More New Music, Books and Videos

After a trip to Fort Dodge with my family and a little post-Christmas gift card usage, our collection of assorted media has expanded a bit more. "Modern Times" by Bob Dylan, "Continuum" by John Mayer, "Mute Math" by Mute Math and assorted downloads from U2 and Green Day, Wynton Marsalis and others comprised the music. "Lost: Season 2" and "The Tick: Season 1" (the cartoon, not the ill fated live action series) were added to the video library and Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven, But Nobody Wants to Die: or (the eschatology of bluegrass) by David Crowder and Mike Hogan, (Re)Understanding Prayer by Kyle Lake and Stand Against the Wind by Erwin Raphael McManus are now sitting on the book shelf.

It will take hours to take it all in and I look forward to every minute of it. Once I've absorbed a few things, I'll have to let you know what I thought.

New Music

One of the most anticipated things on my Christmas list this year has been new music. When I was a music student I purchased CD's often since listening to great musicians is one of the foundations of becoming a great musician yourself. When we were at Hanfield, I purchased a lot of new music because we needed to be exposed to a variety of resources that might be used in corporate music.

Lack of excuse (and lack of funding) have found my music collection growing much more slowly these days, but it did grow by two CD's yesterday in Yankton. I was given "See the Morning" by Chris Tomlin and "Oh! Gravity" by Switchfoot by my loving in-laws after not buying any new music in four months. I sort of suspected that I'd get the Tomlin CD since Marilyn flat out told me not to buy it at Thanksgiving, but the Switchfoot CD was a surprise since it does not release until Tuesday. One of the advantages of pre-orders is that they sometimes arrive a touch early and give you a few days to gloat that you are only one of a handful of people to have access to a new project.

I also received a gift card from Target from Casey and Heidi and expect that I'll probably pick up another CD with it after the holidays. I love new music!

Proud or embarrassed?

Xander has put his shirt on backwards the last three days in a row. This is not an uncommon occurrence in the least. Usually, I notice right away, tell him about it and he laughs a slightly embarrassed laugh while he turns his shirt around the right way. Not this morning.

He was determined that he was going to keep it on the way that he put it on when I told him it was on backwards and when Amy told him two minutes later. He stuck to his guns and wore it that way all the way to school.

As I dropped him off, I wasn't sure if I should be proud of him for making a stand and sticking with it or embarrassed that my son doesn't know how to put his shirt on the right way. I opted for proud, figuring there are far more important things to be uptight about than clothing.

For the record, when I got home from work I noticed that he had turned the shirt around. I asked him when he did it and he told me, "When I got to my locker."

NFL is on my list...

After pro cycling, NFL football is easily my favorite sport to watch and/or listen to. The NFL is really starting to tick me off though as they continue to chip away at my access to games. I recognize that the NFL is a business and, as such, needs to continue to explore avenues to increase revenue, but it's image as a blue collar friend of the people is eroding quickly as they become more proprietary toward their properties.

Since we moved to Sioux Falls, we have been on a much more restricted budget. The only technology that we allow ourselves is high speed internet access because of the way that we use the computer in our house. That means no cable and no dish, which in turn means no Monday Night Football, no games broadcast on the NFL Network and no access to Direct TV Sunday Ticket which allows you to watch the games you want to watch instead of the featured network or regional games on local TV.

Today, I'm stuck with NY Giants/Philly as my only late game on local TV. An important matchup to be sure, but neither team interests me and my beloved, beleaguered Broncos are playing for their playoff lives. I used to be able to hop online, log onto KOA radio's broadcast as the local carrier of Denver Broncos' football and at least listen to the game. Not today. The NFL has apparently finally managed to silence every voice that does not produce revenue for them and you now have to subscribe to their Field Pass program to listen to games for a subscription fee.

Thanks, NFL for continuing to make your league less accessible for low income fans while finding more ways to make millions.

Surprise Visit

I was at work the other night when I had a surprise visit from Patricia, my friend and former co-worker from Citibank (see previous post "Great Night At Work"). I hadn't seen her since this summer and she was actually a bit surprised to see that I was still working in the shop. Over the summer we were pursuing jobs in a number of different locations and it seemed like we might wind up leaving Sioux Falls, but God clearly closed every door along the way either by not offering us the job or telling us not to pursue it.

It was nice to catch up with Patricia a bit and I even had the opportunity to invite her to our new church. Mercy has pens that they encourage us to take and "lose" in order to spread the word about the church, so I had taken one to use in the shop until I was able to lose it. I gave it to Patricia in the hope that she might take me up on the invite and visit sometime.

Celebrating Christmas

This weekend begins our annual making of the rounds to celebrate Christmas with everybody. I'm really not complaining. It used to be that we had to squeeze it all into a week of vacation with three or four places of destination. Now it's a day in Mitchell (tomorrow), a day in Yankton (the following Saturday) and Christmas day in Fort Dodge at my Grandpa and grandma's' house. Some people would cringe at such a schedule, but I'm really looking forward to it.

I have to admit that Fort Dodge Christmases hold a favored, biased status in my esteem since it was where I spent every Christmas I remember growing up and several since. Fort Dodge holds memories of sleeping on the couch by the tree, sledding down the hill at the Crestview house and time with grandparents (both sides of the family live there), extended family and other family friends who were a regular part of the experience.

This Christmas will be uniquely special in that we will celebrate our first Christmas with Mercy Church. We get to lead on the morning of Christmas Eve and then will combine with the congregation of Good Shepherd Community Church (where we meet) for an evening Christmas Eve service. I'm looking forward to watching new memories created and hope that there will be moments in this season that stick in the minds of our kids over the years to come.

Easy Like a Wednesday Morning

I'm finding my affection for Wednesday growing by the week since it is the one day that I am guaranteed to have off. I get to sleep in a bit, see Amy for a few minutes before she goes to teach and then spend the day with Maia and Xander (after I pick him up from school). When Amy gets home, I go teach my one trumpet lesson for the week and then we cap the night off with dinner and Bible study at Mercy. The dinner and Bible study have given us a chance to get to know a few folks other than those that volunteer with us. The fact that we don't have to prepare a meal on Wednesdays is a bonus.

We're still getting acclimated to leadership at Mercy. Shel is finishing his final semester of seminary and we have yet to hit a rhythm in terms of our planning for services, so the hope is that we'll all be able to breathe a bit easier and settle into a groove after the first of the year. Amy and I will have the month of January to see how we can adjust our schedules before we start up at USF again in February in order to free up some time to actually do some planning with Shel. It's hard enough for me to find time to get together to plan with Amy sometimes.

It's definitely a different ballgame trying to lead a ministry while carrying a full time job outside the church. I miss having the luxury of being able to communicate with people throughout the day about service plans, songs, rehearsal schedules and other things and have found that it's been harder to get the pulse of the congregation because our communication is minimal. We're still uncertain of which songs the congregation knows and which ones they don't which plays a big role in congregational engagement in a service. We keep getting a little closer to feeling like we're on the same page, but it's certainly taking longer than we would have liked.

The plus of having a job outside the church and being in a ministry position is that I actually have relationships with people in the community that don't go to church. I am much more aware of representing Christ in an authentic way knowing that the guys that I work with are drawing conclusions about what Jesus is about based on the way that I behave, what I say and what my attitude is like in the shop. I think about it every day and continue to pray that God will give me peace and patience and help me to represent Him well.

The thing that I am most excited about with this whole arrangement is that Mercy is actually a place where I will invite the guys I work with to come to church. New Hope Family (where we were attending) is a good church, but I can't think of a single guy that I work with that would feel the least bit comfortable there. I think that some of the guys will at least visit Mercy and some may even find that it is a place that they would feel comfortable exploring issues of faith and God and would be free to ask any questions they may have.

I'm excited to see what's ahead.

If I'm not careful, I might just turn out to be a bike mechanic

Last night was a fun night at work for me. There hasn't been a lot to do with the gap between cycling season and snow season in the shop, but we had a guy stop in wanting us to check out a bike he bought from us six months ago. Rob talked with the guy at the counter while I was busy doing something else, but I overheard enough of the conversation to know that his bike was creaking when he really pounded the pedals and another shop told him that the pedals were the problem.

I started in on the bike about ten minutes after the guy left and gave it the once over. Everything seemed to be working okay, but when I rode the bike in our freight room, it creaked anytime I stood on the pedals and really cranked on them. I showed Rob how easy it was to make the sound and we were both pretty convinced that it probably had something to do with his bottom bracket.

Now, normally my tendency would have been to ask one of the more experienced mechanics for their opinion. Only problem was, I was the most experienced mechanic. I decided to take the crank arms off and remove the bottom bracket to see what we'd find. It took a little doing to remove everything, but once we did, we found several metal shavings in the bottom bracket shell which would easily be enough to make the noise we were hearing.

We cleaned things out, regreased the bottom bracket and threw everything back together. I hopped on and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the bike to creak. It was a more invasive surgery on a bike than I normally get to do, so there was definitely a sense of accomplishment. I figured, at the very least, Rob and I could claim to be smarter than the guys at the other shop that thought it was the pedals.

If I'm not careful, I might just turn out to be a bike mechanic.

A New Start

This week is our first week as part time staff at Mercy Church. I keep getting asked if I'm excited and I'm not sure exactly how to answer. There is certainly a sense of excitement in stepping into something new that seems such an answer to prayer. There is also a certain sense of apprehension. I think the best comparison I've been able to come up with so far is that it's kind of like meeting members of your spouse's family for the first time after the wedding. There's a sense of understanding that we are joining a family and the usual concerns about what they will think of us and how well we will get along.

There's also the initial unease, mostly on my part, of giving structure to the ministry and setting up routines that will help us communicate with volunteers and other staff so that we're not always living this week to week, moment by moment existence where ministry is concerned. I'm all for flexibility, but a healthy framework allows for greater freedom to be flexible. Right now we aren't aware of what processes are already in place and so it's hard for us to just step into the flow of things this week and feel as though we are on top of things. I know this will get better, but I'd like to make a good first impression.

This change for us is a bit different in one other way; nothing else is changing. Since God called us into ministry, it has been a central focus for us. Ministry change has, to this point, meant greater changes (a move to Indiana, a move to South Dakota). This time, nothing else changes. We are living in the same house, working in the same places for our primary sources of income, Xander will be going to the same school... The only difference is in the area of our greatest passion and purpose.

I'm sure that my apprehensions and feelings about transition will be resolved shortly as we begin to enter into the life flow of a new Church family. More than anything, I feel grateful to God for helping us tread water for the last two years in sometimes choppy seas so that we could come to the point where we feel as though we are taking the first steps into why we were called here in the first place. I feel like our feet have just hit the sandy sea bed and we're making our way to the shore, a few awkward steps at a time. Soon we'll be on dry land and can begin to explore our new surroundings.

Too Nice to Work

I took a half day of vacation today since there was nothing to do in the shop and it was too beautiful a day to not spend at least part of it on the bike. I knocked out 22 miles with a fairly decent average speed on a day where the standard geek/chic bike jersey and shorts combo was sufficient apparel for the elements. Not a long way, but enough to get the blood pumping and dislodge some of the Halloween chocolate from my system. In actuality, I needed to get back fairly quickly so Amy could pick Xander up from school and play for a departmental recital at USF without the kids in tow.

I love having a job where needing to go for a bike ride is a legit excuse for leaving early. The fact that I could still get paid the time that I was gone was just icing.

Free Derek Webb

I have been meaning to write about this for weeks! Derek Webb, formerly of Caedmon's Call and one of the most honest songwriters that I have encountered is offering his latest album Mockingbird for FREE download here.

I downloaded this album as soon as it was released last year (for full price) because I believe Derek to be a great example of artistry in his desire to explore his craft as well as being a prophetic voice to the Church. You may not agree with everything that he says, but I would highly encourage you to download the album for free and spend a few weeks listening to it and see if it doesn't challenge you to think more critically about your faith and the state of faith in sub-cultural American Christianity.

There but by the grace of God...

I have to admit that I was stunned when I first read the accusations against Ted Haggard the last few days and have been online regularly to follow the story. If you aren't aware of it, Haggard was the pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs who was accused this week of hiring a male prostitute among other things outlined here. I don't know that we'll ever know the full extent of the truth of the accusations brought against him or whether a full, honest admission will be forthcoming, but my heart breaks for him, his family and New Life Church.

More than anything, this has had me reflecting on how desperate our need of God actually is. I may not suffer the same afflictions as Ted Haggard, but I am just as capable of pursuing sin to the point of self destruction. "There but by the grace of God go I" is the first thing that pops into my head when I hear about the failings of other Christians. These are moments when I pray more desperately for the filling of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of self control and the wisdom to avoid the snares of the enemy.

My prayer is that Haggard will be restored to his family and in his relationship with God. I also pray that this situation will cause more of us to seek genuine accountability where our sinful desires can die early deaths as we share our struggles in loving community. Being honest about our sin is one of our best tools to overcoming it.

Job Offer

I got a call from Shel from Mercy Church today and they are interested in hiring us for the worship position that we interviewed for over the weekend. It would be about quarter time for a two month trial period after which we would assess whether to continue on or not. I tried to say "yes" but Shel wants me to talk about it with Amy and pray about it. We've been praying for four months, so I suppose a few days more won't hurt.

It's nice to feel like maybe we're at the start of something we've been praying for.

Two Days of Mercy

Amy and I spent the weekend with our new friends at Mercy Church in Sioux Falls to lead worship and discuss the possibility of partnering in ministry. Mercy is a one year old church plant led by Pastor Shel Boese that is affiliated with the Christian Missionary Alliance. The church has grown from a core group of about 15 to about 75-100 in weekly attendance and is a greatly diverse group of people.

I actually came to know a bit about the church from my friend Tory Larson who worked with Shel's mom in Yankton. The more I talked with Tory, the more interested I became in what Mercy was doing. When I saw a part time worship position listed with them this summer, I was definitely interested in starting a conversation to see where it might lead.

Over the past four months I've traded emails with Shel, I visited Mercy for a service, Amy visited Mercy for a service and I had coffee with Shel in August to talk a bit. All of that initial getting to know you led to this past weekend where we had a chance to immerse ourselves in the community for a weekend and interview for the position.

Saturday kicked off with us sending the kids to Yankton with Jim and Marilyn so that Amy and I could head to the church to rehearse with the team. The church actually meets in another church's building and still has some of the tension of needing to set up and tear down a lot so as to coexist with the host congregation, so set up took a bit of time and over the course of about an hour we got to meet team members and get set up. It was nice to be able to hang out with Larry, Bobbie, Nick, Greg and Cory before rehearsal a little and see how they function in getting things set up. Amy and I tried to stay out of the way in order to not complicate matters and after getting some levels set, we were ready to dig in.

Leading a rehearsal with musicians that are used to working together is always a bit tricky since they have already developed their own musical language, but I love to make rehearsals a collaborative effort and was really blessed by the ideas, energy and creativity that the team brought to the table. They are really great musicians and were a joy to play with. We worked through the songs for Sunday's service in pretty short order and I felt solid about where we were at as a team. After rehearsal, Amy and I headed to Chili's with Shel for a late lunch and more conversation.

One of the concerns that I had for the weekend was whether my voice would hold or not. I had picked up a cold earlier in the week and by Saturday I definitely didn't have much strength or endurance. I played it safe in spots in the rehearsal hoping to not overtax things. When I woke up Sunday morning, I felt even worse. Even so, I felt peaceful about everything. In the days leading up, I came to the conclusion that if God was in this, nothing was going to stop it. So, voice or not, we were going to rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal whether or not we were meant to partner together.

We got to the church at 10:00 to set up and sound check for the 10:45 service and again tried to not complicate the set up process too much. It wasn't until we started that I got an idea of how I was going to sound. We started a few songs to set some levels in a truer sound check than we're used to on a Sunday morning. We've always been a little spoiled in that we've been able to use sound checks as last second rehearsals with teams at Hanfield and New Hope. Here we didn't have the time, but we didn't need it either.

Shel provided a welcome and we read a Psalm together as a Call to Worship before Nick started his U2-esque intro to "I am Free". It took no time at all to see that this is a worshipping congregation! They sang and responded enthusiastically throughout the morning and were an active part of every part of the service. Next, we introduced "You Never Let Go" by Matt Redman which the church hadn't done before. We sang of God's faithfulness together and by the end of the song, we were deep into worship. At that point, we were supposed to have another Lectionary reading, but Shel signaled that we should just keep going, so we went on to "Come, Thou Fount" with Amy's signature Irish flute introduction giving way to a roaring full band sound. After "Come, Thou Fount" we transitioned into a time of free worship where people could respond to God in spontaneous song. I prayed in song for God to give us a vision of him like that of Isaiah which led into pieces of "Holy, Holy, Holy" before finally landing on "Better is One Day". At that point, Shel transitioned us into a time of spontaneous worship followed by prayer and offering before Shel's message. Shel spoke on Christian decision making and it was really good stuff. We were definitely able to relate a lot of what he said to the journey that we've been on over the last two years and it felt like more confirmation from the Lord that we're on the right track. We closed with a ministry time with prayer counselors available and sang "You Never Let Go" again.

Overall, we had a great time! Musically, things went really well and ministry-wise I felt like things went better than we could have hoped. God moved powerfully through the course of the service and we were just blessed to be a part of it. We got to talk to several folks afterward and it was nice to get to know a little more of the heart and character of the community through conversation.

We headed home for lunch and then back again at 2:00 for a sit down interview with members of the vision team and Shel. It was nice that we were able to do that together because Amy and I definitely are a team in ministry. I was blessed by how she brought clarity to some of my more wordy responses and we had fun playing off of each other in trying to express our hearts.

We headed home feeling good about how the weekend went. Shel and the vision team were going to meet for awhile after we left and then Shel was going to need to talk to other team members that were unable to make the interview session. He said he'll give us a call sometime this week to let us know where we go from here.

God has taught us to hold things loosely over the last two years, so if He calls the whole thing off, we'll accept that and move on. But we would really love to be a part of what Mercy is doing in Sioux Falls and both feel like we're being released into something for the first time since we moved here. Regardless of where this leads, we are grateful for the opportunity that we had this weekend to share in ministry with a great community of believers.

Busy Weekend

We rolled into town last night at about 8:30 after a weekend at Mom and Dad's for the Artisans Road Trip. They hosted a display of Dad's drawings, paintings, photos and other artwork in the "Crib Gallery", (their old, converted corn crib) on Saturday and Sunday. We took the opportunity to lead worship with our friend Amy Scheaffer (Amy Lu) in Sheldon since we were only 30 miles away.

In order to get us out the door in good shape, I left work early on Friday only to discover that Xander had come home with pink eye. He was unwilling/unable to open his eyes by the time we rolled out of town, but kept a pretty good attitude about the whole thing. When we got to the farm, we plopped Xander on the couch and let him listen to the TV for awhile. Rena and her girls got there a little later and by the time we all went to bed, the house was pretty much full.

Saturday morning we were set to rehearse with the worship team in Sheldon and got Xander and Maia settled in before we left. Rehearsal went well considering we threw a few new things at the team and had only worked previously with Amy Lu and that was years ago and in a completely different setting.

We got back to the farm, ate too much food and hung out with friends and family in the house and in the crib while the few patrons that braved the cool temps perused the art. Grandpa and Grandma Svaleson had come up from Fort Dodge and it was good to catch up with them some. Thankfully, Xander had opened his eyes while we were gone and was very active the rest of the weekend playing with Lexi. The show wrapped up around 5:00 and we continued with the feasting and family time into the night.

Sunday morning was a near repeat of Saturday in getting Maia and Xander up and dressed before driving to Sheldon. We had fun leading worship in a different environment and the team did a great job of remembering the things we had worked on the previous day. Their congregation is a young one in terms of how long the church has been around, but there was some great worship and we were blessed to be allowed to be a part of it.

We headed back to the farm for more food and family where Xander and Lexi continued to wear each other out while Maia fed the sheep, watched movies, napped and did other things that Maia does. The temps were a bit more favorable, as was the wind direction, and there were quite a few more folks at the show than the previous day. Jim and Marilyn arrived early in the afternoon, said "hi" to the kiddos, took Amy to Peterson to see another part of the Road Trip and then came back to hang out for most of the afternoon.

The show seemed to be winding down and we started trekking food back to the house at about 4:30 when my Uncle Marv and Aunt Shirley rolled in just before 5:00. They weren't the last visitors to arrive though as another car pulled up a short time later.

We had a good visit with Marv and Shirley over supper and were back on the road to Sioux Falls before 7:00. Xander fell asleep almost immediately and Maia was wired all the way home. We all got to bed in the hopes of recovering and reorienting ourselves to our routines. A birthday party in Mitchell for Chase and leading/interviewing at Mercy Church this weekend should keep us on our toes though. Normality will have to wait for another time.

Church Job Search Update

After several months of sporadic conversation, we are finally scheduled to go lead worship at Mercy Church in a few weeks. We will lead a rehearsal and a service and have an interview session with their search team all in the same weekend. They've been taking their time with the hiring process since the person they hired last year didn't even make it six months. They're a bit gun shy after that experience and want to make sure that they don't make a rushed decision.

It would only be part time (probably 10 hours a week or less), but would be a nice place to get back into ministry. They are a Christian Missionary Alliance Church which means they are a bit more to the Pentecostal end of the spectrum than Hanfield was, but this is still South Dakota, so it promises to be a more stoic Pentecostal setting.

After having visited over the summer, it seems like a place where we would have a bit of freedom in terms of our personal worship styles. As much as I loved Hanfield, I almost always felt like I was holding back. It was a good thing because I learned a lot about a worship leader's need to be submissive to the needs of a congregation, but there were a lot of occasions where I really wanted to lead without feeling like a filtered version of myself. While I recognize that submission and humility are a part of leadership, Mercy seems like a place that would be a more natural fit for my personality.

As usual, I'm trying not to get ahead of things. God has called us off from several ministry opportunities in the last year and this one could turn out to be another place where God has other plans. It's still fun to dream a bit.

I Know There's a Trumpet Lying Around Here Somewhere

In a strange turn of events, I get to be a trumpet teacher again. USF has one student wanting to take lessons and after thoroughly exhausting all other avenues, I will be the Adjunct Professor of Trumpet. I've known about the possibility for a few weeks and have been trying to get myself back into a routine so that I don't completely embarrass myself. I had stopped playing altogether after having my wisdom teeth out earlier this year and developing a "sinus hole" that meant I couldn't even blow my nose for the better part of a month.

I spent a little time digging out all my old books and came across several that I had forgotten years ago. I still have at least one to find that we could probably spend the duration of the student's college career focusing on, but otherwise feel almost ready to start.

Now to figure out a schedule...

I'm Older Than I've Ever Been...And Now I'm Even Older

Working in a bike shop, okay, service shop, has it's upside. The downside is that I am constantly surrounded with reminders that the shop is a young man's game. I am the oldest in the shop by nearly ten years, but still get to do all the fun stuff the kids get to do...like deliveries.

Taylor (19 year old college student) and I had to deliver a treadmill and elliptical machine to one place in town and then another elliptical of gargantuan status to another customer out of town yesterday. I opted to go since there was nothing to do in the shop and we loaded up the box truck and pulled out.

We arrived at the first place and the customer said that whoever sold him the stuff said that we'd haul his old treadmill out for him as well. This was not the most pleasant of surprises as everything that we did required a flight of narrow basement stairs and a sharp, 180 degree corner with lots of breakable stuff at the bottom. By the time Taylor and I got the old treadmill out, I was already sweating like a chubby Elvis and ruing my decision to do deliveries.

The elliptical made me nervous because of the tight corner. The arms on the machine extend pretty far up and I didn't know whether we had a prayer of getting the thing through or not. We hit the bottom of the stairs and were pleasantly surprised that the corner proved no problem.

The new treadmill was another matter entirely. It is one of those units that folds somewhat flat when stored, but weighs a ton (not surprising to anyone that's owned an even half-way decent treadmill). We had hoped to carry it flat through the door frame, but that proved impossible as, even with the door off, we would have been probably about four inches short of space. This meant we needed to take it through and down the stairs sideways.

The motor on a treadmill sits completely on one end of the unit and weighs roughly the same as a refrigerator. When the unit is tipped on its side, all of that weight kicks to one side and makes is about as easy to handle as my dad's old classic pickup (without power steering) careening down a series of switchbacks on an Alpine slope with the brake line cut. I can still see the marks on my hands where all of the weight of the unit was concentrated while we worked it down the stairs.

Somehow we made it out of there with no property damage.

We hit the other delivery in good time after about a 45 minute drive and were pleased to see that even though it was a two story house, we had ground level access either way. Even though that machine weighed significantly more than the other three we had maneuvered already, the elliptical proved a very easy delivery.

We were back to the shop before 8:00 and then had the joy of moving a Bowflex machine to the floor for display and an air hockey/pool table that is a testament to how a poorly designed, poorly constructed piece of game equipment can ruin what is actually a fairly creative idea.

By the time I rolled into the house, my back was screaming. Amy, my compassionate, lovely bride, did her best to work the ache and strain out of my back before we turned in for the evening, but I knew that I'd still be paying for the effort today. I am and I fear what I might have felt like today without Amy's intervention.

I think I may have to leave the heavy lifting to all the young bucks in the shop from here on out.

Recent Reading

I've been reading "The Christ of the Indian Road" by E. Stanley Jones off and on for the last few months and came across something this morning that called to mind Philippians 4:8. Verses 4-9 read:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

This is a passage that God continues to bring to my mouth for my sake and for the sake of others because of the anxiety that comes with living, but I often stop at verse seven before all of the "whatevers". Here's what I read this morning:

In the language of Matthew Arnold, "Jesus is an Ultimate."

Start in at the thing that you know is worth-while and follow it back to its final form and see where it lands you. For instance, love is a worth-while thing in life. We ought to love. Then trace love back to its ultimate kind and you will not be far from Him who loved as never man loved. If purity is a good thing, then start with it and go on back and see what kind of ultimate purity it brings you to, and you will find yourself looking into the eyes of Him who was "the Purest among the mighty and the Mightiest among the pure." If self-sacrifice is life's most noble quality, then run it back to its finest type and you will find yourself gazing upon a cross.

I have to admit that verse eight has often been a tool for me to reorient my thinking so that I would stop thinking about things that were not noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. I have seen the verse as a simple form of behavior modification through thought reorientation. While I believe that it has been helpful as such, the words of E. Stanley Jones bring me to something altogether different.

His recommendation to pursue the good back to its root to find the ultimate is, I believe, a huge part of what Paul intended the readers in Philippi to understand. "These things" are a good pursuit in themselves as they will lead to right living, but "these things" are also a magnifier of the person of God. If we will delve into what it is that makes things noble, right, pure..., at the core will be a greater revelation of the character and heart of God.

There are several other things that I hope to share from this book over the coming weeks that are extremely relevant to today's Christianity. It amazes me how some of the issues that E. Stanley Jones wrote about in 1925 still speak a prophetic word to the Church today.

The End of My Blogging Sabbatical

I didn't necessarily make a decision to stop writing for a period of time, but found that every time I sat down to write, even if I had something in mind, I would just blank. Rather than writing for the sake of writing, I opted to simply take a break. Last week it hit me that today would mark one month since my last post, so I decided on today as my unofficial relaunch into the blogosphere.

A lot has happened in the last month, but not a great deal has changed. Other than Amy starting at USF a few weeks ago, major change has not been afoot, but has been bubbling under the surface. We're continuing to wait for a chance to go interview at the church that I applied at in June. They've been extremely busy and we just haven't been able to find a date. Patience has been the key for me over the last 18 months and the lessons that I've learned must have sunk in at least a little bit. I feel a peace about the pacing of things and know that even if everything seems ideal that God may have another plan.

Things with the house in Marion have continued to move through various cycles of activity and inactivity and we're back to the activity portion of things again as we just heard yesterday from a friend who is a missionary and may be interested in the house for their frequent visits back to Marion. We've seen interest before and been disappointed, so I'm trusting again that it will happen if it's supposed to.

We also had a chance to lead worship and speak at the Sheldon Church of the Brethren on Sunday which gave us an excuse to spend the weekend with my folks. We had a good time hanging out at the farm, eating raspberries in various forms and just decompressing. Well, we had a good time until the last 45 minutes when Xander decided that life was not offering him all he deserved and that he should just invest his energy in hacking everybody off. It was a brilliant plan on his part to try to gain our sympathies by trying to make us feel sorry for him, but it backfired horribly as each new attempt brought harsher consequences. By the time we left and got home, everything was fine. We're chalking it up to too little sleep, a little sickness and too much time being exposed to the manipulation ploys and temper tantrums of other first graders. Unfortunately, math and reading aren't the only things that a kid learns at school.

Things at work continue to plug away. We are firmly out of cycling season and are seeing more winter sport activity coming on. We do snow boards, skis, sharpen skate blades, drill holes in bowling balls and all sorts of other things that I have never even conceived of doing. I'll have to learn an entirely new skill set to get through the winter and it's almost like being a new employee all over again. I did build a bike last night while the other guys were on deliveries, just to have something to do, but there is little going on in bike land these days.

To compensate for the end of the season, I've started riding my mountain bike to work in a vain attempt to pick up a few more miles. A round trip winds up being 6.7 miles, so If I do that three times a week, I pick up an extra 20 miles a week that I would have missed otherwise. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep it up (South Dakota weather being what it is), but it only takes me about five minutes longer to get to work by bike than it does by car.

I've also started ordering and stockpiling new cold weather gear to pick up from work over the next few months so I can brave the weather a little more often this winter. Last year, my 2:00-midnight schedule killed any chance of winter riding. This year it will still be hard to pull off too much riding, but I may be able to sneak a 25 mile ride in every once in a while so that when spring hits I won't be quite as much of a slug.

Other thoughts are percolating and may even be written about at some point. Unless I decide to take another month off.

Cycling News

In what will hopefully be a return to normalcy for the sport of cycling, the Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) began yesterday. For those unfamiliar with the sport, the Vuelta is one of the three "grand tours" with the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) and the Tour de France and lasts three weeks. I love the grand tours as there are usually so many stories that unfold over the course of three weeks and there are a lot of moments where heroes are born and legends are solidified. Unfortunately, over the last twelve months, they have also been the places where cycling's darkest moments have occurred.

Obviously, there's the whole Floyd Landis, Tour de France mess which followed closely on the heels of a Spanish investigation that cast doubt as to the integrity of several top riders that led to the decision, by their teams, to remove them from the race before it ever started. But, lesser known to the general sports enthusiast, is the fact that last year's Vuelta champ, Roberto Heras, underwent a similar experience. After winning the Vuelta, it came to light that he tested positive for a banned substance during the race, went through the court process and had his victory stripped from him and given to Denis Menchov who had finished second. Add to that the fact that this year's Giro winner (Ivan Basso) was implicated in the Spanish investigation and the three most high profile events for cycling in the last year all had a doping scandal involving the winner of the race.

My hope is that the Vuelta this year will be the first step in a new era of cycling where riders clean up, as much for the good of the sport as for fear of getting caught. The sport is one of great beauty where the achievements of the riders are amazing feats to watch. Unfortunately, the thought of always having to wonder as to the authenticity of the performances turned in makes it hard to enjoy a race as it happens. It seems that you have to wait until about two weeks after the race before you can really enjoy the results.

I have been a fan of pro cycling for almost 20 years and hope to be able to be so for the rest of my life. Hopefully the riders will make it easy for me by securing a clean future for the sport.

Maynard Ferguson Dies

Growing up as a young trumpet player (some of you probably didn't realize that is my native instrument), I couldn't help but be mesmerized by Maynard Ferguson. He was probably best known for the theme from "Rocky" than for anything else, but was much more than a one hit wonder. He was one of the most renowned lead trumpet players in the history of the big band, was a great showman with incredible range who attracted great talent for his own bands and was an active clinician and educator.

I saw Maynard on a few different occasions and always left inspired to work harder and play higher. No, he wasn't the greatest jazz trumpet player I ever heard, but there was something about him that ignited the imagination and left me wanting to be a better player. I learned a lot from Maynard and the ensembles that he put together.

Maynard died a few days ago and, I have to admit, just thinking about his legacy makes me want to play again.

More Mercy

I contacted Shel (the lead pastor Mercy Church in Sioux Falls where I applied for a part-time worship leading position with in June) yesterday to see where the church was at in its search process. Turned out, not too far. Shel said he was interested in getting together and we met for coffee this afternoon for about 90 minutes.

It was a good conversation (and good cafe breve) that covered the range from our calling to and from Hanfield, the needs of Mercy Church, the Christian Missionary Alliance, our mutual backgrounds as former classical musicians and a fair amount of ecclesiology.

The church received a few resumes from people that are already in Sioux Falls and they are interested in speaking with a few. Shel invited us to lead a rehearsal and service as the next step in the process which will hopefully happen in the next month or so.

Shel strikes me as someone that I can relate to and can be a little more straight forward with. I have the tendency to be a little too diplomatic at times and he encouraged me on a few occasions to just lay out what I was thinking without the filter. I also found that we have a lot in common in terms of ministry vision and values. I think Shel is a bit more studied and further down the road in most areas than I am, but I found that I clicked with almost everything he was saying.

He was open enough to let me know the pay the church would be able to offer wasn't much, but money is not my primary motivator in this at all. It looks as though I'd be able to work things around my shop schedule until such a time as the role would expand.

My prayer is that Mercy will find the person that is the right fit for them. If it isn't me, then I will still be thankful that I was able to begin a relationship with someone who I really respect and may cross paths with in ministry down the road. I'm trying (yet again) to hold things loosely. We'll see how successful I am as the process plays out.

Miles

I looked at the odometer in the car on my way home from work tonight and realized that I put more miles on my bike last week than on the car. Even on a below average week (ride-wise) I still rode about 30 miles more than I drove. I still feel like I should be riding more...

Another Door Closed

I had left one door open to the outside world (that is, outside South Dakota) by applying for a job at a large church near the Minneapolis/St. Paul area about six weeks ago. It was shortly after that when Amy got her job at USF and we decided to commit to Sioux Falls for at least one more year. I left the door open on the church job because it looked like a dream job for me and I was interested in seeing how far I could actually make it in the hiring process. I figured if it came to the point where they were serious about me (which I doubted), we would assess what our options were at that time.

Turns out, we don't have to worry about it. I got my rejection last night when I got home from the shop. Another door closed. While I'll admit to being a little melancholy about it, I'm not really all that depressed. I'm fairly sure that I'm not going to wind up spending the rest of my life working for scraps in non-ministry, non-music fields, but it sure would be nice to break out of that sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, I'll keep heading to the shop, trying to become the best bike mechanic I can be and enjoying not having to pay retail for my most expensive hobby. Speaking of which, I need to hit the road before work...

14th Anniversary

Yesterday Amy & I celebrated 14 years of marriage by grabbing dinner and a movie while Amy's dad and step-mom watched the kids. I know...dinner and a movie is not that creative a way to celebrate, but the last time we had a chance to do that as a date night was exactly one year earlier, so it was a novelty for us.

We went to Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Action adventure for me, Johnny Depp for Amy. It was good, but not quite up to the standard of part 1. I'll wait to pass judgment fully until part 3 comes out since part 2 was totally a setup movie along the lines of The Empire Strikes Back. Some of the action sequences were a bit drawn out and there's a few implausible questions (i.e. plot holes) that I think deserve some explanation, but for the most part, we enjoyed it.

We followed the movie up with dinner at Sushi Masa, a Japanese place downtown, only about five blocks from home. The atmosphere was pretty cool with secluded feeling booths and dim lights. Our booth happened to be right across from the kitchen entrance though, so there was a lot of traffic where we were at. It was probably a good thing, because the food took forever to get to us. We also sat where Amy had a good view of the food prep. I think she was somewhat in awe of the lady doing the final prep on the sushi as she applied her craft. Our server was fairly new at the job and really was a nice guy and very polite. He wasn't so helpful in helping us order since he was a vegetarian, but we didn't hold that against him.

We do think we've discovered where the theater crowd works though. There were several obviously gay servers and we got to hear quite a bit from them as they were in and out of the kitchen. In order to avoid collisions, they would say, "Coming out." when they left the kitchen, which I thought was rather appropriate.

We ordered sushi and fried food just to cover the extremes of the menu and shared the two meals. This was only the second time I had had sushi and it was good for the most part. There really only were one or two bites that I could have done without, but I am firm believer in nothing ventured, nothing gained. We left the restaurant full but with no ill effects from our uncooked banquet. Amy said that it was not a place that she would go to on a weekly basis, but I would absolutely like to make a return visit at some point.

Fall Colors

I was crashed on the couch just a bit ago when I noticed the first leaves turning their autumn colors in a tree across the street. It's entirely too early for that isn't it?

I think it's hitting me harder this year than most. I had hoped that this summer would be a transitional season for us, and it is in several ways. Xander is starting public school on Monday after home schooling for a year and Amy is starting teaching at USF next month. But I had really anticipated a change for me.

I have to admit that seeing the colors of fall today was sort of like seeing the departure time at the airport for the flight you were supposed to be on and realizing that you'd missed the flight. Is this all I'm going to be doing for the foreseeable future or will something finally break through in terms of meaningful ministry? I've been physically and mentally exhausted lately and feel myself getting more and more frustrated as time goes by. I have to believe that there is a purpose in all this, but I'm tired of looking for it.

Please God, open the doors that you've kept hidden and let me step into what you have called me here for.

Little Known Facts (Matt's Edition)

Several friends and my wife have posted similar items in the last week, so I thought I'd follow suit since I feel like I should be writing something but am creatively tapped out at the moment.

Things you may not have known about me...

A) Four jobs that I have had:
1. Fourth Trumpet- Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra
2. Substitute Trumpeter- Colorado Renaissance Festival
3. Adjunct Faculty, Church Music- Indiana Wesleyan University
4. Bike Shop Mechanic- current job

B) Four movies I would watch over and over:
The Lord of the Rings- has easily overtaken the place that Star Wars occupied in my affection and imagination prior to the clumsy prequels
Batman Begins- finally, a movie that captures the mood and intelligence of the Batman legend artfully
O Brother, Where Art Thou- great movie with glimpses of redemption everywhere
Pirates of the Caribbean- A movie that completely exceeded my expectations for a movie based on an outdated park ride

C) Four places I have lived
Fort Leonard Wood, MO- my birthplace
Iowa City, IA- too young to remember
Fort Dodge, IA- also too young to remember
Shawnee Mission, KS- finally old enough to remember

D) Four TV shows I love to watch:
Lost- hooked since "The Pilot"
My Name is Earl- a smartly written show about stupid people. I don't think it is on solid theological footing though.
The Office- a smartly written show about a mundane office environment. So painfully awkward, yet so glorious.
Arrested Development- The most intelligent comedy in the history of history. Stop arguing with me, I will not be swayed. No, I'm sure yours is funny too, but... Did you even see Arrested? No? So it's your fault Fox cancelled its most creative program. I don't think I want to talk to you anymore.


Four Books I've Enjoyed Lately:
"Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell
"The Barbarian Way" by Erwin McManus
"The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien- I have a three-in-one edition and read it at least once every two years
"Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" by Mo Willems (as narrated by Xander)

E) Four places I have been on vacation:
New Orleans- Freshman year in high school with Scott Jacobson and his family. Beignets and lots of jazz. Good days.
New York- Honeymoon. Sleep in, late breakfast, sight see, grab lunch on the town, late afternoon nap, dinner, show, home to bed. Pretty fun for a couple of kids.
The cabin in Canada- several trips to Grandpa and Grandma's cabin over the years. Once with Scott, once with my uncle Bob, once with Amy. Peace, rest, nature and fishing. I could go for some of that about now.
The mud hut on Lake Superior- several trips to the 10'x12' shack on Mom and Dad's lakefront property. Peace, rest, nature and trekking across the rocky shoreline for hours on end. The spiders in the potty tent influenced me to take daily rides to the rest stop a few miles up the road, so not all memories have that pleasant, dreamlike quality.

F) Four websites I visit daily:
www.cyclingnews.com- my homepage and favorite source for all things cycling
espn.com- for all of my non-cycling, sports info needs
Get Fuzzy- one of several comics that I visit daily
Blog sites of friends and family (okay so I cheated for that one, but I couldn't just name one could I?)

G) Four of my favorite foods:
Whatever Amy is cooking next (she's fabulous)
Prime Rib
Anything from Bob's Cafe & Carry Out in Sioux Falls, SD- Small lunch counter establishment with all of the requisite grease, aromas and great food
Whatever Mom is cooking next time we visit (also fabulous)

H) Four places I would rather be right now:Â…
I think this is where I'm supposed to be right now, but four other places I wouldn't mind being are:
The aforementioned Canadian cabin. I could use some serious decompression somewhere where I could just exist for a week or so without having to do anything.
l'Alpe d'Huez (the most storied climb from the Tour de France) I will go grind my way up the climb on a bike anytime I get the opportunity.
Checking out artistic faith communities like Ecclesia or Solomon's Porch to feed the desire that I have to minister to artists. It would be nice to feel as though I was getting closer to fulfilling that dream.

Reimagining Spiritual Formation

About 18 months after buying the book, I finally finished reading Reimagining Spiritual Formation by Doug Pagitt and the Solomon's Porch Community. It's an interesting look at life at Solomon's Porch, an emergent Christian community in Minneapolis, MN.

The book includes looks at how spiritual formation happens at Solomon's Porch through worship, physicality, dialogue, hospitality, belief, creativity and service. Journal entries by members of the community are combined with segments by Pagitt and others to give some insight into the experimental nature of SP that serve as snapshots of what their community is like.

I think the thing that I appreciated most about the book was the way it steered clear of the "how to" approach to writing about a ministry and focused on the "why to" look for new methods and risk failing in the pursuit of living into the Kingdom call of life together. At no point does anyone say, "All churches should look like this." or even "More churches should look like this." Topics are addressed simply as "this is how we've tried to do this and why, but there may be better methods out there." I appreciated the honesty of failed experiments and the way that success was a shared commodity.

I doubt that if I were in a position to direct the future of a church that I would choose to tap into a lot of the methods of SP, but I would certainly return to this book to be inspired to dream big and risk bigger.

Ironic television scheduling

"Friday Night Lights" on NBC, Tuesday nights.

Well done.

I've seen Suri Cruise

Okay, you know that I haven't seen the reclusive child of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. The fact is, I don't care if I ever see the child. I'm just puzzled as to why every time someone does fess up to seeing her that they wind up with a story on cnn.com.

Are we so hard up for entertainment that a child who's never done anything other than being born gets their fifteen minutes before fifteen months?

Update

We returned on Sunday night from Impact Summit senior high camp in Indiana where we took our sixth turn at leading worship. You can click on Amy's link on the right sidebar to read more about the trip, but I do want to say how great it was to get to do ministry in that setting again. We felt like we were able to pick up with the staff where we left off last year and it was great to play with Dave, Keaton and Jamin again and Kyle for the first time. Playing with Dave and Keaton was especially sweet since Dave was our first drummer at Hanfield and we share eight years of experience together and Keaton was a guy that I mentored before we left Indiana. I was really proud of the whole band since we didn't rehearse at all before Sunday afternoon and covered a fair number of songs in the course of one week.

While we were at camp, I had the realization that even though I had resolved in my mind to cancel our interview trip to Nebraska, I hadn't actually spoken to anyone yet. Letting someone know that you are going to withdraw your application when you've invested several hours of interview and conversation time is something that I believe should be done in person or at least by phone. No email or voice mail was going to do the job. I had tried calling the Senior Pastor the week before we left for Indiana, but couldn't catch him in the office. But, since I had made up my mind and attempted to call, I sort of forgot that I hadn't actually told anyone there that we weren't coming. Once I realized, I called the Senior Pastor and the head of the search committee to let them know. They were very understanding and I think we all have the realization that if God has other plans, that they will be better than ours.

There's really only one other job that I'm still in the running for outside of Sioux Falls. It's a large church north of Minneapolis that I don't really believe will offer me the job, but I am curious as to how far I might get in the interviewing process. We sent a tape today of some of our worship from camp. It was pretty low tech, but should at least give them an idea of what I'm like. I would be amazed if they actually want to interview me, but time will tell.

We continue to consider possible ministry options in Sioux Falls as well. There is one part time position at a church in town that we should find out more about in the coming weeks. Otherwise, there's not much going on here. I've been dreaming about the possibility of opening an artists' retreat center and bed and breakfast, but know that we couldn't afford to do that right now. Possibly a dream for another season.

Prior to leaving for our trip, I also had a chance to check in with my old team at Citibank. My friend Tory was finishing up his tour of duty before he is off to the far reaches of Illinois where he will endeavor to convert the heathen Illini in the midst of trying to earn a living to support his family. It was good to get a chance to see Patricia, Eric, Tory and the rest of the crew. I've missed them a lot, but haven't had a lot of time to reconnect since I left in April. Tory's shift ended at 4:30 that day, so I stuck around long enough to grab something to drink with him afterward. It was good to get caught up and we've been praying for him as he moves, begins to look for employment and looks for opportunities to plug in in ministry. Picking up and moving like he is might seem crazy to some, but it bears a lot of resemblance to what we did last summer.

I've been back in the shop for two days since we got back and can already tell that things are coming to a halt in the shop. A good deal of the bikes that we were doing work on are gone and there are fewer and fewer bikes to build. It will be interesting to see what we spend our time on in the off season (off for cycling at least). I was warned that things would be less busy and that commission would drop a bit. Thankfully, Amy's new job will cushion the blow a bit and I really have no idea how slow to expect things to get. In the meantime, I may go in tomorrow to build some bikes off the clock to help next month's commission check before all of the bikes are gone.

Things we're praying about: future direction with vocation and ministry, the Indiana house to sell (it's been on the market 16 months), Xander starting school, Amy starting her new job, the ability to move into a three bedroom place, Hanfield, New Hope Family, Mercy Church, Eagle Brook Church, numerous friends and family and God's glory to be revealed to us and through us.

Off Again

The ever unstable trip to Nebraska appears to be off again. This time by our decision. If you've been reading much of what I've written over the last four months or so, you'll know that we've really been trying to sort out whether we are supposed to stay in Sioux Falls or not. It has been a year of frustration, setbacks and disconnection that brought us to the point of exploring ministry options elsewhere. After a lot of looking and much prayer, we've decided to commit to Sioux Falls for at least one more year.

Amy was offered an adjunct voice teacher position at the University of Sioux Falls for the year, but a decision needed to be made pretty quickly as to whether she'd take it and what her hours would be. We knew the possibility was out there for her to get to teach, so we've had a bit of time to consider what we would do if it was offered. She's struggled with questions about where to tap into her gifts and passions as much as I have and I am thrilled for her that something presented itself. Now we're trying to figure out how to juggle schedules come September so that we don't have to put Maia in daycare since it's so expensive.

In addition to yet another new schedule, we also have found larger accommodations. The property management company that we're renting from now have a three bedroom house that will be available late next month for only $125 more than we're paying for our two bedroom duplex. It's not official as yet, but appears very promising.

God and I have conversed a bit over the last several months and there are a few particular things I've sensed Him saying that give me peace about staying in Sioux Falls. A constant theme that He's tried to impress on me is "patience." Not surprisingly, that isn't exactly what you want to hear in the middle of being stuck in a financial straight jacket and knowing that you should be building into something of significance. I remember over the winter hearing Him say, "Keep doing what you're doing. You're on the right path." Assuring, but not very practical.

A big thing that He said to me a month or so ago in regards to the job search was, "I just want to see whether you'll run or not when it gets hard." A tough word to swallow, but I've said all along that we want to be where God wants us to be and we trust Him enough to reveal what we need in times of decision. Now we get the chance to hang some action on our words.

I still don't know exactly where things are headed with ministry and vocation, but I feel at peace with waiting here a bit longer and continuing to try to learn patience. Who knows, eventually I might have some.

On Again

The on again, off again trip to Nebraska is on again for the first weekend in August. It's nice to have a date confirmed (again) and it seems like it will stick this time. We're still not feeling any definite pull towards Nebraska yet, but the trip will definitely shed some light on whether we're supposed to be there or not.

I'm interested to hear Amy's impression of the church I checked out last weekend. She'll get her shot on Sunday and we can compare notes. I still feel like we have options in front of us and that God will reveal the place we're meant to be somewhere along the line.

In the meantime, today was day two of eight in a row at the shop. I have to admit that I'm enjoying the shop more often than not. Amy and I were talking a week or two ago and she said something to the effect of, "It's not like you'll still be fixing bikes in 10 years." To which I responded, "I hope I am, just not as my vocation." I find myself wanting to take a look at bikes for people because I genuinely enjoy playing with bikes. I actually have some mechanical ability and have even had phone calls and emails asking me for help and advice on how to fix things. This has never happened before in my life. It's definitely been an ego boost for me.

Once we reach the end of my long stretch of work days, I have one day off, two on and then we're on our way to Indiana for Impact Summit Camp. We finally nailed down a bass player yesterday and are taking care of some of the planning and coordinating details this week. I can't wait to actually just get there and get started. The chance to play with Dave and Keaton again would be enough to get me excited, but the fact that we get to work with people that we love doing something that we love in a way we haven't had much of an outlet for lately has me chomping at the bit to get there. Only ten days until we leave...

Three Day Weekend

I'm just wrapping up a three day weekend that was supposed to see us in Nebraska, but left us home when the church we were supposed to visit ran into scheduling problems. I took advantage to spend some time on the bike and get a bit of rest. I did 75 miles with some good hills on Saturday and 59 miles at a fairly solid tempo this morning. I'm feeling pretty good on the bike and can't wait to ride with John and Jamin in Indiana in a few weeks.

I also took the opportunity to visit a church here in Sioux Falls that is looking for a part time worship leader. It's a Missionary Alliance church that was planted here last fall and is in an early transitional stage trying to decide where they're headed in terms of worship arts. I can't say enough good things about the service. The music was great, the message was solid and, most of all, God was glorified. I definitely could see being a part of what they're doing there, but we'll see how the Lord leads. Amy will visit next week and then we'll talk more with the church after we get back from camp at the end of the month.

I'm thankful for the patience that God has given us of late in the job search. I definitely feel more peaceful and simply feel like we're waiting for God to give us marching orders. I've learned a lot in the last year that I think will make me a more effective leader and more compassionate towards those that I serve and serve alongside. God does not waste our experiences and I'm looking forward to seeing how He intends to use ours for His glory.

First Important Day of the Tour

The Tour de France had it's first day of importance for those with aspirations of winning in Paris. The first long individual time trial was today and was a disaster for most of the Americans that had such hopes. Serguei Gonchar, a Ukranian from the T-Mobile team scored big with the stage win and yellow jersey as race leader. Gonchar's not considered a threat for the overall as he's 36 (old by pro cycling standards) and has only ever finished the Tour once (in 61st place at that). The only American to have a decent showing was Floyd Landis of Phonak who finished 1:01 down on the day, but is in the driver's seat for the overall victory. Floyd aparently had to change the position of his aero bars prior to the start because race officials declared that the bars would break UCI rules. Floyd lowered the bars which then snapped on the course and he had to change bikes. It cost him a little time, but not the stage win. His day was downright great compared to that of his compatriots.

The day was a mess for the Discovery Team with Paolo Salvodelli, George Hincapie and Yaroslav Popovych all losing two plus minutes on a day when they figured to factor in the top of the leader board. American Levi Leipheimer of Gerolsteiner had the worst time trial of his life and finished over six minutes back which essentially ends any chances he had of a good finish this year. CSC's American duo of David Zabriskie and Bobby Julich suffered different sorts of days. Zabriskie was expected to contend for the stage win as he's a time trial specialist, but finished 1:56 back instead. Bobby crashed in the first mile and was taken to the hospital with a beat up and bleeding wrist and had to drop out of the race.

There's still a long way to go with the mountain stages to begin in a few days and one more long time trial left, so it isn't over by any stretch of the imagination, but the advantage has definitely shifted to favor riders like Landis, Menchov, Karpets, Evans and the T-Mobile team who has four guys in the top ten and could play some great team tactics to their advantage with Gonchar, Kloden, Rogers and Sinkewitz which would put a lot of pressure on Floyd's Phonak team. Salvodelli and Hincapie could still factor in, but would need some amazing riding in the mountains and neither is a spectacular climber.

This year's Tour is definitely proving to be difficult to predict. Two weeks to go.

The Waiting Game

We're back in the mode of waiting to see where we'll wind up. An interview in Nebraska which was originally supposed to take place last weekend was rescheduled tentatively for this weekend, but is now on hold until August after a scheduling snafu. I touched base with my contact on Monday (still expecting to visit this weekend) and discovered that they rescheduled the weekend for later this month when we will be in Indiana for Impact Summit Camp. Apparently, they checked the schedules of the staff, search committee, elders and other key people, but forgot to check our schedule. Not the end of the world, but it continues to make us wonder where all of this is headed.

In the meantime, I have a three day weekend because I had signed off the time to go to Nebraska. I'm hoping to get a couple of decent rides in and visit another church here in Sioux Falls that I applied at. The position that they are looking to fill later this summer is for a part-time worship leader which would actually be a pretty good fit with my current job. They are a Missionary Alliance Church that was planted last year here in town with more of a postmodern bent. I mentioned that I was going to visit to Chip, our Pastor at New Hope, and that they were a postmodern congregation and he asked, "What does that mean?" I told him, "I'll know more after I visit."

The possibility of staying in Sioux Falls is an attractive one with family so near and some good friends. Amy also has contacted the University of Sioux Falls about teaching as adjunct faculty which looks like a fair possibility for this fall and we're preparing to enroll Xander in first grade after a year of home schooling. An outlet for Amy in her area of gifting and a place for Xander to make friends are both burdens for us and would make it much harder to leave. A ministry outlet for me that is more in line with my passion and gets us a little closer to artist ministry would just about seal it for us.

In the meantime, even more applications have been sent to Nebraska and Minnesota (not finding much in Iowa or South Dakota) and we're just sort of waiting to see what opens up. As I prayed the other day, I sensed God telling me that "patience" is still the word for us. He gave me a bit more this time though and said that we'd know it when we saw it. This is more direct than He's been of late with me and I am thankful to have that promise to hold to. We feel like we've been stumbling around in the darkness for awhile and it's nice to know that in the midst of refinement that the Word of God is still a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. I still sometimes wish that it was a floodlight to ten miles ahead, but knowing that there is enough light to take the next step is light enough.

Operacion Puerto Blows Up Tour de France

Anyone who knows me expects to read a great deal about the Tour in the month of July, but what was shaping up to be an intriguing launch into the post-Lance era turned into chaos as several top contenders were ousted because of their ties to an alleged doping program being investigated in Spain. The story has been developing for a few weeks, but really blew up in the last 48 hours as more than 50 riders' names were released in relation to the investigation including the two big favorites, 1997 winner Jan Ullrich and last year's runner-up and current Giro d'Italia champ Ivan Basso. While nothing official has been brought against the riders, their teams have suspended them from the Tour along with several other riders including Francisco Mancebo (4th place last year) and Joseba Beloki (a former runner up to Lance) among others.

These suspensions follow hard on the heels of the race organization's decision to uninvite the Comunidad Valenciana team and attempts to boot the Astana-Wurth team because of team officials' ties to the investigation. Astana-Wurth was given a reprieve by the Court of Arbitration for Sport which decided the team could not be left out because of it's status as a Pro-Tour team which gave it automatic inclusion in the Tour field. The importance of that decision is that Alexandre Vinokourov, one of the Tour's great catalysts will be allowed to ride. Vino was not implicated in the investigation.

The Tour starts tomorrow and I'm sure we'll see more riders sent home before the day is out as teams decide how best to deal with any riders on their rosters with links to Operacion Puerto.

So, where does this leave this year's Tour. Nowhere good. The winner will still claim the prize and be able to add their name to the history books as a champion of the Tour de France, but will always be remembered as the guy who won it during one of cycling's biggest scandals. It is reminiscent of the 1998 "Festina Affair" when the French Festina team was booted and many teams were investigated after a team car loaded with doping products was stopped at the French border during the first week of the 1998 Tour, but this situation, I believe, is more far reaching and will have a larger impact on the future of the sport.

On the positive side for American fans, the only U.S. rider implicated, thus far, has been Tyler Hamilton who is already serving a suspension for doping at the 2004 Tour of Spain. Another positive is that guys like Levi Leipheimer, Floyd Landis and George Hincapie are now vaulted to the ranks of those most likely to win instead of simply being hopes for a podium spot. It's small consolation for those of us that have followed the sport for 20+ years, but will probably help keep the Tour in the news in the U.S. more for the race than for the scandal.

Other riders whose stock rises with the ouster of Ullrich, Basso and Mancebo are guys like Vinokourov (if Tour organizers don't boot the team), Alejandro Valverde and Denis Menchov (if he isn't booted by his team). It opens an already wide open Tour even further to guys that probably only had aspirations for a top 10 finish in Paris and makes them strong podium contenders.

I love this sport and I'm absolutely sick to see the Tour start this way. I'll still watch, still love the racing, still engrave the important moments in my memory alongside those that have happened since I started watching as a kid, but I'll always wonder what it would have been like with all of the best riders in the sport in attendance. I'll also watch with a great deal of concern for the future of a historically beautiful sport.

A Day Off, More Job Stuff and a Renter

What had looked like what would shape up to be a typical Wednesday routine (long ride, lunch with Elusive Moose Radio, long afternoon nap and general zombie-like state) wound up being a little more noteworthy and family oriented.

I've had a creaking sound in the crank on my bike the last few rides, so I took it into the shop yesterday to take the crank off and clean it up. I wound up spending over five hours in the warehouse building exercise bikes (good ones, not like the one your grandma used to own) and the day wound up being a little busier than I had anticipated, so my bike went untouched. I decided to leave it in the shop to look at tomorrow so that I could sleep in and spend some time with my family this morning.

I still had lunch with the EMR guys and snuck in my nap while Xander watched a movie this afternoon, but have made it a point to be a little more less zombie-like. One goal that I had for today was to start teaching Xander how to ride without his training wheels. I know, I know... It's about time. He's six, but Mr. Caution hasn't shown any interest in the freedom that his bike offers without the constraints of the extra round appendages on the bike. I told him last night that today would be the day we'd start. We didn't make a ton of progress, but progress was made.

Xander is a perfectionist and a by the book kind of kid, so he wanted me to tell him the three steps that he needed to be able to do this thing. I told him that it is something that he's going to have to learn more by feel and he responded, "I was afraid you'd say something like that." We worked at it for 15 minutes or so and were down one training wheel by the time the heat and our unwise choice of black clothing caused us to seek relief and abandon our efforts for the day. I'm going to stay on him about it and hope to have him off the crutches in the next few weeks. We also got some game time in after my nap where I cleaned up in checkers and then got my hat handed to me in the Sponge Bob Book of Games.

We finally reached the point with Maia where the whining and crying at the drop of a hat needs to stop. We have been giving her time outs in her crib when she gets out of control, which has worked to a point, but she doesn't really see it as punishment and, therefore, it has not been effective behavior modification. Today we started taking our foot stool from the kitchen and having her sit in the corner by the bathroom where the diaper genie sits. If that's not punishment, I don't know what is. She had to sit there a few times today and generally did pretty well with it. We'll see how it goes.

I'm still waiting to hear from the church in Nebraska that we're interviewing with about when they want to see us. I'm trying to be patient in giving them time to get in touch with me, but my work schedule is such now that we don't have nearly the flexibility that we did last week before my July schedule was set. In the meantime, we got word back from an Omaha church requesting more info and I applied for another job in Minnesota. I'm still not sure where all of the job stuff is headed, but trust that God will lead.

Probably the biggest news of the day was that we have finally rented our Indiana house after having it vacant for 13 months. It's a brother of a friend, but we've been very reluctant to proceed based on past history and in the hope that the new carpet that we put in the house might expedite its sale. We finally decided we needed to take our chances and see how renting turns out. Amy has been slaving over a lease agreement that "covers our butts with both hands" and gives us the flexibility to keep the house on the market in case we find a buyer. I have been very quiet in this whole process because I have a tendency to try to give a chance to the underdog only to have it come back to bite me. I want to believe that this guy is going to work out well, but recognize that we are taking a bit of a risk. On the plus side, now the utilities will be out of our name and may free up a little cash.

Now if the house would just sell...

The Waiting Game

We were expecting to be gearing up for a trip to Nebraska to interview this weekend at a church, but the trip has been put on hold and we're waiting to hear about rescheduling for as early as July 8-9 weekend. The church realized after setting a date with us that they were going to be short a few staff members and wanted to reschedule for a time when everybody was going to be around (no small feat in the summer).

In the meantime, we're still looking at other possibilities both here in Sioux Falls and elsewhere. I've evened out a bit from hitting a low point about 10 days ago. It was one of those times where I just needed to hit bottom and purge emotionally. This year has definitely taken a toll physically and mentally and my self confidence has certainly been torn apart and reassembled a time or two.

I think that it's been a necessary process. No gifts or abilities (be what they may) that I have are an adequate substitute for the anointing of God. Perhaps my confidence at the end of our tenure at Hanfield needed to be stripped away so that I could learn to rely on God more and the gifts He gives less. I think there are more reasons for the last year than I could recognize in a lifetime, but my hope is that I will come out of the other side of this experience with a better understanding of who God is and who I am in Him as well.

In the meantime, we wait.

Possible Opportunities and a few Days Away

If there's anything good to be said about being in the midst of a job search it is that things can get pretty interesting. I've been actively seeking a ministry role since arriving in South Dakota about a year ago and that search has expanded to a regional, rather than local one. I've had phone interviews as far away as the twin cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul for those unfamiliar with the shorthand of the upper Midwest) and Hastings, NE. I'm also preparing for an in person interview in Hastings at the end of next week. So, I was a bit surprised when a couple of possible opportunities opened up right here in Sioux Falls.

The first opportunity that I became aware of was with a new church plant (about 9 months old) looking for a worship leader. I sent my resume about 10 days ago and followed up with a bit more information yesterday. I got an email back from the Lead Pastor with a bit more info about where they are at as a church and in their search. They are collecting resumes now and will be looking a bit more seriously at next steps in August. It would be a part time thing, but with my current job, it would probably work out pretty well.

They also let me know about another opportunity in town. It seems one of the larger churches is looking at starting a new service and has been seeking a worship leader for it. I dropped an email last night asking for more info and to see where I might send a resume and references. They had one of those online email forms, so I couldn't just send my info and had to keep my message short. I couldn't find anything about their needs on their site, so I don't know if they are really looking or if it would be a paid position of some sort.

The plot thickens.

In other news, we got to spend Father's Day with my folks and my Grandpa Harold and his wife, Pauline. It was a relaxed visit and a good chance to escape Sioux Falls, if only for the day. This afternoon we're headed to Yankton to stay with Jim and Marilyn. Amy is helping Marilyn with face painting for an ice cream social this evening, so we're headed out after Amy's morning lessons and will come back tomorrow morning.

I was planning on riding this morning, but there's a chance of storms this morning, so I decided to wait until we hit Yankton in the hopes that the weather will have passed by this afternoon. I love riding around Yankton and had mentioned the other day that I would like to test myself on some of the hills around there with my new bike. I am thinking about doing a century ride in the Black Hills in August and am eager to see how the bike handles hills in the river valley around Yankton since we don't really have many hills of note around Sioux Falls.

As I expected, I am spending a lot of time fixing bikes and not enough time riding them. It hasn't been too bad, but I do miss having less traffic, better roads and a more consistent schedule as all of that, plus the amount of time I spend on my feet) has made riding a little more difficult this year. It still isn't bad, but I'd love to be out more. I think 2000 miles this year is still doable, but I'm going to have to get serious about it soon.

Latest Job Update

We got a call from the church that we did a phone interview with a few weeks ago and we're headed there for an in person interview in two weeks. As I've talked with them, one of the things that keeps coming out is their desire to develop ministry to the post modern culture that's growing in their community. That certainly is something that grabbed my attention when we first began to discuss this position and the ability of a candidate to develop such a ministry seems to be a huge factor in their search.

It's going to be interesting to see how that part of the conversation goes. Is there an understanding that there is more to post modernism than a simple generational association? Most churches tend to define "post modern" by Gen X or Millenial generation ministry, but it isn't nearly that simple. I know some folks in their 50's and 60's that I would say are more post modern than some of the people I know in their 20's.

It's more of a cultural shift than a generational one. It is essentially a cultural reaction to the "modern" worldview that has been the dominant worldview in western culture since the Industrial Revolution and holds implications for the church that need to move beyond age specific ministries. I've learned a lot from guys like Brian McLaren, Erwin McManus, Dan Kimball and the folks at Emergent Village and would encourage you to check out their sites since they have spent much more time and energy on this subject than I have.

I know there are those that consider "emerging church" discussion as just a fad in church circles and they may be right, time will tell. But, I would encourage followers and detractors alike to look seriously at some of what is being discussed because I believe that even if the emergent movement winds up being just a blip on the radar of Christendom that there are valuable things to be discussed and considered for the future of the church.

I guess in about two weeks we'll begin to see how it might relate to one specific church in Nebraska.

Another Day on the TdK

After Sunday's wet ride, the Tour de Kota experienced two days of glorious weather with plenty of sunshine while I worked. Today, I got to make my return to the ride from Garretson to Volga of about 67 miles. The forecast called for warm temps, slight wind from the east (we were headed mostly north) and a "chance of storms." The forecast held up for about the first 30 miles which went by very quickly, but then "chance of storms" became "certainty of torrential rain and gusting headwinds with a chance of getting struck by lightning." This doesn't roll off the tongue quite as easy, so "chance of storms" had to suffice.

We were a few miles from Colman when the wind shifted from about 10 mph out of the east (a crosswind) to gusting at 30 mph from the north (right in our faces). It slowed everybody's pace and a lot of riders began seeking a place to try to wait it out. Most people found a good place to wait in Colman at the park as there was plentiful shelter there.

I wheeled up to a few state troopers at our next turn there and said, "Looks like today finally got interesting."

One of the troopers replied, "You may not want to head north yet. It's raining up there and most seem to waiting it out at the park."

I looked north, looked back at the park and said, "We'll have to see what I run into." as I turned the corner and pushed onward.

I turned the next corner about a mile from there and was headed north again. The wind was still strong, but began to shift back to the east a bit as the first drops of rain fell. About that time, I saw a cyclist waiting it out under a tree in the front yard of a farmhouse who would be the last rider I'd see for about 15 miles.

Now, I am not someone who is the least bit afraid to ride in the rain or the wind. As far as I'm concerned, it's the elements that sometimes separate the casual touring cyclist from the die-hards. It was definitely a day for the old adage, "You don't have to be insane, but it helps" to be proven true where I was concerned. The wind continued to shift until it was firmly out of the east again and I was able to pick up a bit more speed. As the rain began to fall with a bit more malice, I saw something that did give me cause for concern. Lightning. A fair amount of lightning actually, most of which was either directly in front of me or in the system of clouds that I would be riding directly through when I got a little farther north.

About a mile after thinking, "If I had a cell phone, I would be calling Amy now to have her come meet me so I could wait it out in the van," Amy met me with the van and I was able to take shelter for about 10-15 minutes while the lightning blew past. She's great as a support driver!

While the lightning had blown over, the rain had not and I set off again in the biggest downpour I've ridden in for quite some time. It was a sharp, pelting rain that just made me more determined to turn the pedals a bit harder and faster in the hopes of riding out of it. Finally, at about 52 miles, I rode out of the rain and saw my second cyclist in 15 miles.

I met Amy again in Brookings where I sat, soaking, in the back seat of the van while I ate the last of the food we'd packed and drank the last of Amy's capuccino. I took the opportunity to call Hal and the Elusive Moose Radio crew who were recording at Bob's (a Sioux Falls diner style restaurant) and recorded a call-in segment of the podcast before heading back out.

Down to just the last 8 miles, I rode through downtown Brookings passing a few bikes parked outside a food stop and headed west out of town. With the wind fully at my back, I made short work of the road between Brookings and Volga. In the distance, I could see another storm system coming, so I wanted to make sure to get in before it hit. Not a problem. I rode sections at 27 mph without much effort and was in Volga before I knew it.

I found Amy, grabbed my stuff and hit the showers at the pool to clean off the road grime and warm up a bit. Amy and I then grabbed lunch from the Volga Fire Dept consisting of burgers and brats and headed back to the van.

Amy had run into (not literally of course) one of the guys from last year's Tour that we had hung out with named Tim while in Brookings. He said that he had been looking for me during the week to which Amy replied that this year was different because of the inconvenience of a job. I knew that he was holed up in doors in Brookings when I went through, so we watched for him to come in while we ate in the van. He showed up about half way through my burger and I called him over to say "Hey." It was good to see him, but we could tell that he was on a mission to get his stuff set up before the next storm blew through.

With that, we hit the road back to Sioux Falls for a nap before meeting Jim and Marilyn to pick up the kids. We had dinner together in Beresford and got the kids home a little before 8pm.

Unfortunately, that's all the Tour de Kota for me this year as I have to work the next two days while the riders make their way to Milbank. I was glad to get to do a bit of it though and hope to continue to make it an annual event. Hope they have good weather with lots of wind at their backs.

Tour de Kota Sunday Ride

Today was the first day of the Tour de Kota and it kicked off for us with a 5:00 am wake up in order to get to registration early enough to get a decent start. I was an idiot and stayed up until about 11:30 last night, so I was only working on about five hours of sleep. Not exactly the way you want to prepare for a big ride, but there you have it.

The day dawned with a temp of about 57 degrees, a light drizzle and very little wind. Not the idyllic start that we had last year, but it's been blowing like crazy the last few days, so we decided trading the wind for a little cool and wet was not altogether unreasonable.

Amy and I were out the door at about 5:30 and on to the registration area. There were three ride lengths to choose from of 30, 75 and 100 miles and I was crazy enough to sign up for the 100 miles. I was a bit surprised they gave us our century patches (a token to commemorate our feat) at registration. I told Amy, "Once we get the t-shirt with the rest of the registration packet, we should head home and get some more sleep."

Obviously, we didn't follow through, but hit the road at about 6:15. It was nice for me to ride on roads that were pretty familiar. I knew most of the roads fairly well and rode with a good deal of confidence. I tried to keep a reasonably controlled pace at the beginning of 15-17 mph. There weren't a whole lot of other riders out quite so early and there were stretches that felt a bit lonely. The other riders that I was finding weren't riding anything resembling my tempo, so I kept my own rhythm and kept rolling until my first break with Amy.

Amy had parked the van about 30 miles in and had only been there a short time before I arrived. I had a bit of food and a nature break and then was back on the road. It wasn't too long after that a group of four riders with a pretty decent paceline passed me. After about ten seconds I decided that they were riding a reasonable enough pace for me to join them, so I found myself in a nice draft line going just short of 19 mph.

For those that have never participated in a paceline, the idea is that several riders ride in a straight line formation in order to draft off of the first person in the line. When the first person finishes their turn, they peel off to the side, drift to the back and reassume a spot in the line. This way, everybody takes their turn doing work in the front where they receive the full brunt of the wind and everybody gets a good chance to benefit from this work by not having to work so hard farther back in the line.

Obviously, when I joined this line, I grabbed on to the back of the paceline and was in fifth position. The riding was pretty good as we kept a consistent pace and it was obvious that everybody was sharing in the work. The riders in front of me were taking pulls of 1-3 miles on the front which meant that I got to draft for the better part of seven miles. It was nearing my turn to take the lead when my phone rang. I knew the only person that it could be was Amy, so I pulled over to the side of the road to answer the phone before I ever got a chance to help out with the pace. It's pretty poor etiquette to just sit on in a draft line and I felt pretty bad for reaping all of the benefit for none of the work, but that's the way it went.

Amy told me about a pancake deal that the Lions Club in Vermillion was doing and asked if we wanted to meet there next. I said sure and got back on the road. Too far behind my previous group, I just started back into my own tempo. A few miles before Vermillion I caught up with a guy named Ross from Watertown who was headed for pancakes as well, so Ross and I rode in to Vermillion together. The food was very welcome, the people very friendly and Amy and I got a chance to talk to Ross a bit over pancakes and sausage.

Ross and I headed out of town together, crossed into Nebraska (just barely) and then headed back toward the west edge of Vermillion where we would turn west to head back toward Yankton. It was at this point that the wind began to pick up a bit more out of the east-northeast and we began to find it a little harder going. We kept a fair pace up until we were able to catch up with Amy again in Gayville. A Snickers bar some Fig Newtons and about ten minutes later and we were back on our way.

We headed back north to Volin (which we had passed through earlier) and it was just shy of Volin that Ross started to slow down a bit. The longest ride the guy had ever done was about 65 miles and we were past that point already, so I thought he was doing really well. He needed a bit slower pace and I felt the need to pick it up again, so we said goodbye and I was off to tackle the northern loop of the century ride.

Once we hit Volin, we finally started to hit some hills as well. Most people would think this a cruel joke to put the only real hills of the day in the last 30 miles of the ride, but I rather enjoyed it. The first stretch took us about five miles north with hills and a slight head/crosswind of about 15 mph that made itself a nuisance, but didn't really slow me down too much. As I prepared to turn west, I was met by the northern loop welcoming committee comprised of three vultures finishing the scraps of some indeterminate road kill and awaiting tired cyclists. The western stretch was fast with one pretty significant climb and was where I began to hit my stride for the home stretch. I was able to carry a speed of 20 mph or better from that point on and found that my easier pace through the day had left me with plenty of reserves.

I turned south and almost immediately passed the home of Dr. Frank and Judy Aiello. Dr. Aiello was Amy's advisor in college and I also took voice lessons from him. We've been fortunate to be able to keep in touch with them over the years and they are just really wonderful people. A few miles later, there was Amy and the van again.


After the last Snickers and a shortened stay at the van, I hit the road for the final stretch. Several miles later, the century route met up with the other routes and I had people to ride with again. I was still keeping a quick pace and was back on roads that I know well, so I didn't let up and powered on in to the finish. It was easily the strongest I've ever finished a century and also the best I've ever felt after one as well.

We headed back to Jim and Marilyn's where we grabbed a bite, a nap, some hot tub time with the kiddos and a trip to Murdo's for supper before driving back.

I can honestly say that I feel good about how I rode today, but I am exhausted. Unfortunately, I have to miss the next two days of the Tour because of work, but I'm looking forward to Wednesday's ride from Garretson to Volga.