, but many things happened and I met many people!

Some stats will come in a later post. And as for the mileage guesses, I'm still trying to decide what to do with that because, well, the cycle didn't make it the whole way back...

God bless you all!

Tim

Home... good ol' Minnesota!

2008-10-08T11:20:00.000-05:00

Home!
After 95 days on the road, driving through all kinds of weather conditions and landscapes, I have arrived back in the corn and bean fields of southwest Minnesota! It is kind of surreal to believe I am back here after all the places I have been in the last 3 months and yet, sitting in my living room and seeing Edgerton, it feels like I have never left.

After the accident on Friday, I had an opportunity to spend time with relatives in Evans, CO which was a great time and for their kindness, I can never thank them enough. On Sunday, my parents came down and picked me and the motorcycle up and from there, we made our way to Rapid City, SD Sunday night. It was so good to see my parents as well! I hadn't seen them in a month and a half and even though we talked every night on the phone, almost, it was good to hug them and see their faces.

Monday was a day where we toured Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore, the Needles Highway and Spearfish Canyon. All of which were excellent, even if it was done in the pickup. Then, Tuesday held the drive across South Dakota back home.

I still have much reflecting to do on the trip, but here marks another change in my life where I will actually be in the same place for quite some time and where I must try to discern where God wants me to do his kingdom work here and in what manner to do it. There is so much work to do!

I have been very disappointed the last few days of not being able to ride the motorcycle all the way back, but also thinking about it, God provided blessing upon blessing through the accident and the next few days. I still fight my disappointment, but as someone said to me, it feels better when we can look to God working through what happened and see his hand guiding every step of the way.

Well, I have much work to do to wrap the trip up, settle back in and get all the insurance stuff taken care of. If you are around, stop in. I'm home!
Pictures of Rocky Mountain National Park and the accident will get posted pretty soon, so stay in tune for those!

God bless you all and I can not thank you enough for all your prayers in the past 3 months. I'm convinced that they saved my life and brought the opportunities that they did.

Again, May God bless you all!

Tim

An unexpected end...

2008-10-04T15:57:00.001-05:00

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I write to you now with a little different spirit and I'm not exactly sure what to say but here it goes...

All your prayers from the beginning of the trip to this point have culminated. I can now say that I have survived a motorcycle accident, and done so with one scratch and a sore neck.

Yeah, you read that right... I had a motorcycle accident, but am in as good of health as I could have expected.

Here's the story... yesterday (Friday), I was coming down from Estes Park, CO after some sweet sightseeing in the mountains. I was following a Honda CR-V and thinking about how sweet Hondas are. Well, there was also a car behind me and we were going around a curve to the right. I looked away for a split second and looked back and the Honda was braking to turn left. No big deal. I stepped on the brakes and started moving right to go around and get out of the way of the cars behind me. As I was moving to the right of the Honda, I got nailed from behind and scraped alongside the passenger side of the Honda before coming to a stop and falling over on the pavement. I was on the cycle the whole time until it stopped, so that was good. The first thing I thought was, "Man! There goes the trip!" And that really frustrated me.

There is so much to write about it that I don't even know what to include. I got up and walked around, pretty mad about the trip being over, but I soon collected myself, got my wallet and license and registration and found my camera under the vehicle that I hit and took some pictures of everything. Within 5 minutes, 4 RNs had stopped. The fire department was first on the scene and they directed traffic. God really brought some awesome people to my aid. There were some people from across the street who had a camper they were trying to sell. They opened it up and let me put all my stuff in it and I parked the bike at their place last night. There were also some awesome people from Greeley, CO that helped me collect everything and they even went back up with me today to get the cycle.

This accident was so covered with the grace of God that I can't even begin to describe. Ask me about it some time. To me, that is all your prayers for me... I am ok...the perfect people were there at the perfect time... I had relatives close by...
One of the state troopers even said that it is unheard of for there to be a 3 vehicle accident, with one of them being a motorcycle and no one to be hurt. "It doesn't happen." he said. That is your prayers working.

As for what I am thinking, well, I can't express how frustrated I am that I won't be able to finish the trip on the Goldwing. Tomorrow was when I was supposed to meet my dad in the Black Hills and ride there for a couple days. Then, we were going to ride back home on Tuesday together. Again, I can't express how excited I was to ride those last 2 hours home where I knew the roads. In that sense, I feel like something was taken from me. But, on the other hand, I met some awesome Christian people up there. The people that hit me weren't Christian. I had a little opportunity to talk to them about that, but not much. Pray for them.

As you can tell, I'm not even formulating thoughts that well. There are just too many details that I want to tell you about, but just can't include everything. Sorry for the stream of consciousness writing.

As for the rest of the trip, my parents are coming out to Evens, CO to pick me up. Instead of meeting my dad in the black hills, he and my mom are coming here with the pickup to get me and the cycle. Then, we still plan on going through the Black Hills and then drive home on Tuesday.

I guess, my "motorcycle" trip is officially over, even thought I am not home. The rest of the journey will be in a pickup. I might blog some more in the next few days and I'm sure I will keep typing every now and then afterwards. Reflection will always be good. After that, who knows? I might keep blogging with thoughts or questions.

Anyway, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for all your prayers because they defintely saved me, not only yesterday, but throughout the entire trip. Please thank God for the successful journey, my safety, the safety of the other drivers and thank him for how everything played out. Also, pray for the couple that hit me, as they weren't believers.

I think that's it. Again, sorry for not having any flow to this blog. :)
God bless you all and see you soon!

Tim

Day 89...Approaching the home stretch

2008-10-01T11:26:00.000-05:00

Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
I have enjoyed a long break here in Denver with some awesome people, but now, I must be heading on. This afternoon, I plan on going to Rocky Mountain National Park and probably camping there two nights and hiking around a bit.

The time is drawing close for the trip to come to an end. I plan on being home about a week from now, which is really weird to think about. I have seen so many things and talked with so many different people, but sitting here and thinking about it, it doesn't feel like I have been away as long as I have. Yet, on the other hand, when I think back to being in New York and out in Acadia National Park in Maine and the struggles I went through at that point, it feels like an eternity ago.

I am super excited to get home and to see many of you again, but there will be part of me that will miss waking up every morning and wondering what adventures are in store for the day. Of course, there are adventures in all places and on every day, but I mean the adventures of getting on the motorcycle and driving some place new and talking with people I have never met and even bringing up religion with them. I will miss those things.

But, before I get to that point, there is still a week left where God may have doors open for me to talk with people. Please pray for those people and pray for me to live every day with my eyes focused on him.

God bless you all!

Tim

Pictures!!

2008-09-29T15:51:00.000-05:00

Greetings all!
I am still in Denver, CO and will still be here for a couple days. It has been awesome spending time with friends and actually relaxing! Yesterday, church began the day and then there was a sweet fishing excursion into the mountains where we caught a few trout and took in some beautiful scenery!

Well, here are a bunch of pictures. I quickly went through my pictures and selected a few of them. This is only a sample of what there is... enjoy!

Pictures 1

Pictures 2

Pictures 3

Pictures 4

A big day

2008-09-28T00:43:00.001-05:00

Greetings all!
Maybe I should give a prize to the person who guesses closest for the mileage I have when I get back home. I might do that... stay posted. (I see there is already one guess).

Today was quite a day. I woke up to frost once again and as I sat crunching on my Cocoa Roos and watching the sunrise over the mountains and seeing the trees ablaze with fall colors, my mind wandered and I began to reflect on God's promises of causing the seasons to come and go. It truly is a miracle, in this world of decay and pain that the sun never fails to rise and the trees never fail to change colors and spring never fails to sprout new life. Just a few thoughts.

Once my Cocoa Roos were down and the tent packed up, I drove over the pass and to the base of Grays Peak in Colorado. This was a mountain a group of us attempted to summit 2 years ago, but were turned back by a snowstorm. No sooner had I begun, then two men said I will never make it to the top because of snow and ice. Well, I decided to get as high as I could, enjoy the view and head down. I ascended higher and higher and met a few more people who had turned around, but once I got up to the mountain, I saw many people up there in the snow and again, I decided to see how high I could get. When all was said and done, I arrived at the summit in my nearly smooth sneakers, the same ones that carried me to the belly of the Grand Canyon and up to Mt. Rainier, and the view was awesome! Miles and miles of God's good creation were laid before my feet with rain and snow showers mixed in the scenery.

The night before, I had read Psalm 8 and sitting there, the words of vs. 3-4 stood out. Again, I read those verses and looked at that view and felt completely miniscule. But, then, I read vs. 5-8 and felt a great importance. As I sat, with Bible in hand, and reflected on that, a man noticed the Bible and asked me what scripture stood out in that place. So, I told him what I was thinking and he agreed wholeheartedly. It was a short but very sweet encounter atop my first ever 14ner.

I have many more thoughts and reflections, but I am tired. Now, I am in Denver area with some awesome people. This will be the first time I have stayed in one place two nights in a row since I was in Modesto, CA: over 2 weeks ago. So, it is a welcomed stop.

There is no good way to end this, so may God continue to bless you all as I have seen him do!

Tim

The furthest point...

2008-09-26T15:43:00.000-05:00

As I write to you now, I am taking a break in Rifle, Colorado. This marks the second time I have been in Colorado on this trip and I am very excited because this time means I am heading home.

The past couple days have been interesting. Yesterday, I left my campsite on the shores of the great salt lake and headed for Salt Lake City. Upon arrival, I found my way to the Mormon Temple Square and took a tour of their facilities. It was interesting to see their tabernacle, visitor's center and where they worship. The grounds were also very beautiful being covered with flowers and fountains. Mixed in were also statues of Joseph Smith. I was kind of disappointed because I thought there would be more talk on the beliefs of Mormons, but it was more of showing off the buildings. Although, there were plenty of "missionaries" to talk with. The whole time I was there, I couldn't think of a good question to ask them about their beliefs, which is kind of my curse, but once I started heading down the highway, then I thought of questions. One of my tour guides asked if I wanted a book of Mormon and I thought about it and said, "sure," thinking it would be interesting to read and then she wanted to know where I lived so they could send over some elders with the book to talk with me. "Well, maybe I get one later." It could be interesting, though, in the future to host a couple Mormon elders. Leaving there and after my conversation with the man the other night left me wanting to learn more about Christianity and its history and then also to learn about these other religions.

I made my way through the mountains to the southwestern part of Utah and down to Arches National Park. That is a beautiful part of the country! It resembled what you see in westerns and, I am told, many were filmed in the area. So, I toured Arches this morning and now am making my way across Colorado. Tomorrow, I hope to be in Denver and will be there with friends for several days. That will be a welcomed break because I have now slept in a new place every night for a little over 2 weeks. A break will be nice.

My estimate of 15,000 miles has been shot because I passed that point today. So, who knows what the total will end up being. Any guesses?

Well, I better hit the road again. There are a few more miles to cover before I stop for the not. Hopefully, it doesn't rain because my plastic bags, housing my sleeping bag, tent and sleeping pad have huge holes in them from the stinking ravens. Not so waterproof.
Anyway, God bless you all and have a great weekend!

Tim

Day 82... Heading South

2008-09-24T12:13:00.000-05:00

Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
It has been an interesting few days since I last blogged. Since that time, I have been through Yellowstone National Park and saw some amazing things from waterfalls and canyons to Elk and Bison to Geysers and mountains and lakes. It was an awesome stay and of course, one with many pictures. Last night, I camped next to the Grand Tetons and this morning drove along side of them taking pictures in the morning light. It is crazy how much the landscape changes in this section of the country and how diverse Yellowstone is. Truly a beautiful place!

Now, the weather has been somewhat disagree-able. The first day in Yellowstone, I think the high was somewhere between 37 and 44 and it was windy, cloudy and I even drove through a few snowflakes. Crazy! The past two nights of camping, one in Yellowstone and the other by the Tetons, it has dropped below freezing. I was forced to dip into the bottom of the saddlebag where my thick pants and coat were for some proper sleeping attire. This morning, when I stuck my head out of the cacoon of my sleeping bag, the thermometer said 22 degrees, but I think it was lying to me because right after that, when I started moving and stuff, it jumped up to 30. So, either way, it was between 22 and 30 in the tent. Hopefully, it warms up a little.

Have any of you heard of Bahi? Yesteray, I was having supper and a man drove up in a van and set up camp across from me. He came over and we talked for a while and he seemed nice enough. Well, I decided that I needed to talk with him more, so I prayed that God would grant me success in gathering enough firewood for a couple hour fire and after much cracking and smacking and chopping, I had a good size stack of wood. An invitation was extended and he came over. I was set on bringing up religion at some point in the evening, but as usual, God led him to that topic. He said that he was a part of a religion called Bahi and they basically believe in the validity of all religions, except that they claim to have a religion higher up on the totem pole, so to speak. He acknowledged Moses and Jesus and Buddah and Mohammad and Joseph Smith as all men sent by God to speak to the church in certain contexts. I could describe their beliefs further, but I want to read more about it myself.

Basically, we sat there talking about varying beliefs and he kept trying to make it sound like it fit with Christianity and the Lord would just give me parables of Jesus and teachings of the prophets and Jesus to shoot that down. Basically, I tried to tell him the gospel in comparison to what he was saying to me. It was a great discussion and he was a super nice guy, but as with other things, I can't see the impact that our conversation had on him. He didn't back down at all and I just pray that the Holy Spirit moves in his heart.

This morning, he invited me over for some oak meal, so that was good as well. It was nice to get something hot in me and have a little more time to talk with him. Over the past few days, there have been several encounters with people, not on the religious level, but where I had nice conversations with them and these three instances, God used to show me, again, the goals I had when I left. So, please pray that God continues to challenge me and also pray for the man I met last night.

I hope to be home in about 2 weeks and I can't wait to see and talk with you all once again! God bless you!

Tim

By the way, I am in Jackson, WY and heading for Salt Lake City, then Arches National Park and then Denver.

An update

2008-09-22T00:36:00.000-05:00

Greetings all!
Well, I'm not sure what to write. Many miles have been put in since I last blogged and a few pictures have been taken.
For a brief senopsis (however you spell that), I made it to Glacier which was a very beautiful stay. I hiked about 11 miles up to one of the many lakes within the park which offered some spectacular views. Although my time in Glacier was sweet, it didn't quite live up to expectations because the Going to the Sun road was closed, due to construction. I could have driven more of it from the east side, but that would have meant many more miles. Oh well, just another reason to go back. :)

In Glacier last night, I talked with some fellow Minnesotians! It was a great time and it was good to be in the presence of people that understood waving to everyone in town, and driving down gravel roads and knowing the frustrations of being a Vikings fan. It was also great to meet people who liked the Twins and were so friendly. I think that is just a Minnesota trait, but who knows.

Sunday, I made my way South, driving through strong winds, cold weather and some rain and I eventually made it to Belgrade. Actually, I first drove through Manhattan and Church Hill, MT to check out the areas and then made for Belgrade. Long story short, I ended up in a hotel for the first time since Acadia, Maine (besides Oklahoma City with my parents). On Sunday night, I made it to a CRC in Church Hill where I was warmly greeted by some new faces and some that I recognized. It felt like being home, in a place where people know you and it was a great feeling. Thank you so much for all your kindness and for eating some tacos with me!

Tomorrow, Monday, I am heading for Yellowstone and should be there a couple days and then, we shall see where the route takes me.

I'm sorry that this is a more informational blog and not so much what I'm thinking, but I had a few long conversations on the phone tonight about feelings and thoughts and it is late, so basically, I don't feel like sharing anymore. Maybe in the future. Until then, God bless you all!

Tim

P.S. I tried to upload some pictures, but this computer is not having it. Maybe soon, or maybe not until I get home...sorry.

Day 77

2008-09-19T13:52:00.000-05:00

Another Weekend approaching!
Since the weekend is coming, I thought I should update the blog again since I probably won't be able to in the next couple days.

Currently, I am in Bonner's Ferry, Idaho and heading for Glacier National Park. Today will probably mark the furthest north I will have been on the trip. I haven't really looked at a map, but it seems like it should. The plan is, to get to Glacier, camp tonight and then hike around there tomorrow and camp again that night and then start heading south towards Yellowstone. It should be a good time and I have heard great things about the park, so I am really excited!

Yesterday, I made it all the way to Spokane, WA and it amazed me how the landscape changed. From Oak Harbor, I headed into the mountains and on the West side, they were green and very lush, but as I kept going through them, the trees eventually gave way to smaller shrubs and then scrub brush and soon, I found myself in a desert like setting, similar to New Mexico and Arizona. I was really surprised! Then, going further, the landscape changed again to miles upon miles of harvested wheat fields. It was quite a change.

Really, I don't have a lot to write right now, but I felt I should blog before the weekend. The plan from here, which still could be changed, is to head south to Yellowstone and then through the Tetons to Salt Lake City and then continue south to come into Colorado from the West. From there, head east through the mountains to Denver and then up north again to Rocky Mountain National Park and to the Black Hills and then back across South Dakota, home. I figure, it should take about 3 weeks or a little less. That is what I am figuring anyway.

Well, for not having a lot to say, I have said a lot. Enjoy your weekend!

Thank you so much for all your prayers, for I know that this trip would not have gone this well without all your prayers! God bless you all!

Tim

A new direction...East

2008-09-18T15:03:00.000-05:00

Hello,
It seems like my blogging has been rather spiratic lately, so I am sorry for that, unless you like not having it every day, in which case, "you're welcome."
The last few days have been a little different and went different than planned. Before leaving Everett, WA, I changed the oil in the Goldwing, so that should be good until I get back home. Then, I kept looking for a place to take it and no one would. Frustration set in, but eventually, I did find a place and headed out.

I ended up calling a relative to see if I could visit with him for a while and that worked out, so I drove over to Oak Harbor, WA. As it turned out, he invited me to stay the night. Now, I really wanted to get into the Cascade Mountains and was really antsy to start heading east and hopefully meet some people in the campground, but then God planted a few thoughts. Here is this elderly man, who lives by himself now and probably wants some company. Also, it would be good for me, so I decided to stay and we had a great time.

While at his place, I reflected a little bit on age and the hardships of life. Remembering things from my past and now seeing this man and knowing his wife had Alzimers, pain just kind of came up in my mind. There have been books upon books written on pain and everyone experiences it in their own ways and yet, it is amazing how God works through pain. But still, every time I feel it or see it in other people, I just want to scream "Come Lord Jesus!" And, I believe that is what our yearning should be. Yet, on the flip side, Jesus us not to sit and wait for his coming but to get out and reclaim his creation. He says, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." How are the workers few if this country says it is 85% Christian? It's because there are so few people who are truly affected by the love of Christ and it so overflows in them that they want to spread it to others. We have many Christians in name, but very few in "being Christ."

Another thing I think about a lot is that sometimes, we get these notions that sharing the love of Christ and being "harvestors" means going overseas or on long trips to find people who aren't Christians and converting them. Being Christ and being harvestors means being the people of God, right where we are at any given time, to any given person in any given place. It could be a smile, eye contact and a "Thank you" to the cashier at the store or it could be tying a little kids shoe. The love of Christ does not have a minimum requirement. It encompasses all good deeds done in the spirit of love. This is something God has been convicting me of pretty hard on this trip. He may not lead me to bring someone to Christ every day or every week or even every month, but every single day, I can practice being Christ to every single person that I meet.

Anyway, again, those are just a few of the thoughts running around my head. If it doesn't make a lot of sense, please don't hold it against me, because, as I've said before, I just get to a library, sit down and spill out what comes.

By the way, I am now in Twisp (?) Washington and heading east. I hope to be close to Spokane by tonight and get to Glacier National Park tomorrow. Whoot!

Have a great end of the week and God bless you all!

Tim

Day 74... A hike, Rhythm and a few thoughts

2008-09-17T00:43:00.001-05:00

Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
I update you now from Everett, WA where I am staying with some awesome people! Above, is an updated map of my journey and where I have been. Sorry about the sloppy-ness. I am tired and didn't want to spend so much time doing it. Maybe, a new map will be found: one that is better.

Well, I did make it to Mt. St. Helens yesterday, which was kind of strange to behold. Basically, it looked like a mountain...that had the top blown off. I tried to imagine what it looked like, but no pictures came to mind besides the ones I had seen on the History Channel.

From Mt. St. Helens, I made my way to Mt. Rainer. Again, an awesome sight to behold! Up to this point, I had seen that mountain on my flight simulator and on postcards, but never up close. It is pretty sweet...and the weather was clear as well, which, I am told, is quite rare. So, the campsite was chosen and I settled in for the night.

This morning, I wanted to do some hiking, so after seeing some waterfalls, I drove closer to the mountain. From there, I hiked for several miles and had some awesome views of the mountain. Part of me, wanted to continue on and conquer the mountain, which I would guess is a human characteristic, but I knew that I didn't have the time or the gear and so after a great hike, I turned around and headed down.

On the way down, my keys were jangling in my pocket with every step and soon, I started snapping my fingers with the rhythm and to this beat, "Jesus Loves Me" was hummed/whistled/sang (not all at the same time). It was so random, but made the hike down so much better.

Thinking about that, going down, really, that is all that matters. I remember talking in Theology classes and Shim making some comment about it... Jesus Loves Me. There it is... that is the entire point of Christianity. We can fight and bicker and hit people over the head with the plank sticking out of our own eyes, but we sure don't remember the point, Jesus Loves Me. Why are we so quick to forget that point when others do things that annoy us or do things to hurt us? When all the dust from Synod settles and the desks get put back in order after a heated debate in theology class, maybe we should all hold hands and sing...

Jesus loves me this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him belong.
They are weak but He is strong!

Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so!

Much, Much, Much

2008-09-15T14:10:00.001-05:00

Greetings All!
It is now Monday, which means the Librarys are open once again, but I have a very limited time. So, a quick catch up of the last few days. Basically, I camped at Redwood National Park in the big trees, then drove up to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon and camped there and then yesterday, I drove back to the coast and camped right on the ocean. Now, I am heading north towards Mt. St. Helens and hopefully, Mt. Rainer later today.

It has been cold. Two nights ago, it dropped to 35 degrees. Last night, it dropped to about 40 degrees. So, thanks to God for warm clothes and sleeping bag!

Full service stations, like the ones in Oregon are awkward on a motorcycle, because basically, all they do is, after I slide the card through, they take the nozzle off the pump and hand it to me. Really, kind of awkward. Just saying.

The ocean was awesome and I actually got to see it under the sunshine. Last night, I watched the sunset over the water, which was quite an experience. It was also cold!

As of right now, I am doing pretty good. Some good devotions times have taken place and I have many miles to cover. Many, many thoughts have passed through my head, but I am almost out of time.

Hopefully, I can blog more later. God bless you all!

Tim

By the way, I am now over 12,300 miles for the trip.

Day 70... (untitled)

2008-09-12T16:44:00.000-05:00

Greetings All!
The last few days have been very interesting. I made my way out of the central valley towards San Francisco and after crossing the Bay Bridge and navigating downtown San Francisco, I made my way to the Golden Gate Bridge where I was able to stop and take a few pictures from several different locations. It was slightly foggy and the top of the bridge was in the clouds, so it was kind of cool. While I was there, I kept thinking about Full House and also the movie, "The Rock" when I looked across at Alcatraz Island.

From the bridge, I followed highway 1 up the California coast. Actually, I was not impressed at first because it was really bumpy, but it got better and the scenery was awesome!

Last night, I found a campground and ended up picking a campsite next to some guys. I stopped and talked with them for a little while and then went to find try get a phone call out. Upon returning, I built a fire, but was soon convicted to go and talk with those guys. So, I went back over there and we talked about many different things for a quite a while. I had set a goal of asking someone what they thought about religion before the week was up, so I was trying to think about how to do it with these two men. Well, then they asked what I majored in, in college. Bingo. I said, "Theology," and after that, we talked for quite a while about the church and the problems with it and about different religions. It was a great conversation! The one guy was Baptist, then had left for a while and lately he has been exploring all kinds of faiths, but still leans towards Christianity. It was a great night of sitting around the fire, having a beer, and talking theology. I thank God for that time!

Right now, I am in Eureka, CA and making my way towards Redwood National Park. Today has been an interesting day of driving. When I left, it was about 57 degrees, so I had several layers and big thick gloves on. Then, the road bent away from the coast and it warmed up to about 80 to 85, so I was stripping layers off quickly. As I drove, the road started working its way back to the coast, so again, the temperature dropped and I was forced to stop along side the road and cover up. What a crazy day!

Actually friends, today I am the most depressed I have been in a long time and I am not exactly sure why. Whether there is something oppressive about the areas I have been going through or what, I don't know. But, while riding today, I definitely considered turning east and heading home. I'm not sure if I have had a day like this on the entire trip, where I am just down and want to go home. Prayers about that would be great. Honestly, I am having a hard time describing to you how I feel and "depressed" is the closest I can come. Who knows?

Well, if I hold to the plan, I should be in Redwood National Park today and go to Crater Lake, OR tomorrow and then keep heading for Washington. Please continue to pray for safety (and no rain!).

Thank you so much for your prayers in this journey!

Tim

Hiking, friendly faces and the road to the ocean...

2008-09-10T15:03:00.000-05:00

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Two days ago, when I last updated, I was heading for Yosemite National Park. Well, I made it there safely and took in the sights there. The first day, I made my way to Yosemite Vally, which is the famous part of the part that everyone streams to. And boy where there people there. In the valley, there were cars and people everywhere. That night, there wasn't a campsite to be had, so I had to drive 16 miles west to get a campsite.

Sorry, I think today is one of those days where I just sit down and type random bits of information. I'll try again.

Coming down into the park, there is awesome scenery with glass smooth, gray cliffs rising thousands of feet above you on either side. Between these cliffs, a river runs lazily through a valley covered with trees and meadows. Now, normally, there are waterfalls coming into the valley, but Bridalveil Falls had about a whopping 2 gallons going over it per second and Yosemite Falls had absolutly nothing. That's what I get for being here in early September.

After a quick tour of the valley, I made my way to the campground and after some struggles and some tests on my patience by God, I found my way there. That night, as I was journalling in my tent, I heard some familiar music, so I went exploring to find where it was coming from. There was a group sitting around a campfire singing worship songs, so I asked if I could join and they said "sure." They were a Korean Group for Campus Crusade For Christ from San Diego and I ended up being with them for about an hour and a half singing, sharing stories and praying. One thing that I found interesting was our prayer time. We were told to pray for the people on our right and left, but we did so outloud, all at the same time. To those listening, it was a jumbled mess of words, but it was a neat experience. Those of you in Korea, can maybe know what I'm talking about. Needless to say, it was a blessed time to spend with Christians around the fire in worship.

The next morning, I got up to go and hike. I had decided to hike the Yosemite Falls trail, even though, there were no falls. It was a hike that was, when all was said and done, about 11.2 miles and took 6.5 hours. I'm not sure what to try and describe to you, whether to focus on the physical aspects of the hike or what I was thinking. Maybe, both will have to wait until I am back or am feeling more creative in my writing. Either way, I made the climb, up through the rocks and trees, across the "river" that did not flow over the falls, to a point a couple thousand feet above the valley... a place of amazing beauty and solitude. At this point, I was again humbled on how I can be so prideful at times in things I have done and yet, there is a God who laid the foundations of these granite cliffs, who formed the valley, who planted every tree and helped it grow. Who am I to claim any glory in anything I do? It was an amazing place to sit and overlook God's creation!

From that point, I worked my way down and felt very happy... like after a long conversation with a great friend. The road down continued that conversation as I just talked with Jesus through the trees, over the rocks and across the sand. People I met, I attempted to treat as I thought Christ would. It was truly an extremely challening hike as well as an awesome, prayer filled time.

Oh, there are so many more things I could say about my thoughts, but again, time and space limit. Right now, I am in Modesto, CA and tomorrow, will head to San Francisco and then up the coast. We shall see who God has in store for me to meet and what sights to behold. He is so good!

God bless you all and I am still looking forward until we can meet again!

Tim

Day 66...Big Trees, Waterfalls and the road goes on...

2008-09-08T15:40:00.000-05:00

Greetings All!
After a great week with friends, I am now on the road again. From Friday until Sunday, I spent my time in Visalia, CA with some friends in which we hung out and talked, saw a couple movies, went to church, enjoyed good company and saw some amazing trees and an awesome sunset. Hopefully, pictures will follow soon!

Yesterday, I drove up into the mountains to Sequoia National Park and saw some huge trees. Actually, the largest tree in the world was on the agenda. This tree was not the tallest or the widest, but it had the largest volume of wood of any tree in the world. The General Sherman stood 283 feet tall and was 103 feet in circumference at the base. Absolutely huge!

The roads were a blast to drive on as they wound their way through awesome forests and up and down the mountains. Great fun was had while cutting right and left. After going through Sequoia, I went into King's Canyon National Park. Now this canyon was much bigger and more beautiful than I thought it was going to be. The road wound its way down several thousand feet to the river at the bottom and past several waterfalls. After setting up my tent, I enjoyed supper on the rivers edge. Running water is still one of the most relaxing sounds in the world. I also hiked to a waterfall that turned out to be in one of the most beautiful places I had ever been. At the end of the path, it opened up to the falls which cascaded out of a gap in the rock into a clear, brilliant blue pool. Surrounding this pool were smooth rocks shaped like a bowl. From the pool, the water cascaded down through the rocks and into the river. I climbed up to a shelf and sat, watching the waterfall and the waves slowly spread across the pool. Then, looking to the right, I could see the canyon walls, steep cliffs rising up, stained red by the setting sun. In this place, I could be at peace. Songs of praise slowly rose in my throat...

God of wonders beyond our galaxy,
You are Holy! Holy!
The universe declares your majesty!
You are Holy! Holy!

Lord of all creation
of water earth and sky.
The heavens are your Tabernacle
Glory to the Lord on high!

Right now, I am in Oakhurst, CA preparing to go into Yosemite National Park. There, I will camp for a few days and then head west to the coast. Yay for the Pacific Ocean!

This week, an idea was presented to my mind. Sitting in chapel at Providence Christian College in Ontario, CA, a group was doing a presentation on their trip to the Dominican Republic. During that trip, they estimated how many hours they were up during the day and then tithed their time to spend with God. I thought that was a good idea, so I am giving it a try. Throughout the day, I had a set amount of time I have commited to prayer, Bible reading, worship and talking with people about Christ. I'm giving it a try to see how it goes and what happens. We shall see.

But, once again, there are too many things to write about and I have already gone too long, but hopefully you enjoy reading some.
God bless you all!

Tim

Day 64... Moving North

2008-09-06T11:27:00.001-05:00

Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
It has now been a couple days since I blogged, which I'm sure some of you are thankful for! :) Right now, I am in Visalia, CA hanging out with some friends. My time in Ontario, CA was awesome! We had great conversation, good times playing volleyball and tennis, watching a little tv here and there and getting some reading done. I loved it, but being on a college campus really made me miss being at Dordt. sigh.

Yesterday was a good ride with many different points to it. To start off, it was beautiful weather leaving Ontario to drive up and through the mountains. Again, I got into the desert landscape, but being in mountains, the temp wasn't so bad. I spent the first half hour or better in prayer, recapping what has happened in the last week and what I need to do better and what I have done well. It was a great time of prayer! From there, it just overflowed into worship where I would sing any song that came to mind and just belt it out as I was travelling down the road. It made miles pass quickly and was also the best worship I had in many, many days.

I made it to the Tehachapi Loop, which most of you don't have a clue about. It is a railroad loop where many trains have to pass through every day and it is cool because it is this huge loop where a train is literally driving overtop of itself either going up the mountain or going down. Most of you wouldn't care at all, but for the few railfans, they might be interested.

From there, I drove down out of the mountains to the central valley and it was hot! I got down there and it was now late afternoon, yet it was hotter than when I left L.A. at 12:30. But, there is nothing to do except keep driving. While driving down the interstate, I saw a sign along side the highway that said 101 degrees and this was at 6:10 p.m.! Here in Visalia, it was 107 yesterday. It is just plain hot, which I hear, is quite the opposite from back home.

From here, I plan on working my way up the valley and hitting Yosemite and then cutting across to San Francisco and then up the west coast. The weather should start getting cooler as I head north and towards the coast, so we shall see. Just as long as the temps and snow hold out until I am heading the last stretch towards home.

I wish that I could record my thoughts as I ride, because I mull over so many things that I would like to get your thoughts about, but now I can't remember. Whatever. Feel free to make comments about anything I say or send me an email or something. As of now, the trip is going very well, I am trying to get more focused on my goals once again and yet I do yearn for those last 2 days of riding towards home!

God bless you all!

Tim

The furthest point

2008-09-03T12:22:00.000-05:00

Brothers and Sisters!
I am now in Ontario, California and this marks the furthest point I will be from home for the rest of the trip. I am pretty excited about that and now beginning to work my way back home. Obviously, it will still be quite some time before I am back, say, a little over a month, but it is still really good to be headed in that general direction. I keep thinking about how awesome it will be to get back on familiar roads and how I am going to savor those last few miles into the wonderful town of Edgerton. Don't get me wrong, I have definitely enjoyed driving and seeing the country and I have had an awesome week of talking with people and seeing amazing things, but there is still part of me that yearns to be in a place where "everyone knows your name," to steal a line from "Cheers."

Well, to sum up what has happened and what is going to happen, I have been in Ridgecrest, CA for a few days spending some time with some awesome people! We talked, laughed, played games, went for fried late at night, kicked balls into the air and just had a good time. Thank you so much!

Yesterday, I drove down to the suberbs of L.A. and met up with a great friend from the wonderful years on Res. Life at Dordt. Being here, on a college campus, has made me realize actually, how much I miss Dordt, the people, the apartment, the ministry and the whole atmosphere. So, if you are there and reading this, really absorb it and enjoy it, because it is an amazing place!

From here, I will begin my journey north, through the central valley to see Sequoia National Park, and Yosemite and also some more sweet people. Who knows who God will have me meet up there.

Reflecting on the last few weeks, God has really been pushing me in many ways. He has shown me how Satan has been getting to me to discourage me on this trip. He has been showing me how I haven't been spending enough time with him and how I'm not taking full advantage of random meetings with people. So, once again, I find myself attempting to do things out of my comfort zone and attempting to challenge myself in growth towards Christ and also towards other people. Please pray for this growth!

I got a new tire put on the motorcycle, so that should get me back home. It also got a bath, so once again, it is shiny. Well, that's about it. Until we meet again.

May the Lord bless you!

Tim

Pictures!

2008-09-02T11:54:00.000-05:00

Here are a select few pictures of the Trip to this point! Enjoy!

Pictures 1

Pictures 2

Pictures 3

Pictures 4

Desert Wind

2008-09-01T09:49:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends!
I have made it to Ridgecrest, CA! Since the last time I blogged, I left the Grand Canyon, drove the rest of the way across Arizona, visited the Hoover Dam, camped just east of Las Vegas, on lake Mead, went to church in Vegas (yeah, there are churches there), and then drove through the Mojave Desert yesterday to get to Ridgecrest!

Once again, there are too many stories to tell. I had a reflection from the hike that I might share with you later. Yesterday, I talked with a guy in a Burger King who was riding motorcycle. It was a great conversation and he was a super friendly guy, but the part I wanted to write about was how his friend broke down. Yesterday, I saw many people beside the road and heard about more people breaking down, and that is something that hasn't happened to me yet and I have decided that is because or your prayers. How else is it, that I can drive 10,300 miles and not have any problems, besides one battery? So, thank you so much! That is your prayer work happening! Of course, now that I have said all that, the bike will break down within a few more days of travel. :)

Yesterday was the most technical, tiring day of driving I had had yet. This was so because of the wind. Honestly, it felt like I was back home in Minnesota. The wind had to be pushing 30-40 mph. I drove right into it the whole day, which made for bad mileage, but then I turned north and had to ride perpendicular to it. Driving at a 45 degree angle isn't so fun. As semis would approach, I would hunker down like a cat awaiting a blow after pooping on the floor, because that's what the wind would do: give you a good blow. Anyone who rides motorcycle knows what I am talking about. It was definitely intersting driving, but once again, the Lord guided me safely through.

Here, I will get a new rear tire put on, as this one has lasted about 10,500 miles, which is really good for a cycle tire. Then, I continue on and will soon be heading back north.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and may the Lord bless you all!

Tim

A Grand Tour

2008-08-29T16:48:00.000-05:00

Good day!
Today...ah, where do I start? Not knowing what time it is for the last 24 hours? The beautiful canyon next to me? The soreness in my shoulders after a 12 mile hike? The crazy songs and thoughts that ran through my head as I hiked? There is just too much to tell!

Well, I guess the time issue is ... strange. I got to the Grand Canyon yesterday and went to call home. My Cell Phone had switched to Pacific time, but I was pretty sure I was still in Mountain time. It didn't phase me, so I just went about my business. But, this morning, I was planning a long hike and wanted to be going down the canyon as the sun was rising. Well, a flyer said the sun would rise at 6 a.m., so I thought I would be smart and wake up at 5, Mountain Time. The alarm went off and I thought, "Boy, it's aweful dark for only being an hour from sunrise." The stars were bright and the night was cool, so I slept a little more. When my clock got to about 6 Mountain Time I headed out and was going down the trail at about 6:50, Mountain Time. Well, the sun came up at about 7, Mountain Time, but the flyer said it was going to rise at 6 and supposedly, all those times were in Mountain Time. To this point, I still don't know what time it is. This computer says 2:55, but I don't know which time zone...ah! So confusing!

Anyway, I ended up hiking about 6 miles down into the canyon, which dropped, vertically, about 3,000 feet. From that spot, I was not to the bottom, but I had some awesome views of the Colorado River. At that time, I think it was about 9 (?), it was about 92 degrees in the shade. So, I started hiking back up. On the way up, I had many random songs running through my head, and most of them were from Dordt Choir this past year... Pai Duli (ya, that's right, Pai Duli), Bright Morning Stars... it was so random! But, I also did a lot of thinking and reflection on the way up, but there is not enought space to get into that. If only I could record my thoughts and just post those. It would be way more interesting.

Basically, God is good and his creation is awesome! I'm tired and sore and covered in dust, but it was a great day of talking with random people, hearing exclamations in all kinds of languages and reflection on God and his creation. It was good.

God bless you all!

Tim

Day 55... to the big scratch!

2008-08-28T13:59:00.000-05:00

Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
To fill you in a little bit about what happened in the last 24 hours, I ended up finding an outlet and got a hold of some awesome people who put me up for the night. It was great to talk with them and enjoy the evening. Thank you so much!

Right now, I am in a public library in Flagstaff, AZ and after this, I plan on making the trek up to the Grand Canyon. I plan on being there all day tomorrow and then leaving the next day, but I don't know when I will be able to update the blog again, so I thought I should fill you in. After that, I'm not quite sure... the Hoover Dam is on the agenda, but from there, I'm not sure. Ridgecrest, CA is the destination, but I'm not sure on the route yet.

After I blogged yesterday, it was an interesting ride. I drove to the Four Corners to touch 4 states at the same time and then I headed south through the red, very arid soil of Arizona. Mesas and blood red cliffs rose up all around as I cut my way through the dust. Thunderheads and rain showers also surrounded me. Truly, it was a great sight to see!

Also on this ride, I went through several phases. One, I got kind of down and out, for whatever reason, but I started listening to Chris Tomlin and just belted the songs out as I rode and that really cheered me up. But, after that, I started to get down on myself and also I realized various ways Satan was getting to me. Even now, I am having a hard time writing exactly what I felt, but I realized how Satan was using my bad decisions to frustrate me. I was becoming bitter towards myself and the world around me.

Also, yesterday, at a gas station, a guy came up to me and started talking and he wanted some money. I told him I didn't have anything to give him and I was in a hurry, so I was slightly annoyed and wanted to get going. Man am I ashamed of that. As I was riding down the road, it just hit me. That morning, I had done devotions reflecting on how love isn't rude and I had listened to Hebrews, James and 1 Peter where we are told to entertain strangers and called to an action of loving. I had just blown that guy off, when it was a perfect opportunity to minister to someone. But no. I was too caught up on my schedule...

So, it was a challenging afternoon of riding where I had to face many things in myself of how Satan was getting to me throughout the trip in ways I didn't see. Please pray that I can break through and keep fighting against Satan and his demons.

Once again, I apologize for the length and for not writing so coherently. I only have a very limited time to get everything done, so it is type as fast as I can and move on. God's blessings to you all!

Tim

To the Desert!

2008-08-27T14:10:00.000-05:00

Yo! (just thought I would try a different greeting)
I am now in Cortez, CO ready to start traveling across the hot, stinking desert of Arizona. (well, at least as ready as I'll ever be.) After blogging in Ridgeway yesterday, I made my way down through Telluride and to Mesa Verde National Park. There, I camped for the night. It was pretty crazy, and I guess this is what the weather is like in the desert, but when I showed up, it was about 90-95 degrees, yet as evening came, it kept getting colder and colder and when I woke up this morning, it was again 57 degrees. A little brisk.

Mesa Verde was awesome! I had been there before, about 10 years ago and this time was also special. This park is up on a huge Mesa that stands far above the desert floor and in the canyons, ancient Indians made homes out of the rock on top of the Mesa, but also in the walls. These cliff dwellings are what most people come to see and it is truly spectacular! So, I toured a few of those places and drove through the park enjoying the scenery. But, again, it is time to move on.

Honestly, I don't know where I will end up tonight. I haven't been able to get a hold of the friends I was going to visit and if I don't do that soon, I'm going to cut across country and be at the Grand Canyon, tonight. See, my cell phone died completely, so I can't call, unless I find an outlet somewhere. Unless I find an outlet to call and get a hold of them, I will probably be at the Grand Canyon tonight.

How do I begin to talk about the struggles in my head? When you are traveling alone, there is so much time to think and I come to so many realizations about myself and life in general. I fight with myself and with Satan. Honestly, at the end of yesterday, again, I was ready to turn around and go home. The thread of my adventure string is getting pretty thin and I keep questioning what I am doing. Yet, then I think about the people I have met and about the cool stuff to see and about how this is my last opportunity to do a trip like this. So, I continue to battle, even more than I can write, inside my own head and with Satan. Please pray for this battle. The plan is, since I'm this far, to continue for sure to California to visit friends there and then, we will see.

But, I have written to long... I'm going to try find an outlet.
God bless you all!

Tim

no words to describe

2008-08-26T13:42:00.000-05:00

Hello All!
The last two days have been amazing driving! As of right now, I am in Ridgeway, Colorado, after a morning of driving one of the most beautiful roads in the country! The picture above is of Ouray, Colorado, probably one of my favorite towns!

This morning, I woke up after a cold, windy night. My tent was set up down in a valley between the mountains and the wind was howling through there at about 30 mph. It would pick up and then slow down and pick up again. Once I woke up this morning, the thermometer said it was 57 degrees, just a little chilly. So, after a hot shower, devotions, some breakfast and a conversation with an older gentleman while watching the Durango-Silverton Train rumble past, I took off up into the mountains. Now, there is just no was of describing the scenery along the Million Dollar Highway, as those of you who have been there know. Hopefully, in the future, I will be able to post some more pictures, even though they do not do justice.

Basically, this road is cut straight into the side of the mountains and in many places, it is staight up on one side and staight down on the other. Mountain peaks rise above 13,000 feet all around and I was just trying to look and stay on the road at the same time. It is the type of country where I am truly humbled before God. Who am I to brag about anything when I serve a God who set all these mountains in place and formed the beautiful river valleys? Who am I to be proud when the almighty has created such huge structures, where there are no words to describe and jaws just drop? God is so good and so huge and mighty, yet he loves each and every one of us even more than we could possibly imagine! That is something even more unfathomable to me than the size of those mountains!

Today has been a day of being lost in wonder of God the creator and lost in his artwork. There have been a few very good conversations with people along the road sharing the same awe and wonder. As of right now, I am just trying to soak in the wonder of God and hopefully continue to share it with the people that I meet.

From here, I head south through Telluride to Mesa Verde National Park and then, in a couple days, hopefully the Grand Canyon!

As I sat down for breakfast, devotions and prayer, I had "Praise To The Lord" running through my head. That, I have claimed, is the theme song for the past couple days.

Well, time to ride. God bless you all!

Tim

Day 52- Colorado!

2008-08-25T16:55:00.000-05:00

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
After a very tough day and after a day of beautiful driving, I find myself in Durango, CO. The weekend with my parents was awesome, and like I figured, all I wanted to do on my drive Sunday was turn around and go home.

Yet, I kept going. Today, I drove up through Santa Fe, through the ruged beauty (there is no other way to describe it), to the mountains and into Colorado. The Northwest corner of New Mexico was very beautiful as rock spires rose out of the rocky soil, colored with layers and layers of red rocks, tan rock and white rock. It was truly spectacular! The plan now is to drive through the mountains a little bit and then head back south and make my way over to the Grand Canyon, eventually. So, some beautiful driving to happen in the future.

As I said, yesterday was very tough. I think I drove about 460 miles, which was my biggest day by far and during that drive, I just wanted to go home. Maybe part of it was because Oklahoma, Texas and the eastern part of New Mexico don't have much for scenery. No, I just missed watching the olympics with my parents and I thought about talking about it the next day with the guys at work. I miss the people of home: my friends and I miss the activities.

C.S. Lewis wrote about contentment and the need for adventure in one of his Screwtape Letters. Screwtape said that humans are designed to have both in them. We are creatures who like things the same every day and yet have a need for change. That is one reason God created seasons. In the chapter, Screwtape was discussing on how to take this and use it against humans. As I thought about it, I considered it in my own life and I seem to be stuck in the middle. Some people can live in one place their whole life and work well for the kingdom where as others need to move every couple months. They yearn for adventure. Myself, I am stuck in the middle. When I am at home for a while, in the routine of life, I get antsy and need to do something. Yet, when I do something adventurous, like this trip, I feel the need to be back home and have structure. That has been one of my main thought processes over the last few days. Kind of frustrating. Maybe, someday, I'll find my place, or when I get home, I will discover the right things to do in that place, at least for a while... until the next adventure comes along.

God bless you all!

Tim

Day 51, time to embark once again

2008-08-24T00:30:00.000-05:00

Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
This is an updated map of where I have been, up to where I am right now. It is late, so I will be brief, but wanted to keep you up to date.

It has been an awesome weekend with my parents in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Actually, I know it will be very hard to leave tomorrow, so prayers about the next few days and me pressing on will be good. In this time, we visited the Oklahoma Memorial site for the bombing of 1995 and we visited a firefighters museum/memorial, a train museum/park and we hung out and had a great time. It truly was blessed!

The plan is, from here, to head west down I-40 to Santa Fe, NM and then start angling my way up to Durango, CO to ride a few sweet roads there through the mountains and then come back down into Arizona and move towards the Grand Canyon. So, I'm planning on putting in a few big days to get through New Mexico.

The motorcycle is running great thus far. The Lord has definitely answered prayers on that account. Thank you so much for all your comments on my blog and in my emails! I greatly appreciate the comments, even if I forget to or don't comment back! It is so awesome to know how many people are supporting me on this trip! I just pray that the Lord will help me to continue to be "faithful", as some of you commented on my last post. :)

I love you all and look forward to more adventures as the west half of the country excursion begins tomorrow. God bless you all!

Tim

In Oklahoma City!!

2008-08-21T23:01:00.000-05:00

Good Evening All!
The past couple days have been days of reflecting on Edgerton. I met up with a good friend from there, drove on I-35 for a while and even Highway 75: yep, the same one that goes 7 miles from Edgerton. To top it all off, I met up with my parents here, which has been great! We have enjoyed our time together so far. I'm looking forward to the next couple of days with them before moving on. It will be a nice break.

As for the activities of the last couple days, well, many of them involved rain and/sprinkling fluid from the sky. The night of hanging out with the Harley gang, it rained hard, but I stayed mostly dry in the the tent. As I emerged from my sopping home the next morning, a heavy mist covered the entire area. Some hiking did happen, but it was wet. Honestly, Hot Springs National Park wasn't what I was expecting. There were some nice hiking trails and I enjoyed it, but I was expecting something like Yellowstone. Well, not so much. This park is based around bath houses and how people used to travel from long distances to have water treatments with the unusually pure hot water. Overall, it was cool and a neat stop. The above picture is of one of the four springs still open for the public to see. All the others are covered up and sent to the bath houses.

From Hot Springs, I made my way up to Little Rock, AR where I visited a good friend from Edgerton. We hung out, talked, caught up, went out to eat and just enjoyed the evening. Thanks a lot for a great afternoon/evening!

But, I am tired. Today, I put on about 355 miles to get from Little Rock to Oklahoma City and now a couple days off from riding before heading into Texas and New Mexico.

Enjoy your Friday and Weekend! God bless you all!

Tim

Day 47... so many stories...once again.

2008-08-20T11:09:00.000-05:00

Friends, there is just too much to tell about what has happened from the visible poverty in Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas, to crossing the Mississippi River, to battles with Satan and myself to glorious times of worship in a campground all by myself and in a bathroom (I know, sounds really sketchy, but it isn't). But, for sake of space, I must refrain from those stories and tell you a few others.

First off, I finally got the picture links posted...If you scroll down, you will find them.

Second, two days ago was Day 45, which if I do get around in 90 days, this would be halfway. In accordance with that occasion, I have a few stats for you...

45 days
7,550.7 miles
167.129 gallons of gasoline
$32.80 dollars spent per day on average- total- how's that for a cheap trip!
I camped 13 of the 45 days,
I stayed with friends 28 of the 45 days,
I slept in hotels 4 of the 45 days.

Thank you so much for the people who have opened their homes to me! You really have been the reason I am still going and how I have done it so cheap so far!

Now, for one story... yesterday, I drove up to Hot Springs, Arkansas and toured around the town a little bit in the rain. It got to be about 3 or 3:30 and I decided to head over to the campground to get a place and set up before it started raining again. While riding through the campground, a group of motorcycle riders caught my attention. They all rode trikes, a three wheeled motorcycle. After setting up, I went over and introduced myself and asked them a few questions about their cycles. Soon, they had invited me to stay for supper and we were enjoying pork chops, beans and a few beers, just sitting and having a great time.

Now, you have to picture this group... the Harley t-shirts, long flowing hair, some in ponytails, tatoos on the arms, beer and cigarettes being consumed like no tomorrow. They were the stereotypical riders that you see, except maybe not as rough and tough. This group was an extremely friendly group that I had a great time chatting with and being encouraged by. No opportunities to talk about religion arose and it seemed like if I brought it up, they would have shut me up, so I just made little comments about God making certain things and how God has blessed my trip and when I left, I said "God bless you" to them and a few said it back. Actually, it would have been great to spend more time with the group because it is so hard to get to know people in such a short amount of time. Am I being effective in what I set out to do? What does being effective mean? I journaled about these questions for quite some time the other night and who knows? Maybe in God's eyes, effectiveness is just being Christ to some people. Yet, that is not a copout, or at least, it shouldn't be. We are all called to witness, both in the way we live and with out words and actions. So, what is effectiveness? That question is my big struggle on this trip.

Tim

Pictures...please...

2008-08-20T11:07:00.000-05:00

Okay, I tried to do the links again... here goes...

Pictures 1

Pictures 2

Pictures 3

Pictures 4

Sorry Friends....

2008-08-18T14:56:00.000-05:00

Sorry Everybody, I have been trying to put links to my pictures again and for some reason, I can't do it. Maybe I'm doing something different than before. Hopefully, sometime in the future, it will work out.

Well, right now I am in Rayville, Louisiana. It has actually been a pretty long day of driving to get here and I am shooting for a campground a little further north.

One thing exciting happened today... I crossed the Mississippi River again! I am now back on the home side of it which made me pretty excited! It is a little wider down here, but still the same ol' river.

Animals I haven't seen, but wanted to (at a safe distance of course)...

Bald Eagle
Bear
Moose
Shark
Alligator

For whatever reason, I haven't seen any of those animals on my trip so far. Even in Florida, I didn't see one alligator, but I did see Bison, which I think more of South Dakota when I think of those.

Anyway, that's about all the happenings today. I saw a sign for Wilmar and it made me think of Minnesota and remember how much I miss it and how much I miss fishing, family and familiar faces (how's that for aliteration!).

Anyway, I better get going. Have a great day everyone and I miss you all!

Tim

I tried....

2008-08-16T22:52:00.000-05:00

Alright, I tried to post some links to pictures, but for whatever reason, this computer won't let me do it... so I'll try it later... if you have facebook, you can check them out there...

Water, Big Boats and... something.

2008-08-16T20:01:00.000-05:00

Okay, this is now the third time I tried to write this blog. The first, it just closed out on me. The second time, I got most of the way through and the computer randomly started typing in Korean. Don't ask, I don't know...

So, I was trying to be descriptive and write well and all that jazz, but now, I'm sick of typing. Today entailed talking theology with a family friend from back in the day, and watching power boats take off on a poker run. The picture above is one of these types of boats. They have hundreds and even over 1,000 horsepower and boy do they go! Later in the day, we went on a wave runner ride and we were doing about 55 mph. Well, there was a rumbling coming up behind me and I glanced over my shoulder to see what it was. Here came one of those power boats and it blew past me like we were standing still. They had to be doing about 80-90 mph, throwing a stream of water 20-30 feet in the air. Crazy.

Tomorrow, I plan on hitting the road again before the tropical storm comes in on Monday or Tuesday. The hope is to get to Mississippi somewhere and then start angling my way up towards Oklahoma because next weekend, I am meeting my parents there, which I am excited about!

Short, sweet, non-descriptive...that's what you get when I'm tired and the computer didn't want to work with me. All is well...God is good...let the name of Christ be praised!

Tim

Four strikes? Well, I guess you're out...

2008-08-15T15:48:00.000-05:00

Hello my friends!
Frustration has set in slightly. Not because of riding, because that went very well today, but because of rejection. Today was a day where I didn't have to cover very many miles, so I planned on finding a hospital or rest home and playing some games with people. Well, as it turns out, I found 4 different hospitals and all of them were a "no go." The first hospital, none of the people who could help me were there, but they gave me the name of another hospital. So, I went there and they said that they couldn't let someone just roam the halls. It wasn't allowed. Moving further down the road, I came across another hospital, and this one doesn't really count as a rejection, because when I told them what I was up to, they said things like "you just made my day!" and "That is so awesome!" Never the less, they pointed me to a different place because they thought I could do better there. Moving to the fourth place of the day, I decided that this would be my last attempt because it was starting to get late. I strolled through the doors and asked the same question I had been asking all day only to be answered with "No, I'm sorry, but we need a background check and several references before allowing anyone back there."

Now, I can understand their reasons for not allowing me back there because you don't want any wacko walking through the hospital, but even so, I was slightly frustrated. What if Jesus walked through the door and they were like, "sorry Jesus, we need some background forms and a few references before we can let you back there to care for your people." It is really sad that we live in a world where someone who feels pushed by God to share his love with people can't do it because of some rules. It is really sad that we can't trust each other even in hospitals. It's bad enough at historical sights and monuments, but come on... hospitals? Maybe I should have flashed my Bible and said, "Here's my reference," just to see the look on their faces. Who knows, maybe I'll just "Jason Bourne" it next time and walk in, get on an elevator and find a room, somewhere.

Other than that whole fiasco, the day went really well. I am back in the Central Time zone which I was really excited for. The road led me right next to the Gulf of Mexico most of the way. It wound around corners and through the trees on the beach, tickling white sand shores and giving sights to the many colored, highrise resorts. It really was a beautiful drive! And today was what I actually envisioned Florida to be... sunshine, 85 degrees, a slight breeze blowing of the water and through the palm trees as families enjoy the white sand beaches and warm water of the Gulf. It was gorgeous.

From this point, I am not sure where I will head. I might start making my way North and I might keep following the Gulf for a while. Who knows? But, I wll keep you informed.

Please pray that God continues to challenge me through this leg of the journey. I think I will have plenty of opportunities to visit hospitals (if I can get in) or rest homes or even find people elsewhere. Please pray that God opens my eyes to the ones around me who need his love and that I do this completely for his glory and not for my own selfish reasons.

Thanks and God bless you all!
By the way, I just went over the 7,000 mile mark. crazy!

Tim

A quick update...just because I can

2008-08-14T16:51:00.000-05:00

Greetings Friends!
Well, I am going to keep this short, because the spacebar on this keyboard is tired. Today, I left the Atlantic Ocean in the rearview mirror and made my way North and West to begin the long journey back across the U.S. It was a good day of driving, except for the rain. Yep, once again, I pulled the rainsuit out of it's place, shook it out andwore it with pride.
Really, nothing too interesting happened today. I drove a lot of it. Had a few interactions with people, but nothing too significant. I plan on resting up, and tomorrow, heading West, back to Central time and maybe some visits to different places. We shall see.
That's it, for now. Miss you all!

Tim

Day 40, The beach, NASA and ... a window in my brain.

2008-08-13T15:03:00.000-05:00

Greetings All!
Well, much has happened again, since I last updated. I made it to Florida. Actually, right now, I just got back from sitting on the beach and swimming all day in Stuart, FL. I am slightly burned but very relaxed and salty. :) It was a great time though!

Yesterday, I went to Kennedy Space Center and toured around there all day which was awesome! For those of you who don't know, I have an absolute love for the space program and would have loved to get there and fly. Being at the space center brought back all those loves and visions and made me want to go and watch "Apollo 13." Honestly, I am still trying to reflect on what I saw and took pictures of, so I really don't have a lot to say about it, except that it was completely awesome seeing where the original rockets launched from and the bunkers that they did it out of, and then we saw the launch pads of Apollo and the Space Shuttle. To top it all off, I saw a Saturn V rocket up close and personal... it was a great day!

Actually, I have been reflecting a lot on something that I witnessed the other day on the beach in South Carolina. I was building a sand castle with some wonderful young children and soon, the tide was beginning to come in, so we had to build the walls higher and thicker to hold back the tide. They were calling mom and dad and grandma and grandpa and we were piling sand on this thing. Yet, as with all adults, we all knew the tide would win the war, but those kids believed in their hearts that if they kept piling sand and kept working, they could hold back the tide. I took a moment and thought about it. Isn't this what Jesus talked about when he said to have faith like a child?

As a children, we believed anything was possible. Our dad was the strongest fastest person in the world and could beat up any one else's dad. People should be able to fly; the stuffed animals had voices and feelings; I could win the world series any time I wanted, or make that game winning free throw... then something happened and we grow up and the word, "impossible", is brought to our vocabulary. Didn't Jesus do the impossible? Didn't his followers heal diseases and cast out demons and the Holy Spirit convert 3,000 people in one day? How many of us would call those things impossible? It seems that as we get older, we lose the ability to dream big. We lose the ability to envision something glorious and we lose the ability to dream, or even ask for, the "impossible" from God. Our brains very quickly see limits and very quickly only strive for those limits. But, what about God's limits? What?

I guess my big struggle is, what does it look like for me, a 23 year old, sinful, male to have faith like a child? How do I live my Christian life not knowing the word "impossible?" What do I do while following a God that isn't bound by anything? Maybe, all I can do is keep piling sand on the walls, knowing full well that my Father is the biggest and strongest and can hold back the tide, no matter how high. Just maybe.

Just some thoughts,

Tim

Day 38- So many thoughts, so little time...

2008-08-11T15:10:00.000-05:00

Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
The public library system has come through again! Yet, I cannot write for very long, because I have many miles which I wish to go yet today and it is already 4:16. Here's a brief synopsis of what has happened since I last blogged. I left Athens, GA and made my way over to Charleston, SC and camped there. The next day, Sunday, I went to church, which is the story I will write about. Then, I went down to Patriot's Point and upon arrival, I saw, on the deck of the U.S.S. Yorktown, they had and F-14 Tomcat. Now, for those of you who don't know, that is absolutely my favorite airplane! I had to go and see it. So, I got a pass and toured the Yorktown, and touched and took pictures of the Tomcat (amazing!) and toured a submarine, battleship and coast guard cutter.

After that, I took a ferry out to Ft. Sumter, the place where the first shots of the Civil War took place. Once again, an amazing historical place to visit.

But, I wanted to tell you about what happened Sunday and about the kindness of strangers. I showed up at a United Methodist Church at about 10 to 10 and saw the service didn't start until 11. Well, I really didn't want to stick around for an hour before church started. A lady soon hailed me and told me to come in, so I was caught. Upon going in, I was soon meeting many people and having a bible study before church, which was awesome! Then, I sat with her and her husband in church, where the Pastor proceeded to talk smack to me from the pulpit about not riding a Harly! It was crazy! But, I bet I met about 20-30 people who wished me God's blessings and I had 2 people give me their phone numbers if I had any trouble. That is amazing in it of itself! Well, then after the service, Faye and her husband (the couple who I sat with) asked if I had any plans for eating. "Not really." "Well, would you like to eat with us." "...well, sure why not." So, they took me out for shrimp and fries and we talked over dinner.

I had never been apart of a church that was so full of the love of Christ. They were honestly overflowing with love and joy for their Lord and I praise God for having met them. It was something completely unlooked for, but once again, God just amazed me with the power of his name, through is people.

There are so many thoughts that I want to write about, even from experiences playing on the beach this morning with relatives... but I better get going. There are many miles that I wish to cover yet.

Thank you so much for your prayers and for you support. Honestly, if it weren't for you praying and for the kindness of people along the way, both who I meet and who I stay with, I would have turned around long ago. So, Thank you all very much!!

Tim

Day 35

2008-08-08T08:23:00.000-05:00

Sorry, no picture and no interesting title. Basically, I am posting because the weekend is coming and if I am back on the road, there really aren't a lot of places to update. Libraries aren't usually open.

Anyway, my time here in Georgia has been very good so far. I have hung out with some great company and have gotten tours of Athens, GA. Yesterday, I washed the motorcycle and it amazed me how much dirt and grime got stuck to it. I know, I have traveled about 5,400 miles, so obviously, there's gonna be a lot of junk on it, but I forgot how much chrome actually shines when it is clean.

Last night, I even went golfing and, thanks to some advice from my uncle, the ball actually went where it was supposed to a few times. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

So, sometime, early next week, I will be down in Florida touring around and seeing how I can be used and then I will begin heading west again, back into the Central Time Zone. Crazy!

One thing that has been on my mind lately, has been my conversations with Lenard and Nazarene in the hospital. The point I hate most about this trip is that I keep moving because it would have been good to back and visit with them several times and actually get to know them. We had good conversations, well at least one of them, and I want to build on that, but long relationships aren't really an aspect of this trip. I guess, I can pray that God will use our meeting to spur something on them and on me to pull all three of us closer to himself. Anyway, that is one of my frustrations.

God bless you all!

Tim

Updated Picture Albums

2008-08-07T15:28:00.000-05:00

Greetings All from hot Georgia!
I updated my pictures again. The first link is to an album that has been posted already, but I put a few more pictures in it towards the end and the second link is a completely new album. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48747&l=f306d&id=713683254

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=49863&l=7c25f&id=713683254

Hospitals...sigh.

2008-08-06T12:06:00.001-05:00

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As of right now, I am in Clayton, GA and have been here for a while. It was a day where I didn't have far to travel, so I wanted to take advantage and meet some people.

I'm struggling with how to start this post... For a long time, I have reflected on Christ's teachings and the call to action that is so prevelant in scripture by Jesus, himself, along with the writings of Paul. In Matthew 25, Jesus talks about the sheep and the goats and how one group fed, clothed, took care of and visited, "the least of these brothers of mine." Anyway, I see these teachings, but look at my own life and don't see a lot of action involved in my faith, so I am constantly challenged by the words of Jesus.

Anyway, I just returned from a hospital. With my free time, I decided to find a hospital and ask if there were any patients that didn't have a lot of visitors. So, I showed up at the door and one of the volunteers pointed me towards the nurses station. I told them what I was up to and they said, "visit all of them!" Well, I walked down the hall and stopped in at one man's room. His name was Lenard and he was a cancer patient which I soon found out. I could tell that he didn't want company too much and by looking in his eyes, I could see the despair and pain. He was an older man that was very closed off. While asking questions, I did find out that he used to work construction finishing off houses and building cabinets. I did not feel a push to talk to him about religion and when his food came, I asked if he wanted me to stay and talk or not, and he said "no." So, I said "I'll be praying for you and God bless you, Lenard." It was a strange, awkward encounter, but one that gave me still another picture into the eyes of those we are called to love.

After leaving Lenard, I walked down the hall a few rooms and found this lady, Nazarene, who was much more willing to talk with me. I found out she was originally from Wisconsin, but moved to Georgia because they had good work for homeless people. Apparently, she was poor and was cleaning hotels and doing farm work, until she had health issues. While talking with her, she made some comment about witnessing to people, so I pushed her a little bit and soon, we were talking about religion. I found out that she believed in "the Almighty." It is tough for me to sum up what we talked about, because we talked about a lot, but she had some strange beliefs that I pushed her on a little bit. She did believe in Jesus and she did believe in creation and how we are supposed to take care of our own section of it, but she wasn't so up on the whole loving your neighbor thing. I asked her if she had a Bible and if she read it, and she did have one, and she had read it before, but she doesn't a whole lot. To me, Nararene seemed a little crazy (literally) and she didn't know a lot about the Bible or what it said, but she had a lot of the basics. Before I left, I asked if I could pray for her, and she said that was alright so, I prayed for her and then said "God Bless you and I hope to see you again when the Almighty comes to refine his creation and make it new." (We talked about refining and the end times quite a bit.)

Before I left, there was a volunteer who had helped me find the nurses station and he asked how things went. I said they went pretty good and then he asked me why I was doing this. This is the question I live for! Well, I told him straight up, "I'm a Christian and I believe that Jesus Christ came to love the hurting and the afflicted, and there are no more hurting people than in a hospital, rest home or prison, so that is why I am here." He loved that and thought it was so awesome that someone to do that and before I left, we exchanged, "God bless yous." and then I headed out the door.

That was my experience for the day and I just pray that somehow, the Holy Spirit worked in the volunteer, the nurses and/or the patients today. Give praise to God and go out into the fields, for the harvest is great, but the workers are few!

God bless you all!

Tim

Day 32, long since overdue

2008-08-05T12:48:00.000-05:00

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It has been a long time since I last posted, so hopefully, not too many of you gave up on me. :) I haven't really been in a place where I could blog in quite a while, so I am sorry.

I am now over one third of the way through: Day 32, 5200 miles done. Crazy. The motorcycle is running great except for a leaky fork seal. Yar.

Currently, I am in a little town just west of the Great Smoky Mountains, somewhere in Tennessee. Here is a basic catch-up of where I have been the last few days. From Washington, I went down to Norfolk, VA and saw "The Dark Knight" with some friends. Then, to Kitty Hawk, NC because you just have to if you love or know anything about flying. Then, West all the way across NC to Black Mountain for a nights stay in the mountains. Yesterday, a trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway to a campground on the mountain and today has been driving through the Great Smoky Mountains.

There is just too much to write about, so I will throw in a few random things about yesterday and today because I don't have enough time or space to write everything. Yesterday, I drove about 80 or so miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway and I have never said "wow" so many times in an 80 mile stretch of road. There were some awesome views, which obviously, camera's don't do justice. For those of you who ride motorcycle or bike, these roads were a lot of fun to ride. It was up and down, over mountains, through tunnels, cutting left and right, accelerating and coasting... just a lot of fun.

My devotions times have been pretty good lately, probably mainly because I have actually been disciplining myself to do it. Since I am one third of the way through the trip, I recounted what happened and I realized how I haven't done a whole lot on a spiritual basis. Through prayer, I realize that I need to throw myself out there more and talk with people. So, last night, I was in a campground and I noticed the family next to me had prayed at supper. I went over there about 9 or so and thanked them for helping me earlier (they gave me some bread) and then I started talking with them and soon, our conversation led into spiritual matters. They were a great Christian family who was willing to help me and I had a great time talking with them about creation and how paths cross. We quoted some scripture and just sat around the fire and looked at the starts. Truly, it was amazing.

We shall see what the next few days bring. I am going to try and be more direct in ministering to people, so please pray about that. From here, I head south again towards Athens, GA and then back to the east coast and down to Florida. That's the plan.

Hopefully, I won't wait so long to blog next time! Thank you so much for all your prayers and support and I miss seeing you and hearing your voices!
God bless,

Tim

Post overload from last night to today! Pictures from today...

2008-07-31T19:22:00.001-05:00

Here are more pictures from Washington D.C. today. I also finally posted and wrote a little about the last few days, so don't miss that! Hope the Lord is continuing to bless you all!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48747&l=f306d&id=713683254

The Last Day of July... a catch-up post.

2008-07-31T17:24:00.000-05:00

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It has been a long time since I have posted, so I am sorry for that. Actually, it is tough for me to remember what I last wrote about. I believe, I was in Philadelphia, after getting held up by the rain. Well, since then, much travelling and sightseeing has happened.

I don't even know where to start because I have seen so many things. I eventually did go downtown Philadelphia, as you can see in my pictures and I got to experience some of the history of out country. Being in Liberty Hall really creates a feeling of respect for the men that started this country. According to the world's standards, we are still young as a nation, but even so, to stand in a 200 whatever year old building, in the room where our nation began, was very humbling. After touring some more things in Philadelphia, I rode out towards Gettysburg and I want to write a little bit about that ride.

As I was riding out, I was kind of complaining. Now, obviously, I'm complaining in my head, because there is no human being on the cycle to complain to. On that ride, I believe I was complaining about the traffic and how this trip isn't going as I planned and how the timing keeps getting thrown off by different things and other such complaints as that. Well, about that time, God smacked me with a revelation. He showed me how much complaining I was doing and how I fell I need to be in control of everything. I thought about it and realized it to be true. I don't really trust in God's time. I trust in my time and I want things to happen my way and in my time and I realized how selfish I was. God nailed me in between the eyes and there was nothing I could do but reflect on it, pray about it, try to make a conscious effort to change and then sit back and worship God, the one who points out our faults, in one way or another. Since then, I still struggle with handing things over to God, and I will continue to do so because people don't change that fast, but at least I am aware of it. So, that was one good, challenging ride.

Anyway, a little continuation. I got out to Gettysburg, but it was late in the evening, so I found a campsite and hung out there, relaxing around the fire. The next day, I got up early and headed for Gettysburg. Again, another historic place where many, many Americans lost their lives. Truly, it was one of the darkest moments of our country. Six thousand acres of battlefield; of brother killing brother and cousin killing cousin. There are no words to describe.

From Gettysburg, I headed south crossing through Maryland, West Virginia, into Virginia and to Shenandoah National Park. It was early afternoon and very warm, but soon, I was driving the skyline drive and it was cool in the forest. Man, what a view! It was rather hazy, but still. I could only ride about 30 miles or so of the skyline drive because I needed to get to Washington D.C. that night, so, after a brief break from the cities, I headed back.

All this happened on Tuesday. So, on Tuesday night, I arrived in Washington. Since then, I have been touring the city. Tuesday night, I got to see the Capital, Washington Memorial, World War II Memorial, Korean War Memorial and the FDR Memorial all lit up in the night. They are beautiful! I believe I posted a few pictures. Wednesday, I was at the National Air and Space Museum most of the day, then went to the National Archives and saw the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constituation along with the Magna Carta. Today, I went back into the city and toured the Holocost Museum and walked through all the war memorials in the daylight and also visited the Lincoln Memorial, White House, Arrlington Cemetary and the Pentagon. So, it was a lot of walking, but I made it and am back to relax a little.

Tomorrow, I hit the road again and make for Norfolk, VA. Hopefully, that post isn't too long for you and hopefully it got you caught back up. I have a few more things to write, but I will leave it at that.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and God bless you all!

Tim

More Pictures

2008-07-30T20:23:00.000-05:00

Okay guys.... I promise, I will tell what has been happening the last few days, but first, here are a bunch of pictures. Again, these are a select few. My camera now holds 681 total pictures.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48610&l=85642&id=713683254

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48612&l=8d2d4&id=713683254

Great ride today

2008-07-29T19:21:00.000-05:00

Greetings friends!
This is a quick update just to tell you that I had a great day of riding and saw Gettysburg this morning, drove through some of Shenendoah (however you spell that) and am now in the suburbs of Washington D.C. So, it was hot, no rain and some beautiful scenery. I will give more details later.
God bless you all!

Tim